Rebuilding Authentication for the Edge: The Hidden Costs of Cloudflare Workers Migration

Edge computing is forcing developers to rethink foundational libraries like authentication systems. This case study reveals the practical challenges of migrating from Node.js to Web APIs—buffer handling, async crypto operations, and database integrations—that any developer moving to Cloudflare Workers will encounter. As modern applications and AI infrastructure increasingly prioritize edge deployment for sub-5ms latency, authentication libraries must evolve or risk becoming the performance bottleneck.