Quickstart

This guide walks you through initializing a new Layeron backend, writing a basic API route with a SQL database, running the project locally, and deploying it directly to your own Cloudflare account.

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1. Install the CLI

Install the Layeron CLI globally on your system to manage projects, run local development environments, and orchestrate deployments:

npm install -g @layeron/cli

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2. Initialize a Project

Create a new directory for your backend and initialize a Layeron project. This sets up a clean TypeScript project pre-configured for Cloudflare compilation:

layer init my-app
cd my-app

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3. Write Your Backend Code

Open index.ts in your preferred editor. Define your backend application, declare a relational SQL database capability, and register a GET route to retrieve data:

import { backend } from "@layeron/core"
import { db } from "@layeron/modules"

const app = backend({
  project: "my-app",
  compatibilityDate: "2026-05-24",
})

// 1. Declare a Cloudflare-native SQL database capability
const database = db({
  name: "main",
  sql: `
    create table if not exists users (
      id text primary key,
      email text unique not null,
      createdAt text not null
    );

    insert or ignore into users (id, email, createdAt)
    values ('user_1', 'user@example.com', '2026-05-24T00:00:00.000Z');
  `,
})

// 2. Register the database capability
app.use(database)

// 3. Expose a public HTTP API route
app.get("/api/users", () => {
  return database.sql("select id, email from users").as("users")
})

export default app

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4. Run Locally

Start the Layeron local development server. Layeron compiles your TypeScript application, spins up an isolated, edge-compatible local runtime (using Miniflare), provisions a local SQLite replica for your database, applies migrations, and establishes hot-reloading:

layer dev

You can now test your endpoint by making a request in a new terminal window:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8787/api/users

Tip

During local development, Layeron keeps database state and metadata isolated inside your project’s local .layeron/ folder.

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5. Deploy to Cloudflare

Sign in to your Cloudflare account:

layer login

Deploy your backend application directly to your Cloudflare account. The CLI compiles your code into a production resource graph, applies safe pending database migrations, and deploys Workers and D1 databases natively inside your account:

layer deploy

Once completed, the CLI will output your live public URL (e.g., https://my-app.yoursubdomain.workers.dev/api/users).

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Next Steps

• Introduction: Review the product model, BYOC boundary, and deployment pipeline.
• Backend: Learn how project config, backend entries, modules, routes, and namespaces fit together.
• Database: Declare tables, run typed queries, and manage migrations for the SQL database used in this guide.
• CLI: Review install, local dev, deploy, resources, secrets, logs, and environment commands.