Cloudflare updates serverless platform with new tools and integrations

Cloudflare has announced new tools and integrations designed to aid in developing applications.

Now developers will be able to connect to their existing databases such as MySQL, MongoDB, Prisma or Postgres alongside Cloudflare's own tools such as Durable Objects to store and access data at the edge.

According to the company, this solves a major problem for developers, managing data, and makes it easier to build any type of application, no matter the complexity, compliance requirements or performance needs.

Cloudflare Workers is a serverless platform that helps developers to deploy code instantly across Cloudflare's global network spanning more than 250 cities in over 100 countries.

Since 2017 more than two million applications have been launched. The platform was also recently named as a Leader in The Forrester New Wave: Edge Development Platforms, Q4 2021 report.

According to the company, while a serverless environment is meant to make development easier, solutions that exist today still create challenges for developers when it comes to working with data.

Connecting or migrating databases to serverless solutions is a complex challenge that developers have to solve, taking time and energy away from building applications.

As a result, Cloudflare states it is focused on making it easier for developers to connect their existing databases to Cloudflare Workers and also allow developers to use new and innovative data technologies to utilise data.

Officially, Cloudflare is announcing three new ways for developers to utilise data in Workers:

Durable Objects: Now anyone can run complex applications entirely at the edge first. The biggest challenge with working on distributed systems is not just handling data, it's scaling access to that data, Cloudflare states.

With Durable Objects, Cloudflare has created an access pattern for data that offers scale and data sovereignty compliance without added complexity for developers.

Durable Objects enables developers to implement previously complex applications, such as collaborative whiteboarding, game servers or global queues, in a few lines of code.

Database Partnerships: Users can connect databases directly to Cloudflare's edge.

Cloudflare announced new partnerships with Prisma to help developers expand their access to data from Cloudflare's edge.

With access to MongoDB Atlas, developers can build complete applications that require a rich query language.

The addition of the Prisma Data Platform gives developers a modern data layer to connect to MySQL, Postgres and SQL Server while abstracting away the difficulties of working across database platforms.

Database Connectors: Finally, Cloudflare announced Database Connectors, allowing developers to connect directly to classic relational databases, including MySQL and PostgreSQL.

This allows developers to use their existing tools while benefiting from the scalability and developer experience of Cloudflare Workers.

Cloudflare CEO and co-founder Matthew Prince says, "The promise of serverless computing is its simplicity, and that promise draws hundreds of developers to sign up for Cloudflare Workers every day to power their businesses, websites, and applications.

"We are constantly investing in making the platform the fastest, most flexible and easy to use serverless platform on the market. That's why these new tools and partnerships are grounded in our belief that any developer in the world should be able to connect their data to build any type of application on Cloudflare, period.