SYSTEM Cited by 1 source
Cloudflare Containers¶
Cloudflare Containers is Cloudflare's Docker-container runtime on the Developer Platform, intended for workloads that don't fit the Workers isolate model — typically because they need arbitrary binaries, multi- process runtimes, or Linux-filesystem assumptions. Containers are addressable from Workers and can be driven at a higher level via Sandbox SDK.
Ephemeral by design¶
Containers are
inherently ephemeral
— data generated inside a container is lost when the container is
deleted. This is the structural shape called out as
concepts/container-ephemerality. Persistent-storage needs are met
by mounting external storage (e.g. R2 via
sandbox.mountBucket()) rather than by persisting the container
filesystem itself.
Positioning¶
- Not the default compute tier on Cloudflare — Workers isolates are. Containers are opt-in for workloads where isolate constraints don't fit (custom binaries, ffmpeg-style tooling, agent runtimes, full Docker images).
- Paid-plan feature — the Workers Paid plan is required to access Sandbox Containers.
- Usually driven via Sandbox SDK, not raw Container APIs, for ergonomic lifecycle / networking / filesystem / process management.
Seen in¶
- sources/2026-01-29-cloudflare-moltworker-self-hosted-ai-agent —
Moltbot's Gateway runtime (originally run via
Docker on a user's Mac mini) is instead run as a Cloudflare
Container in the Moltworker architecture. The ephemeral-by-design
property forces the use of
mountBucket()for session memory + conversations (patterns/mountable-persistent-storage).
Related¶
- systems/cloudflare-sandbox-sdk — ergonomic higher-level API on top of Containers.
- systems/cloudflare-workers — the adjacent isolate-based compute tier.
- systems/cloudflare-r2 — typical durable-storage complement.
- concepts/container-ephemerality — the operational-semantics framing.
- companies/cloudflare — operator.