Regions & Networking

Globe uses a two-tier network architecture to deliver your applications globally:

Globe Edge Network

Globe's edge network spans more than 300 cities across 100+ countries, powered by Cloudflare's global infrastructure. This network:

• Sits milliseconds away from virtually every internet user
• Provides DDoS protection and security filtering
• Routes requests to the appropriate compute regions
• Serves cached content directly when possible

The edge network handles initial request processing before forwarding to a compute region where your code runs.

Compute regions

Globe currently operates 39 compute regions worldwide where your Dart application code executes. These regions:

• Are strategically distributed across major global markets
• Run containerized instances of your application
• Scale automatically based on regional traffic
• Process requests and generate responses

Region Selection & Optimization

Default Behavior

Globe optimizes request handling through intelligent loadbalancers that distribute traffic efficiently across compute regions. These loadbalancers:

• Automatically route requests to maintain optimal performance
• Balance workloads based on regional capacity and response times
• Prevent overloading of any single compute region
• Ensure consistent application performance regardless of user location

When to Use Preferred Regions

Consider specifying preferred regions when:

• Your application connects to region-specific databases
• You need to ensure data residency in specific geographic areas
• Your application depends on region-specific services
• You want to consolidate processing in specific regions

Example scenario

A user in Europe accesses your application, which needs to query a database located in** North America**. If the request executes in Europe:

1. User request travels a minimal distance to the European compute region
2. The application makes multiple database queries across the Atlantic
3. Each database query experiences high latency
4. Total response time is high due to transatlantic database queries

By setting a North American preferred region:

1. User request travels to the North American compute region
2. The application makes database queries with minimal latencyx
3. Single completed response travels back to Europe
4. Total response time improves despite the initial request traveling further

How to Configure Preferred Regions

You can configure preferred regions in two ways:

Via Globe Dashboard

1. Go to Projects → Select Project → Settings → Preferred Region
2. Select one or more preferred regions from the list
3. Save your changes
4. This configuration applies to all new deployments of your project.

Via HTTP header

For more granular control, specify preferred regions on a per-request basis using the X-Globe-Preferred-Region header:

X-Globe-Preferred-Region: DFW, PDX

This header:

• Overrides any dashboard settings
• Can specify multiple regions (comma-separated)
• Uses IATA airport codes to identify regions

Available Compute Regions

Understanding Region (IATA) Codes

Globe uses IATA (International Air Transport Association) airport codes to identify regions. These standardized three-letter codes correspond to major airports near compute regions.

To determine your current routing region's IATA code, check the colo=XXX field in your network details.

Caching Behavior

Globe caches content at the regional level:

• Static assets are cached at edge locations
• Cache hits are served directly from the routing region
• Cache behavior can be controlled via HTTP headers
• Regional caching reduces load on your application and improves response time.