Skip to content
Cloudflare Docs

Create a rule via API

Use the Rulesets API to create rewrite URL rules via API. Refer to the Rules examples gallery for common use cases.

Basic rule settings

When creating a rewrite URL rule via API, make sure you:

  • Set the rule action to rewrite.
  • Define the URL rewrite parameters in the action_parameters field according to the type of URL rewrite (static or dynamic).
  • Deploy the rule to the http_request_transform phase at the zone level.

Procedure

Follow this workflow to create a rewrite URL rule for a given zone via API:

  1. Use the List zone rulesets operation to check if there is already a ruleset for the http_request_transform phase at the zone level.

  2. 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_transform

  3. Use the Update a zone ruleset operation to add a rewrite URL 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 performs a static URL rewrite

The following example sets the rules of an existing phase ruleset ({ruleset_id}) to a single rewrite URL rule — performing a static rewrite of the URI path — using the Update a zone ruleset operation. The response will contain the complete definition of the ruleset you updated.

Terminal window
curl --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 static rewrite URL rule",
      "action": "rewrite",
      "action_parameters": {
        "uri": {
          "path": {
            "value": "/emea.html"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}'
{
  "result": {
    "id": "<RULESET_ID>",
    "name": "Zone-level Transform Ruleset",
    "description": "Zone-level ruleset that will execute Transform Rules.",
    "kind": "zone",
    "version": "2",
    "rules": [
      {
        "id": "<RULE_ID>",
        "version": "1",
        "action": "rewrite",
        "action_parameters": {
          "uri": {
            "path": {
              "value": "/emea.html"
            }
          }
        },
        "expression": "(http.request.uri.query contains \"eu\")",
        "description": "My first static rewrite URL rule",
        "last_updated": "2021-04-14T14:42:04.219025Z",
        "ref": "<RULE_REF>"
      }
    ],
    "last_updated": "2021-04-14T14:42:04.219025Z",
    "phase": "http_request_transform"
  },
  "success": true,
  "errors": [],
  "messages": []
}

Example: Add a rule that performs a dynamic URL rewrite

The following example sets the rules of an existing phase ruleset ({ruleset_id}) to a single rewrite URL rule — performing a dynamic rewrite of the URI path — using the Update a zone ruleset operation. The response will contain the complete definition of the ruleset you updated.

Terminal window
curl --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, \"/news/2012/\")",
      "description": "My first dynamic rewrite URL rule",
      "action": "rewrite",
      "action_parameters": {
        "uri": {
          "path": {
            "expression": "concat(\"/archive\", http.request.uri.path)"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}'
{
  "result": {
    "id": "<RULESET_ID>",
    "name": "Zone-level Transform Ruleset",
    "description": "Zone-level ruleset that will execute Transform Rules.",
    "kind": "zone",
    "version": "2",
    "rules": [
      {
        "id": "<RULE_ID>",
        "version": "1",
        "action": "rewrite",
        "action_parameters": {
          "uri": {
            "path": {
              "expression": "concat(\"/archive\", http.request.uri.path)"
            }
          }
        },
        "expression": "starts_with(http.request.uri.path, \"/news/2012/\")",
        "description": "My first dynamic rewrite URL rule",
        "last_updated": "2021-04-14T14:42:04.219025Z",
        "ref": "<RULE_REF>"
      }
    ],
    "last_updated": "2021-04-14T14:42:04.219025Z",
    "phase": "http_request_transform"
  },
  "success": true,
  "errors": [],
  "messages": []
}

Required API token permissions

The API token used in API requests to manage rewrite URL rules must have at least the following permissions:

  • Account > Transform Rules > Edit
  • Account > Account Rulesets > Read