Observed Signal · Aug 5, 2026 · Debugging / Troubleshooting · Source: DEV Community · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Cloudflare Worker Redirect Skipped for Static Assets
A developer observed that a Cloudflare Worker fetch handler containing a www→apex redirect never ran because Cloudflare's Workers static assets feature serves requests that match files in the assets directory directly at the edge, bypassing the Worker. As a result, Worker code (including console.log) only executed for asset-miss requests such as 404s. The author recommends using Cloudflare Redirect Rules for host-level redirects because they run earlier in the request sequence and incur no Worker invocations. An alternative is to enable the assets config setting that forces the Worker to run before the asset lookup, but that increases Worker invocations and cost and should be used only when per-request logic is required.
Explains CDN/edge/serverless behavior that can affect request routing, developer debugging, and cost (Worker invocations); relevant to engineers operating Cloudflare Workers but not industry-shifting.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Cloudflare Workers static assets serve matching files directly at the edge and do not invoke the Worker fetch handler for those requests.
- A redirect implemented inside a Worker fetch handler will not run for URLs that resolve to static files, causing the Worker to be bypassed.
- Cloudflare Redirect Rules run earlier than Workers and are recommended for host-level redirects (e.g., www → apex); they run free on every plan.
- There is a configuration option to force the Worker to run before the assets lookup, but it increases Worker invocations and may have a different config name over time.
Connected Companies & Entities
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Ontology Mapping & Concepts
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