--- description: Deploy WAF managed rulesets at the account level using the API. title: Deploy a WAF managed ruleset via API (account) image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/og-docs.png --- [Skip to content](#main-content) > Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.cloudflare.com/waf/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Deploy a WAF managed ruleset via API (account) Last updated Aug 24, 2026|Copy as Markdown|[View as Markdown](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/waf/account/managed-rulesets/deploy-api/index.md)|[Agent setup](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/agent-setup/) Note This feature requires an Enterprise plan. Use the [Rulesets API](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/ruleset-engine/rulesets-api/) to deploy a WAF managed ruleset to the `http_request_firewall_managed` phase at the account level. The [WAF Managed Rules](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/waf/managed-rules/#available-managed-rulesets) page includes the IDs of the different WAF managed rulesets. You will need this information when deploying rulesets via API. If you are using Terraform, refer to [WAF Managed Rules configuration using Terraform](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/terraform/additional-configurations/waf-managed-rulesets/#deploy-managed-rulesets-at-the-account-level). ## Example The following example deploys the [Cloudflare Managed Ruleset](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/waf/managed-rules/reference/cloudflare-managed-ruleset/) to the `http_request_firewall_managed` phase of a given account (`$ACCOUNT_ID`) by creating a rule that executes the managed ruleset. The rules in the managed ruleset are executed when the zone name matches one of `example.com` or `anotherexample.com`. 1. Invoke the [Get an account entry point ruleset](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/api/resources/rulesets/subresources/phases/methods/get/) operation to obtain the definition of the entry point ruleset for the `http_request_firewall_managed` phase. You will need the [account ID](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/account/find-account-and-zone-ids/) for this task. Required API token permissions At least one of the following [token permissions](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/reference/permissions/) is required: * `Account WAF Write` * `Account WAF Read` * `Account Rulesets Read` * `Account Rulesets Write` ```bash curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/rulesets/phases/http_request_firewall_managed/entrypoint" \ --request GET \ --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" ``` ```json { "result": { "description": "Account-level phase entry point", "id": "", "kind": "root", "last_updated": "2024-03-16T15:40:08.202335Z", "name": "root", "phase": "http_request_firewall_managed", "rules": [ // ... ], "source": "firewall_managed", "version": "10" }, "success": true, "errors": [], "messages": [] } ``` 2. If the entry point ruleset already exists (that is, if you received a `200 OK` status code and the ruleset definition), take note of the ruleset ID in the response. Then, invoke the [Create an account ruleset rule](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/api/resources/rulesets/subresources/rules/methods/create/) operation to add an `execute` rule to the existing ruleset deploying the [Cloudflare Managed Ruleset](https://developers.cloudflare.com/waf/managed-rules/reference/cloudflare-managed-ruleset/) (with ID `efb7b8c949ac4650a09736fc376e9aee`). By default, the rule will be added at the end of the list of rules already in the ruleset. Required API token permissions At least one of the following [token permissions](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/reference/permissions/) is required: * `Account WAF Write` * `Account Rulesets Write` ```bash curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/rulesets/$RULESET_ID/rules" \ --request POST \ --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \ --json '{ "action": "execute", "action_parameters": { "id": "efb7b8c949ac4650a09736fc376e9aee" }, "expression": "(cf.zone.name in {\"example.com\" \"anotherexample.com\"}) and cf.zone.plan eq \"ENT\"", "description": "Execute the Cloudflare Managed Ruleset" }' ``` ```json { "result": { "id": "", "name": "Account-level phase entry point", "description": "", "kind": "root", "version": "11", "rules": [ // ... any existing rules { "id": "", "version": "1", "action": "execute", "action_parameters": { "id": "efb7b8c949ac4650a09736fc376e9aee", "version": "latest" }, "expression": "(cf.zone.name in {\"example.com\" \"anotherexample.com\"}) and cf.zone.plan eq \"ENT\"", "description": "Execute the Cloudflare Managed Ruleset", "last_updated": "2024-03-18T18:30:08.122758Z", "ref": "", "enabled": true } ], "last_updated": "2024-03-18T18:30:08.122758Z", "phase": "http_request_firewall_managed" }, "success": true, "errors": [], "messages": [] } ``` Caution Managed rulesets deployed at the account level will only apply to incoming traffic of zones on an Enterprise plan. The expression of your `execute` rule must end with `and cf.zone.plan eq "ENT"` or else the API operation will fail. 3. If the entry point ruleset does not exist (that is, if you received a `404 Not Found` status code in step 1), create it using the [Create an account ruleset](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/api/resources/rulesets/methods/create/) operation. Include a single rule in the `rules` array that executes the Cloudflare Managed Ruleset (with ID `efb7b8c949ac4650a09736fc376e9aee`) for all incoming requests where the zone name matches one of `example.com` or `anotherexample.com`. Required API token permissions At least one of the following [token permissions](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/reference/permissions/) is required: * `Account WAF Write` * `Account Rulesets Write` ```bash curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/rulesets" \ --request POST \ --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \ --json '{ "name": "My ruleset", "description": "Entry point ruleset for WAF managed rulesets", "kind": "root", "phase": "http_request_firewall_managed", "rules": [ { "action": "execute", "action_parameters": { "id": "efb7b8c949ac4650a09736fc376e9aee" }, "expression": "(cf.zone.name in {\"example.com\" \"anotherexample.com\"}) and cf.zone.plan eq \"ENT\"", "description": "Execute the Cloudflare Managed Ruleset" } ] }' ``` ## Next steps To customize the behavior of the rules included in a managed ruleset, [create an override](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/ruleset-engine/managed-rulesets/override-managed-ruleset/). To skip the execution of WAF managed rulesets or some of their rules, [create an exception](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/waf/managed-rules/waf-exceptions/define-api/) (also called a skip rule). Exceptions have priority over overrides. ## More resources For instructions on deploying a managed ruleset at the zone level via API, refer to [Deploy a WAF managed ruleset via API (zone)](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/waf/managed-rules/deploy-api/). For more information on working with managed rulesets via API, refer to [Work with managed rulesets](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/ruleset-engine/managed-rulesets/) in the Ruleset Engine documentation. Was this helpful? YesNo ## On this page [![](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/_astro/logo.te5VL_aD.svg)Docs](https://e8aee267.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/waf/account/managed-rulesets/deploy-api/#page","headline":"Deploy a WAF managed ruleset via API for an account ยท Cloudflare Web Application Firewall (WAF) docs","description":"Deploy WAF managed rulesets at the account level using the API.","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/waf/account/managed-rulesets/deploy-api/","inLanguage":"en","image":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/og-docs.png","dateModified":"2026-08-24","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cloudflare","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/"},"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/#website","name":"Cloudflare Docs","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/"}} ```