docs: document Cloudflare-fronted HTTP-only Caddy topology

The live production setup is Cloudflare -> Caddy (HTTP :80) -> SWS, which
differed from the DNS-01 topology the doc previously assumed. Add a
'Deployment topologies' overview and a dedicated Cloudflare-fronted
section pointing at the committed root Caddyfile, covering reverse_proxy,
encode, security headers, and Cloudflare trusted_proxies. Label the
existing Compose/K8s examples as the DNS-01 alternative.
This commit is contained in:
2026-07-25 04:29:33 +01:00
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@@ -1,15 +1,44 @@
# Caddy as a Reverse Proxy
This document describes how to run [Caddy](https://caddyserver.com/) as a
reverse proxy in front of the blog. It covers both deployment targets used by
this project: the Kubernetes (Raspberry Pi) cluster and the Docker Compose host
(Gimli).
reverse proxy in front of the blog.
It uses the custom [`caddy-cf`](https://github.com/ahmzaa/caddy-cf) image
(`ghcr.io/ahmzaa/caddy-cf:latest`) — a Caddy build with the **Cloudflare DNS
module** baked in. The stock Caddy image cannot solve the ACME **DNS-01**
challenge for Cloudflare; this custom build can, which is what lets us obtain
certificates without exposing ports `80`/`443` to the public internet.
module** baked in.
## Deployment topologies
There are two supported ways to run Caddy in front of the blog. **Pick one.**
### 1. Cloudflare in front (current production) — HTTP only
```
Cloudflare (terminates TLS) -> Caddy (HTTP :80) -> SWS (blog:80)
```
Cloudflare proxies the domain and provides the public HTTPS certificate, so
Caddy only needs to serve plain **HTTP on :80** and reverse-proxy to the blog.
Caddy does **not** provision a TLS cert in this mode. This is the live setup and
its config is the committed [`Caddyfile`](../Caddyfile) at the repo root —
see [Cloudflare-fronted setup](#cloudflare-fronted-setup-http-only) below.
Set the Cloudflare **SSL/TLS mode to "Full"** so the Cloudflare→origin hop is
still encrypted at the network layer (e.g. over Netbird), even though Caddy's
listener is HTTP.
### 2. Caddy terminates TLS via Cloudflare DNS-01
```
Client -> Caddy (HTTPS :443, ACME DNS-01) -> SWS (blog:80)
```
Caddy obtains/renews the certificate itself using the ACME **DNS-01** challenge
through the Cloudflare API — no inbound `80`/`443` from the public internet is
required, which suits a Netbird-only setup with no Cloudflare proxy in front.
The stock Caddy image cannot do this; the `caddy-cf` build bundles the
Cloudflare DNS provider plugin. See the Docker Compose / Kubernetes examples
later in this document.
## Why a reverse proxy?
@@ -21,7 +50,7 @@ the reverse proxy so that each layer owns exactly one job:
| Concern | Owned by | Notes |
| -------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| TLS / HTTPS certs | Caddy | Automatic certs via Cloudflare **DNS-01** challenge |
| TLS / HTTPS certs | Cloudflare *or* Caddy | Cloudflare in topology 1; Caddy (DNS-01) in topology 2 |
| Compression (gzip/zstd) | Caddy | `encode` directive; SWS compression is off |
| Security headers | Caddy | Single source of truth, avoids duplicate headers |
| Serving static files | SWS | Reads from `/public`, sets `Cache-Control`/`ETag` |
@@ -50,11 +79,55 @@ Whatever the deployment, the SWS origin exposes:
- **Health endpoint:** `GET /health` → `200 OK`
- **Cache headers:** already set by SWS (Caddy should pass them through, not override)
Caddy only needs to terminate TLS (via Cloudflare DNS-01), add compression +
Caddy only needs to handle TLS (or let Cloudflare do it), add compression +
security headers, and forward requests to that origin.
---
## Cloudflare-fronted setup (HTTP only)
**This is the current production topology.** The canonical config is the
committed [`Caddyfile`](../Caddyfile) at the repo root; copy it to the
`caddy_cf` host and reload. Highlights:
- **`http://blog.ahmza.com`** — the explicit `http://` scheme binds Caddy to
`:80` only and stops it from trying to provision a TLS certificate (Cloudflare
already serves HTTPS to visitors).
- **`reverse_proxy blog:80`** — proxies to the blog (SWS) container by its
compose service name. Caddy and the blog container must share a Docker
network. Omitting this responder makes Caddy return an empty `NOP` response —
i.e. a **blank page**.
- **`encode zstd gzip`** — compression happens here (SWS has it disabled).
- **`header { ... }`** — security headers (SWS has them disabled).
- **`trusted_proxies static <Cloudflare ranges>`** + **`client_ip_headers
Cf-Connecting-Ip X-Forwarded-For`** — so the real visitor IP is used for
logging/matchers, but only when the request genuinely comes from Cloudflare
(prevents header spoofing from any other source). The ranges come from
<https://www.cloudflare.com/ips-v4/> and <https://www.cloudflare.com/ips-v6/>;
keep them in sync when Cloudflare updates them. If `caddy-cf` is rebuilt with
the `caddy-cloudflare-ip` plugin, the static list can be replaced with
`trusted_proxies cloudflare`.
Deploy and reload:
```bash
# Put the Caddyfile in place on the caddy_cf host (e.g. into the ./conf mount),
# then reload without downtime:
docker exec caddy_cf caddy reload --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
# Verify from the host (expect HTTP 200, Content-Encoding: gzip, X-Frame-Options):
curl -sI -H "Accept-Encoding: gzip" http://localhost/ | grep -iE 'HTTP|content-encoding|x-frame'
```
> **Cloudflare SSL/TLS mode:** set it to **Full** so the Cloudflare→origin hop
> is encrypted at the network layer (e.g. over Netbird), even though Caddy's
> listener is plain HTTP.
---
The remaining sections describe **topology 2** (Caddy terminates TLS itself via
the Cloudflare DNS-01 challenge) for setups without a Cloudflare proxy in front.
## Docker Compose (Gimli)
Run Caddy and the blog container on the same Docker network. Caddy reaches the