Create an origin rule via API
Use the Rulesets API to create origin rules via API.
Basic rule settings
When creating an origin rule via API, make sure you:
- Set the rule action to
route
. - Define the parameters in the
action_parameters
field according to the type of origin override. - Deploy the rule to the
http_request_origin
phase at the zone level.
Procedure
Follow this workflow to create an origin rule for a given zone via API:
Use the List zone rulesets operation to check if there is already a ruleset for the
http_request_origin
phase at the zone level.If the phase ruleset does not exist, create it using the Create a zone ruleset operation. In the new ruleset properties, set the following values:
- kind:
zone
- phase:
http_request_origin
- kind:
Use the Update a zone ruleset operation to add an origin rule to the list of ruleset rules. Alternatively, include the rule in the Create a zone ruleset request mentioned in the previous step.
Make sure your API token has the required permissions to perform the API operations.
Example requests
Example: Add a rule that overrides the HTTP Host
header
The following example sets the rules of an existing phase ruleset ({ruleset_id}
) to a single origin rule — overriding the HTTP Host
header — using the Update a zone ruleset operation:
Requestcurl --request PUT \https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/rulesets/{ruleset_id} \
--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{ "rules": [ { "expression": "http.request.uri.query contains \"/eu/\"", "description": "My first origin rule", "action": "route", "action_parameters": { "host_header": "eu_server.example.net" } } ]}'
The response contains the complete definition of the ruleset you updated.
Response{ "result": { "id": "<RULESET_ID>", "name": "Origin Rules ruleset", "description": "Zone-level ruleset that will execute origin rules.", "kind": "zone", "version": "2", "rules": [ { "id": "<RULE_ID>", "version": "1", "action": "route", "action_parameters": { "host_header": "eu_server.example.net" }, "expression": "http.request.uri.query contains \"/eu/\"", "description": "My first origin rule", "last_updated": "2022-06-02T14:42:04.219025Z", "ref": "<RULE_REF>" } ], "last_updated": "2022-06-02T14:42:04.219025Z", "phase": "http_request_origin" }, "success": true, "errors": [], "messages": []
}
Example: Add a rule that overrides the SNI value of incoming requests
The following example sets the rules of an existing phase ruleset ({ruleset_id}
) to a single origin rule — overriding the SNI value of incoming requests addressed at admin.example.com
— using the Update a zone ruleset operation:
Requestcurl --request PUT \https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/rulesets/{ruleset_id} \
--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{ "rules": [ { "expression": "http.host eq \"admin.example.com\"", "description": "SNI Override for the admin area", "action": "route", "action_parameters": { "sni": { "value": "sni.example.com" } } } ]}'
Example: Add a rule that overrides the resolved DNS record and the Host
header of incoming requests
The following example sets the rules of an existing phase ruleset ({ruleset_id}
) to a single origin rule — overriding the resolved DNS record and the Host
header of incoming requests — using the Update a zone ruleset operation:
Requestcurl --request PUT \https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/rulesets/{ruleset_id} \
--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{ "rules": [ { "expression": "starts_with(http.request.uri.path, \"/hr-app/\")", "description": "Origin rule for the company HR application", "action": "route", "action_parameters": { "host_header": "hr-server.example.com", "origin": { "host": "hr-server.example.com" } } } ]}'
The response contains the complete definition of the ruleset you updated.
Response{ "result": { "id": "<RULESET_ID>", "name": "Origin Rules ruleset", "description": "Zone-level ruleset that will execute origin rules.", "kind": "zone", "version": "2", "rules": [ { "id": "<RULE_ID>", "version": "1", "action": "route", "action_parameters": { "host_header": "hr-server.example.com", "origin": { "host": "hr-server.example.com" } }, "expression": "starts_with(http.request.uri.path, \"/hr-app/\")", "description": "Origin rule for the company HR application", "last_updated": "2022-06-03T14:42:04.219025Z", "ref": "<RULE_REF>" } ], "last_updated": "2022-06-03T14:42:04.219025Z", "phase": "http_request_origin" }, "success": true, "errors": [], "messages": []
}
Example: Add a rule that overrides the port of incoming requests
The following example sets the rules of an existing phase ruleset ({ruleset_id}
) to a single origin rule — overriding the port of incoming requests — using the Update a zone ruleset operation:
Requestcurl --request PUT \https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/rulesets/{ruleset_id} \
--header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{ "rules": [ { "expression": "starts_with(http.request.uri.path, \"/team/calendar/\")", "description": "Origin rule for the team calendar application", "action": "route", "action_parameters": { "origin": { "port": 9000 } } } ]}'
The response contains the complete definition of the ruleset you updated.
Response{ "result": { "id": "<RULESET_ID>", "name": "Origin Rules ruleset", "description": "Zone-level ruleset that will execute origin rules.", "kind": "zone", "version": "2", "rules": [ { "id": "<RULE_ID>", "version": "1", "action": "route", "action_parameters": { "origin": { "port": 9000 } }, "expression": "starts_with(http.request.uri.path, \"/team/calendar/\")", "description": "Origin rule for the team calendar application", "last_updated": "2022-06-03T14:42:04.219025Z", "ref": "<RULE_REF>" } ], "last_updated": "2022-06-03T14:42:04.219025Z", "phase": "http_request_origin" }, "success": true, "errors": [], "messages": []
}
Required API token permissions
The API token used in API requests to manage origin rules must have at least the following permission:
- Origin > Edit