Edge-First Data
Traditional web applications rely on a monolithic central database in a single datacenter (e.g., Virginia). Users in Tokyo experience significant latency on every data request.
Flowork OS takes an edge-first approach by using Cloudflare Workers KV.
What is KV?
KV is a global, low-latency, key-value data store. When a value is written to KV, it is automatically distributed to Cloudflare's edge servers in hundreds of cities around the world.
Use Cases in Flowork
- Knowledge Base: All AI documentation articles are stored in the
FLOWORK_KBnamespace. When a user requests an article, it is served directly from the edge node closest to them, enabling lightning-fast SSR rendering. - App Registry: The metadata for installable
.flowapps is stored in KV, allowing instant global search. - Licenses: Encrypted license tokens and expiration dates are stored, providing highly available validation for local engines.
Naming Conventions
To simulate a database structure, Flowork uses namespaced keys. For example, Knowledge Base articles always start with kb:. This allows the API to perform list operations using prefixes, such as env.FLOWORK_KB.list({ prefix: 'kb:' }), returning an organized directory structure.