Create a partial zone using Terraform

Last updated Apr 21, 2026 A partial zone lets you use Cloudflare for a subdomain while keeping your existing authoritative DNS provider for the parent domain. This guide shows how to automate the setup using the Cloudflare Terraform provider ↗︎.

Caution

A partial zone cannot be created in the same Cloudflare account as the parent domain's full zone.

Prerequisites

Create the zone

Add the zone configuration and apply the change to create the zone:

resource "cloudflare_zone" "subdomain_example_com" {
  account = {
    id = var.cloudflare_account_id
  }
  name = "subdomain.example.com"
}

Then, in a new Terraform plan and apply cycle, upgrade the zone to a Business plan or higher:

resource "cloudflare_zone_subscription" "example_zone_subscription" {
  zone_id = cloudflare_zone.subdomain_example_com.id
  frequency = "monthly"
  rate_plan = {
    id = "business"
    currency = "USD"
  }
}

Then, again in a new Terraform plan and apply cycle, update your Terraform configuration to add type = "partial" to the zone:

resource "cloudflare_zone" "subdomain_example_com" {
  account = {
    id = var.cloudflare_account_id
  }
  name = "subdomain.example.com"
  type = "partial"
}

Terraform places the zone in a Pending state. You must add the necessary DNS records and verify domain ownership before Cloudflare activates it.

Note

Refer to the cloudflare_zone docs ↗︎ in the Terraform provider documentation when you need to reference other zone properties.

Was this helpful?

YesNo

On this page

Create a partial zone using Terraform - 图1Docs

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/terraform/how-to/create-partial-zone/#page","headline":"Create a partial zone using Terraform","description":"Automate the setup of a Cloudflare partial (CNAME) zone using the Terraform provider.","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/terraform/how-to/create-partial-zone/","inLanguage":"en","image":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/terraform/how-to/create-partial-zone/og.png?v=5f17efc5871bf450","dateModified":"2026-04-21","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cloudflare","description":"One platform for your apps, agents, and workforce. Build, secure, and scale without managing infrastructure","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/","sameAs":["https://github.com/cloudflare","https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloudflare","https://x.com/cloudflare"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/logo.svg"},"address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"101 Townsend St","addressLocality":"San Francisco","addressRegion":"CA","postalCode":"94107","addressCountry":"US"},"contactPoint":[{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"Customer Support","url":"https://support.cloudflare.com/","availableLanguage":["English"]},{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"Sales","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/contact/","availableLanguage":["English"]}]},"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/#website","name":"Cloudflare Docs","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/"}}

description: Automate the setup of a Cloudflare subdomain zone for Enterprise accounts using Terraform. title: Create a subdomain zone using Terraform image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/terraform/how-to/create-secondary-zone/og.png?v=ef45add96f9523a2

Skip to content

Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.cloudflare.com/terraform/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.