Cloudflare Pages is a simple way to publish a static website from a GitHub repo. For a student project, it gives you a real deployment workflow without needing to run your own web server.
I use Cloudflare Pages for LaunchShell because it fits the way the site is built: simple HTML, shared CSS, local assets, GitHub commits, and automatic deployment.
Cloudflare can sound complicated because it offers a lot of tools. For a beginner static site, only a few pieces matter at first.
| Part | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Registrar | Lets you register and renew domains. | Good for getting a real domain without inflated renewal prices. |
| Cloudflare DNS | Controls where your domain points. | This connects a name like launchshell.org to the site. |
| Cloudflare Pages | Hosts and deploys static websites. | Perfect for HTML/CSS project sites, portfolios, docs, and guide pages. |
| Git integration | Connects Cloudflare Pages to GitHub or GitLab. | Every push can trigger a new deployment. |
| HTTPS | Serves the site securely. | A real site should use HTTPS, even if it is static. |
Cloudflare Pages gives students a real deployment workflow without making them manage infrastructure first. It is closer to a managed serverless platform than renting a cloud server.
With a VPS, you are responsible for the operating system, firewall rules, web server, updates, service restarts, logs, and uptime. With Cloudflare Pages, there is no Linux server for me to patch, no Apache or Nginx config to maintain, and no systemd service running the site.
LaunchShell is not deployed as infrastructure as a service. I am not renting a VM, opening ports, hardening SSH, or maintaining server software. I push HTML, CSS, JSON, and images to GitHub, and Cloudflare Pages publishes the static site.
The live site is connected to the repo. The workflow is simple and professional: edit locally, commit changes, push to GitHub, let Cloudflare deploy, then verify the public site.
This is the basic path for a simple static site.
Put index.html, assets/site.css, and images in a GitHub repo.
In Cloudflare, create a Pages project and connect the GitHub repository.
For a plain static site, the build command can usually be blank and the output directory can be the repo root.
Add a custom domain and check that DNS points to the Pages project.
Most first static-site problems are not Cloudflare problems. They are usually file path or repo structure problems.
Pages inside folders need paths like ../../assets/site.css, not always assets/site.css.
A URL like /guides/cloudflare/ works cleanly when the folder contains index.html.
If a change does not appear immediately, check the deploy log, hard refresh the browser, and verify the file path.
For LaunchShell, Cloudflare made the site feel like a real public project quickly.
I was able to get a real domain for about $10 per year. Domain prices vary by TLD, but Cloudflare Registrar is built around at-cost registration and renewal.
Cloudflare Pages connects directly to the repo, deploys the static site, and lets me keep the site workflow simple.
These are the pages I would keep open while setting up a student website.
Official starting point for Cloudflare Pages.
Connect a Pages project to GitHub or GitLab and deploy on push.
Cloudflare’s static HTML deployment guide.
Official page for domain registration and renewals.
Useful once you need to point a domain or subdomain to a project.
Useful if you want to upload prebuilt static assets directly.
Cloudflare Pages is one of the easiest ways to make a student project feel real. You learn Git, repos, deployment, domains, DNS, HTTPS, and public web publishing without needing to run a server first.