multi-tenant-architecture

name

multi-tenant-architecture

description

Provides architecture guidance for multi-tenant SaaS platforms on Cloudflare or Vercel. Covers platform choice, domain strategy, tenant identification and isolation, subdomain routing, custom domains and SSL, white-label setup, tenant context propagation, PSL submission, and mapping platform limits to pricing plans. Use when building a multi-tenant application or asking "how do I support multiple tenants", "build a white-label platform", "add custom domains", "route tenants by subdomain", or "map limits to plans". For general app folder structure use define-architecture; for scaffolding a new Next.js repo use scaffold-nextjs.

Multi-Tenant Platform Architecture (Cloudflare or Vercel)

• IS: domain strategy, tenant identification and isolation, subdomain routing, custom domains, white-label setup, and plan/limit mapping on Cloudflare or Vercel.
• IS NOT: general app folder structure or module boundaries (use define-architecture), or scaffolding a new repo (use scaffold-nextjs).

Contents

• Platform dispatch (decide first)
• Workflow (order matters)
• Gotchas
• Output schema
• Pre-commit checklist
• Related skills

Platform dispatch (decide first)

Signals	Platform	Load
Tenants run untrusted or per-tenant code; need code-level isolation; edge-first compute on D1/KV/Durable Objects	Cloudflare (Workers for Platforms, dispatch namespaces)	cloudflare-platform.md
All tenants share one Next.js codebase; need ISR, React Server Components, managed deploys	Vercel (App Router + Middleware)	vercel-platform.md, then vercel-domains.md for domains

• Pick one platform and commit; never mix hosting (hybrid routing complexity compounds).
• Load only the chosen platform's references unless explicitly comparing.
• Load psl.md when deciding domain strategy (step 1).
• Load limits-and-quotas.md before mapping limits to pricing (step 8).
• agents/openai.yaml is launcher metadata for external runners only; do not load it in normal use.

Workflow (order matters)

1. Choose domain strategy

• Dedicated tenant domain, separate from the brand domain, for all subdomains and custom hostnames. Reputation does not isolate: a phishing site on random.acme.com damages the whole domain.
• Register a separate TLD for tenant workloads (e.g. acme.app for tenants, acme.com for brand).
• Untrusted content on sibling subdomains: choose PSL submission, record owner plus timeline. Otherwise record No PSL with the cookie-isolation reason. See psl.md.
• Start PSL early; review takes weeks.

2. Choose tenant identification strategy (pick one primary; offer custom domain as upgrade path)

• Subdomain-based: tenant.yourdomain.com. Requires wildcard DNS. Simplest at scale.
• Custom domain: tenant CNAMEs their own domain to your platform. Best for serious/paying tenants.
• Path-based: yourdomain.com/tenant-slug. No per-tenant DNS/SSL, but limits branding and complicates cookie isolation.

3. Define isolation model

• Cloudflare: per-tenant Workers via dispatch namespaces for untrusted code. Avoid shared-tenant branching unless you fully control code and data.
• Vercel: shared Next.js app with tenant_id scoping. Middleware resolves tenant from hostname; every query includes tenant context. Postgres RLS for defence-in-depth.

4. Route traffic deterministically (tenants never control routing or see each other)

• Cloudflare: platform Worker owns routing: hostname -> tenant id -> dispatch namespace -> tenant Worker. 404 when no mapping.
• Vercel: Middleware extracts hostname, rewrites to a /domains/[domain] segment; Edge Config for sub-millisecond lookups. 404 when no mapping.

5. Pass tenant context through the stack (single authority: Middleware or platform Worker; never trust client-supplied identity)

• Cloudflare: platform Worker resolves the tenant, injects headers/bindings before dispatching to the tenant Worker.
• Vercel: Middleware sets x-tenant-id, x-tenant-slug, x-tenant-plan on forwarded request headers (not the response). Server Components read via headers(); API routes read from request headers:

  // middleware.ts
  import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from "next/server";
  export function middleware(request: NextRequest) {
    const hostname = request.headers.get("host") ?? "";
    const tenant = hostname.split(".")[0]; // resolve from Edge Config/DB in production
    const requestHeaders = new Headers(request.headers);
    requestHeaders.set("x-tenant-id", tenant);
    return NextResponse.next({ request: { headers: requestHeaders } });
  }
  

6. Bind only what is needed

• Cloudflare: least-privilege bindings per tenant (DB/storage/limited platform API), no shared global state. New bindings are explicit changes; redeploy to grant access.
• Vercel: Edge Config for tenant config (domain mappings, feature flags, plan info). @vercel/sdk for domain management. DB connections scoped by tenant_id, or database-per-tenant (Neon).

7. Support custom domains and per-tenant static files

• Provide a DNS target, verify ownership, store the mapping, route by hostname.
• Cloudflare: Cloudflare for SaaS custom hostnames with managed certs. See cloudflare-platform.md.
• Vercel: @vercel/sdk for domain CRUD plus automatic Let's Encrypt SSL; wildcard subdomains require Vercel nameservers. See vercel-domains.md.
• Custom domains shift reputation to the tenant and create natural user segments (casual on platform domain, serious on their own).
• robots.txt, sitemap.xml, llms.txt must vary by tenant; never serve from /public. Cloudflare: generate in the tenant Worker. Vercel: route handlers under the domain segment (see vercel-platform.md).

8. Surface limits as plans

• Map platform limits to pricing tiers; expose in API and UI.
• No long jobs in requests; use queues or workflows.
• See limits-and-quotas.md; re-check official docs before final architecture or pricing decisions.

9. Make the API the product

• Everything works over HTTP; the UI is for ops, incidents, billing.
• Platform logic stays in the routing layer (dispatch Worker or Middleware); tenant content serves requests.
• If it only works in the UI, the platform is leaking.

10. Extend without breaking boundaries

• Add queues, workflows, or containers as optional modes. Keep routing explicit and isolation intact.

Gotchas

• Tenant headers go on the Middleware request, not the response: headers() in Server Components reads forwarded request headers, so use NextResponse.next({ request: { headers } }) or the tenant id never arrives.
• Don't start path-based if custom domains are on the roadmap: migrating later means URL rewrites, cookie changes, and DNS migration.
• Never share DB connections across tenants without RLS or tenant_id scoping: one missing WHERE clause leaks another tenant's data.
• Never block /.well-known/acme-challenge/* with Middleware or redirects: Let's Encrypt HTTP-01 validation fails and custom-domain SSL never issues.
• Edge Config writes are not instant: propagation takes up to 10 seconds, so a "domain connected" UI reading Edge Config immediately shows stale state.

Output schema

# Multi-tenant architecture

## Platform decision
- Platform: Cloudflare | Vercel
- Why this platform:
- Rejected platform and reason:

## Domain map
- Brand domain:
- Tenant domain:
- Tenant subdomains:
- Custom domains:
- PSL decision: Submit | No PSL
- PSL owner/timeline or No PSL reason:

## Routing matrix
| Host pattern | Resolver | Destination | Unknown tenant behavior |
|---|---|---|---|

## Tenant context flow
- Authority: Middleware | platform Worker
- Propagation:
- Server read path:
- Database/API scoping:

## Isolation model
- Compute isolation:
- Data isolation:
- Config/binding isolation:

## Custom-domain lifecycle
1. DNS target:
2. Ownership verification:
3. Certificate provisioning:
4. Routing activation:
5. Removal/failure path:

## Limits-to-plan table
| Limit | Source URL/date | Free | Pro | Enterprise | Enforcement point |
|---|---|---:|---:|---:|---|

## Validation evidence
| Check | Command/source | Expected result | Result |
|---|---|---|---|

Pre-commit checklist

• Platform chosen with documented rationale
• Tenant workloads off the brand domain; PSL decision and timeline set
• Tenant identification strategy chosen; custom-domain upgrade path defined
• Isolation model defined: per-tenant Workers (Cloudflare) or shared-app plus RLS (Vercel)
• Routing authoritative and tenant-blind; dispatch or Middleware handles all traffic
• Tenant context flows through Middleware/platform Worker only; no client-supplied identity trusted
• Custom-domain onboarding defined: DNS target, verification, cert provisioning
• Per-tenant static files (robots.txt, sitemap.xml, llms.txt) served dynamically
• Limits tied to billing; API parity with UI
• Limits snapshot refreshed from official docs and dated in planning notes

Evidence commands (run or mark N/A):

Check	Evidence
Tenant context exists at the boundary	`rg "x-tenant-id
Tenant routing works	curl -sI -H "Host: tenant.example.com" <local-or-preview-url>
Per-tenant static files are dynamic	curl -s -H "Host: tenant.example.com" <url>/robots.txt and curl -s -H "Host: tenant.example.com" <url>/sitemap.xml
Custom-domain verification path exists	API route, SDK call, or platform config path in the plan
Platform limits are up to date	official Cloudflare/Vercel URLs with access date in the Limits-to-plan table

Related skills

• define-architecture: folder structure, module contracts, and middleware pipelines for the application itself.
• scaffold-nextjs: bootstrap the Next.js turborepo before applying these tenancy patterns.
• optimise-seo: per-tenant sitemaps, canonical URLs, and structured data once routing works.