Cloudflare is spearheading the shift to post-quantum cryptography with an ambitious 2029 migration goal. To tackle the complexities of securing a vast and diverse codebase, the company developed CryptoLabe—an AI-driven internal tool that uncovers cryptographic usage, tracks migration progress, and highlights roadblocks within their global infrastructure.
- AI-powered tool identifies and tracks cryptographic usage across multiple repositories
- Enables metric-based monitoring of migration progress toward full post-quantum readiness
- Flags dependencies lacking post-quantum migration plans to prioritize ecosystem engagement
Infrastructure signal
Cloudflare’s infrastructure contains a vast and distributed cryptographic footprint embedded in numerous repositories and products. Traditional methods like pattern matching fall short, often missing indirect uses or counting inactive code. This creates a challenge for migrating all cryptographic elements—including TLS connections, authentication systems, and public-key mechanisms—to post-quantum algorithms.
To overcome this, Cloudflare developed CryptoLabe, an AI-powered discovery system tailored to scan and understand cryptographic operations across its codebase and dependencies. This enables the company to get granular visibility into both explicit and implicit cryptography, supporting a comprehensive transition to post-quantum cryptography across its platform by 2029.
Developer impact
CryptoLabe empowers development teams with actionable insights about where and how cryptography is currently used, distinguishing between classical and post-quantum implementations. It generates migration progress metrics broken down by repository and product, guiding developers on which areas require upgrades to meet the platform's stringent security roadmap.
This enhanced observability improves developer workflows by providing early warning on dependencies and protocols that are not yet post-quantum ready. As a result, teams can prioritize efforts, coordinate more effectively, and avoid redundant work while aligning with Cloudflare’s goal of ‘PQ everything.’ The tool’s integration with internal systems ensures that cryptographic migration becomes a transparent, trackable, and coordinated enterprise-wide initiative.
What teams should watch
Teams should focus on repositories and products flagged by CryptoLabe for legacy cryptographic dependencies that lack a clear post-quantum migration path. These flagged areas often involve protocols or third-party libraries that have yet to develop or agree on post-quantum standards, posing potential bottlenecks for achieving the 2029 target.
Stakeholders must actively engage with ecosystem standards bodies and maintain close collaboration across security, infrastructure, and product teams to ensure that post-quantum readiness is incorporated into future protocol versions and software updates. Monitoring the progress metrics delivered by CryptoLabe will be critical to identify delays early and allocate resources efficiently to address gaps in migration readiness.