Cloudflare has unveiled Moltworker, an open-source framework designed to run Moltbot—a self-hosted personal AI agent—directly on its Developer Platform, eliminating the requirement for dedicated on-premise hardware. Moltbot, formerly known as Clawdbot, functions as a customizable personal assistant that operates within chat applications. It connects with AI models, web browsers, and third-party services while maintaining user control over data and workflows.
Moltworker modifies Moltbot to function within Cloudflare Workers by pairing an entrypoint Worker with isolated Sandbox containers. The Worker serves as the API routing and administrative interface, while Moltbot’s runtime and integrations execute inside secure Sandboxes. To overcome the temporary nature of containers, persistent data—such as conversation history and session information—is stored in Cloudflare R2.
The deployment takes advantage of recent improvements to Node.js compatibility within Cloudflare Workers. According to Cloudflare, enhanced native Node API support reduces reliance on workaround solutions and enables a wider range of npm packages to run without modification. Although Moltbot currently runs primarily inside containers, the company suggests that stronger compatibility could allow more agent logic to shift closer to the edge over time.
Moltworker also incorporates multiple Cloudflare services to mirror and expand upon the local Moltbot setup. AI traffic is routed through Cloudflare AI Gateway, which provides access to multiple model providers along with centralized monitoring and configuration tools. Browser automation is powered by Cloudflare Browser Rendering, enabling Moltbot to operate headless Chromium sessions for tasks such as page navigation, form submissions, and content extraction—without embedding a browser directly within the container. Access control for APIs and the administrative interface is secured through Cloudflare Zero Trust Access.
Early community feedback has been divided. Some users view the hosted model as a way to simplify deployment and encourage broader adoption. Commenting on the announcement, Peter Choi noted that running Moltbot on Cloudflare could significantly broaden adoption, but questioned whether the shift alters the project’s original appeal, which emphasized full local control.
Others emphasized operational convenience. One user wrote:I've been self-hosting on a VPS, which works fine, but managing the box is a chore. This looks like the 'set it and forget it' version. Curious how state persistence works across worker invocations.
Cloudflare has released Moltworker as an open-source project on GitHub and describes it as a proof of concept rather than a fully supported product. The company presents it as a demonstration of how its Developer Platform—integrating Workers, Sandboxes, AI Gateway, Browser Rendering, and storage services—can securely deploy and scale AI agents at the edge.