Building my portfolio on cloudflare's ecosystem for (almost) free

Building my portfolio on cloudflare's ecosystem for (almost) free

I built a modern website with CDN, AI Gateway, RAG, blog system, and email forwarding using only serverless architecture.

6 min read
Published September 8, 2025
R2
AI Gateway
RAG
CDN
Serverless
Full Stack

After some dedicated tinkering, I'm thrilled to launch my personal developer portfolio! I wanted a sleek, straightforward site that showcases my skills, projects, and a bit about me, all while keeping things user-friendly. In this quick post, I'll highlight the key features and what went into building it. Let's dive in!

Key Features

1. Clean UI with Acernity and Shadcn

I incorporated Acernity UI for smooth image handling and animations, paired with Shadcn UI for minimalistic, reusable components that keep the design focused and clutter-free.

2. Responsive Design and Theme Switching

The site is fully mobile-friendly, with a handy theme toggle for switching between light and dark modes—perfect for browsing anytime, anywhere.

3. Direct Homepage Essentials

Right on the homepage, you'll find my resume, key projects, and contact info—no fluff, just the good stuff to get you up to speed quickly.

4. Integrated Blog Section

I've set up a blog for sharing updates and insights on my projects. It's not updated daily, but it's a space for my thoughts when inspiration strikes.

5. Easy Contact Form

The Contact page includes a simple form that sends messages straight to my email, making it effortless to get in touch.

6. AI Chatbot for Quick Queries

Powered by an AI chatbot trained on my portfolio content, it can handle basic questions about my work and background. It's a fun, interactive touch!

The (Almost) Zero-Cost Setup

One of the best parts? I kept costs minimal by hosting everything on Cloudflare:

  • Cloudflare CDN for seamless deployment on my custom domain and email forwarding.
  • Vercel for serverless deployment (moved from cloudflare workers due to lack of analytics and insights).
  • Cloudflare R2 for storing blog assets, which also feed into the Auto RAG system.
  • Cloudflare Auto RAG to enhance the AI chatbot with my content.

Total spend? Practically nothing so far!

What's Next?

I'm always iterating! Future tweaks might include experimenting with AI side or optimizing the blog management. For now, it's live and ready to explore.

Thanks for stopping by!

— Harsh