ShortLink

Simple, straightforward, self-hostable link shortener service built on SQLite, Express, and Node.js

Loosely inspired by ulvis.net

Getting Started

After starting the service using one of the methods outlined below, the web UI can be used to start generating shortlinks without writing any code. Simply input the full URL you want to shorten into the form, click the button, and copy the output.

By default, the Express server will run on port 3000 unless PORT is specified in the .env file.

Docker

Images are available on Docker Hub

• Example using docker run

  docker run -v data:/app/data -p 3000:3000 benjammin4dayz/shortlink

• Example using docker compose

  version: '3.9'
  services:
    app:
      image: benjammin4dayz/shortlink
      ports:
        - 3000:3000
      volumes:
        - data:/app/data

Source

Check the tags for a specific version

• Running the development server

  npm start

• Building for production

  npm run build
  node dist/app.js

Shortener API

GET /api/v1/shorten?url=<YOUR_LONG_URL>

Content Type: text/plain

Postfixing a query string with the url= parameter is the simplest way to interact with the API. If the provided URL is valid, a shortlink is returned in plain text. Otherwise, an empty string is returned.

Request Format

fetch('/api/v1/shorten?url=https://example.com').then(res => res.text());

POST /api/v1/shorten

Content Type: application/json

This method accepts and returns an object with some more insight for use in your application

Request Format

fetch('/api/v1/shorten', {
  headers: {
    Accept: 'application/json',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  method: 'POST',
  body: JSON.stringify({
    url: '<YOUR_LONG_URL>',
  }),
}).then(res => res.json());

Success Response

{
  "message": "URL created successfully",
  "data": {
    "url": "<YOUR_SHORT_URL>"
  }
}

Failure Response

{ "error": "That wasn't supposed to happen!" }