How microfeed works

microfeed is a content management system, or CMS. People can use a private dashboard to publish content, while coding agents can use the official @microfeed/cli. Visitors use the public site or subscribe to its feeds.

You do not need to operate these Cloudflare services separately during normal use. Run npx @microfeed/cli manage from any folder to create, connect, update, and check them as one microfeed site without first Git-cloning microfeed’s source repository yourself.

The important words

Cloudflare provides the infrastructure that runs microfeed. The application and its data live in your own Cloudflare account—not on a server operated by microfeed—so you control the deployment, stored data, and account settings.

Worker is Cloudflare’s name for the web application that runs microfeed. It responds when someone opens your website, reads a feed, or uses the dashboard, without requiring you to maintain a traditional server or operating system.

D1 is Cloudflare’s SQL database. microfeed uses it for structured records such as channel settings, published items, administrator configuration, and installed theme versions. Uploaded media file bytes are stored separately.

R2 is Cloudflare’s object storage for uploaded images, audio, video, documents, and packaged theme assets. It is optional: a content-only installation can publish text and link to files hosted elsewhere without enabling R2.

Git-cloned microfeed source repository is an optional local copy created with git clone https://github.com/microfeed/microfeed.git. After its dependencies are installed, it provides yarn manage and yarn microfeed as shortcuts to the repository’s local CLI versions. You do not need this source repository when using the published npx commands.

Instance is the short local name that selects one saved microfeed site. The name is not a Cloudflare login or website address. The launcher can remember several instances without putting state in your current folder; a Git-cloned microfeed source repository keeps its own instance state instead.

Admin dashboard is the private management area where you create items, upload media, and customize the channel. It is separate from the public site.

Content CLI is the microfeed command exposed by the official @microfeed/cli package. After the instance owner enables API access, it lets people or coding agents manage the same channel through browser authorization without reading or printing the credential.

Content automation can use three related tools. The authenticated API reads or changes content. Webhooks notify an external endpoint when subscribed content changes. @microfeed/cli wraps API operations in task-oriented commands that are easier for a person or local coding agent to use. See Content automation to choose the right combination.

Headless means using microfeed’s feeds or API while another website or app presents the content. microfeed can hide its generated web pages without deleting the content or structured feeds.

One item, three outputs

When you publish an item, microfeed can expose it as:

1. A page on the public website.
2. An entry in the RSS feed at /rss/.
3. An entry in the JSON feed at /json/.

The public JSON Feed is read-only. Separately, an instance owner can enable the authenticated API for integrations that create and manage content. See the public microfeed.org examples: interactive docs, OpenAPI JSON, OpenAPI YAML, llms.txt, and llms-full.txt. Each instance publishes the same resources under its versioned /api/v1/ path when public API docs are enabled.

What the local management tool changes

npx @microfeed/cli manage verifies and copies its bundled microfeed release into a private cache, then runs the same guarded management engine available through yarn manage inside a Git-cloned microfeed source repository. It checks for name collisions, applies database migrations, builds the application, deploys it, and verifies the result. Launcher connection details live in the platform microfeed configuration directory, separate from the replaceable source cache.

For exact behavior and safety rules, use the management CLI reference. Its examples use the recommended npx @microfeed/cli manage prefix.