How to Build a Real-Time Social App on Cloudflare (No Servers Needed)

Video Description

#ThisWeekInNET — Episode 101 In this episode, host João Tomé is joined by Inanna Malick, Systems Engineer at Cloudflare, to talk about how she built a serverless version of a real-time social app that connects to the ATProto ecosystem — the protocol powering platforms like Bluesky. Inanna walks us through her blog post and technical journey, showing how she used Cloudflare Workers, Durable Objects, and the free tier of our Developer Platform to deploy an open, identity-owned, cryptographically verified social experience — all without running a server. They discuss what makes ATProto different, how Statusphere works (the “Hello World” of open social apps), and what might be coming next in the world of decentralized platforms. Plus: how WebSockets and Durable Objects can be combined to create live, real-time updates — all running serverlessly. Learn more, step by step, in the blog: https://blog.cloudflare.com/serverless-atproto/ Later in the episode, we check in with Keith Adler, Machine Learning Engineer, to hear how Cloudflare is making it easier to explore your data with Python notebooks powered by marimo. ⏱️ Timestamps: 01:02 – Guest intro: Inanna Malick on serverless + social 01:40 – What is ATProto and why it matters 03:00 – Building a Bluesky-style social app on Workers 05:00 – Statusphere: the simplest decentralized app 08:00 – Why owning your identity matters 09:30 – Serverless + Durable Objects = real-time feeds 12:00 – How it works: DNS, identity, and verifiable posts 14:00 – Looking ahead: WebSocket evolution and Cloudflare fit 16:00 – Cool ideas: using AI to improve accessibility 18:00 – Final thoughts & geek rec: a Superman movie rec 21:00 – Bonus segment: Keith Adler on Python notebooks + Marimo 23:00 – How to visualize your Cloudflare data 25:00 – Looking ahead with Notebooks + Compute 🔗 Watch more episodes on our show page: https://cloudflare.tv/ThisWeekInNET 🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI6HzeeCy4S_YNpiWer9uOHIuSWxmCIhh #ThisWeekInNET #Cloudflare #ATProto #Bluesky #Serverless #Workers #DurableObjects #DeveloperPlatform #Marimo #PythonNotebooks