WAF custom rules configuration using Terraform

Last updated Apr 29, 2026 This page provides examples of creating WAF custom rules in a zone or account using Terraform. The examples cover the following scenarios:

The WAF documentation includes additional Terraform examples — refer to More resources.

If you are using the Cloudflare API, refer to the following resources in the WAF documentation:

For more information on deploying and configuring custom rulesets using the Rulesets API, refer to Work with custom rulesets in the Ruleset Engine documentation.

Before you start

Obtain the necessary account or zone IDs

The Terraform configurations provided in this page need the zone ID (or account ID) of the zone/account where you will deploy rulesets.

  • To retrieve the list of accounts you have access to, including their IDs, use the List accounts operation.
  • To retrieve the list of zones you have access to, including their IDs, use the List zones operation.

Import or delete existing rulesets

Terraform assumes that it has complete control over account and zone rulesets. If you already have rulesets configured in your account or zone, do one of the following:

  • Import existing rulesets to Terraform using the cf-terraforming tool. Recent versions of the tool can generate resource definitions for existing rulesets and import their configuration to Terraform state.
  • Start from scratch by deleting existing rulesets (account and zone rulesets with "kind": "root" and "kind": "zone", respectively) and then defining your rulesets configuration in Terraform.

Add a custom rule to a zone

The following example configures a custom rule in the zone entry point ruleset for the http_request_firewall_custom phase for zone with ID <ZONE_ID>. The rule will block all traffic on non-standard HTTP(S) ports:

<details>

<summary>

Required API token permissions

</summary>

At least one of the following <a href="https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/reference/permissions/">token permissions</a> is required:

  • <code>Zone WAF Write</code>

</details>

Configure the cloudflare_ruleset ↗︎ resource:

resource "cloudflare_ruleset" "zone_custom_firewall" {
  zone_id     = var.cloudflare_zone_id
  name        = "Phase entry point ruleset for custom rules in my zone"
  description = ""
  kind        = "zone"
  phase       = "http_request_firewall_custom"

  rules = [{
    ref         = "block_non_default_ports"
    description = "Block ports other than 80 and 443"
    expression  = "(not cf.edge.server_port in {80 443})"
    action      = "block"
  }]
}

resource "cloudflare_ruleset" "zone_custom_firewall" {
  zone_id     = "<ZONE_ID>"
  name        = "Phase entry point ruleset for custom rules in my zone"
  description = ""
  kind        = "zone"
  phase       = "http_request_firewall_custom"

  rules {
    ref         = "block_non_default_ports"
    description = "Block ports other than 80 and 443"
    expression  = "(not cf.edge.server_port in {80 443})"
    action      = "block"
  }
}

To create another custom rule, add a new rules object to the same cloudflare_ruleset resource.

Create and deploy a custom ruleset

Note

All customers can create custom rulesets at the zone level.
Custom rulesets at the account level require an Enterprise plan with a paid add-on.

The following example creates a custom ruleset in the account with ID <ACCOUNT_ID> containing a single custom rule. This custom ruleset is then deployed using a separate cloudflare_ruleset Terraform resource. If you do not deploy a custom ruleset, it will not execute.

The following configuration creates a custom ruleset with a single rule:

<details>

<summary>

Required API token permissions

</summary>

All of the following <a href="https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/reference/permissions/">token permissions</a> are required:

  • <code>Account WAF Write</code>
  • <code>Account Rulesets Write</code>

</details>

Configure the cloudflare_ruleset ↗︎ resource:

resource "cloudflare_ruleset" "account_firewall_custom_ruleset" {
  account_id  = var.cloudflare_account_id
  name        = "Custom ruleset blocking traffic in non-standard HTTP(S) ports"
  description = ""
  kind        = "custom"
  phase       = "http_request_firewall_custom"

  rules = [{
    ref         = "block_non_default_ports"
    description = "Block ports other than 80 and 443"
    expression  = "(not cf.edge.server_port in {80 443})"
    action      = "block"
  }]
}

resource "cloudflare_ruleset" "account_firewall_custom_ruleset" {
  account_id  = "<ACCOUNT_ID>"
  name        = "Custom ruleset blocking traffic in non-standard HTTP(S) ports"
  description = ""
  kind        = "custom"
  phase       = "http_request_firewall_custom"

  rules {
    ref         = "block_non_default_ports"
    description = "Block ports other than 80 and 443"
    expression  = "(not cf.edge.server_port in {80 443})"
    action      = "block"
  }
}

To create another custom rule in the custom ruleset, add a new rules object to the same cloudflare_ruleset resource.

The following configuration deploys the custom ruleset at the account level. It defines a dependency on the account_firewall_custom_ruleset resource and uses the ID of the created custom ruleset in action_parameters:

<details>

<summary>

Required API token permissions

</summary>

All of the following <a href="https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/reference/permissions/">token permissions</a> are required:

  • <code>Account WAF Write</code>
  • <code>Account Rulesets Write</code>

</details>

Configure the cloudflare_ruleset ↗︎ resource:

resource "cloudflare_ruleset" "account_firewall_custom_entrypoint" {
  account_id  = var.cloudflare_account_id
  name        = "Account-level entry point ruleset for the http_request_firewall_custom phase deploying a custom ruleset"
  description = ""
  kind        = "root"
  phase       = "http_request_firewall_custom"

  depends_on = [cloudflare_ruleset.account_firewall_custom_ruleset]

  rules = [{
    ref         = "deploy_custom_ruleset_example_com"
    description = "Deploy custom ruleset for example.com"
    expression  = "(cf.zone.name eq \"example.com\") and (cf.zone.plan eq \"ENT\")"
    action      = "execute"
    action_parameters = {
      id = cloudflare_ruleset.account_firewall_custom_ruleset.id
    }
  }]
}

resource "cloudflare_ruleset" "account_firewall_custom_entrypoint" {
  account_id  = "<ACCOUNT_ID>"
  name        = "Account-level entry point ruleset for the http_request_firewall_custom phase deploying a custom ruleset"
  description = ""
  kind        = "root"
  phase       = "http_request_firewall_custom"

  depends_on = [cloudflare_ruleset.account_firewall_custom_ruleset]

  rules {
    ref         = "deploy_custom_ruleset_example_com"
    description = "Deploy custom ruleset for example.com"
    expression  = "(cf.zone.name eq \"example.com\") and (cf.zone.plan eq \"ENT\")"
    action      = "execute"
    action_parameters {
      id = cloudflare_ruleset.account_firewall_custom_ruleset.id
    }
  }
}

For more information on configuring and deploying custom rulesets, refer to Work with custom rulesets in the Ruleset Engine documentation.

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description: Use the Skip action to bypass security features for matching requests. title: Configure a rule with the Skip action image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/waf/custom-rules/skip/og.png?v=718777228b5c20f8

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