🔗 Shorty

A full-stack URL shortener built with FastAPI and React. Shorty goes beyond generating short links with custom aliases, password protection, click analytics, rate limiting, and Redis caching.

🌐 Live Demo: shorty.ujjawalcodes.site

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✨ Features

• 🔗 URL Shortening — Turn long URLs into simple, shareable links
• ✏️ Custom Aliases — Choose your own short code or generate one automatically
• 🔒 Password Protection — Restrict access to sensitive links
• 📊 Click Analytics — Track clicks, locations, devices, browsers, and operating systems
• ⚡ Redis Caching — Speed up URL lookups with database fallback
• 🛡️ Rate Limiting — Help prevent abuse and excessive requests
• ⚙️ Background Processing — Collect analytics without slowing down redirects
• 📱 Responsive UI — Works across desktop and mobile devices

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Area	Technologies
Backend	FastAPI, Python, SQLAlchemy
Frontend	React, Vite, CSS
Database	SQLite
Caching	Redis
Analytics	user-agents, ip-api.com

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🏗️ Architecture

Shorty separates the user interface, application logic, caching, and persistent storage:

┌──────────────────┐
│  React Frontend  │
└────────┬─────────┘
         │
         ▼
┌──────────────────┐
│ FastAPI Backend  │
└───────┬─────┬────┘
        │     │
        ▼     ▼
┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
│  Redis   │ │  SQLite  │
│  Cache   │ │ Database │
└──────────┘ └──────────┘
        │
        ▼
 Background Analytics

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How it works

When a user creates a link, Shorty validates and stores the URL with either a custom alias or a generated Base62 short code.

When someone visits a short link:

1. Shorty checks Redis for a cached URL.
2. If it isn't cached, it falls back to the database.
3. Password-protected links require authentication before access.
4. Click analytics are processed in the background to keep redirects fast.
5. Frequently accessed links are cached for future requests.

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+
• Node.js 16+
• Redis
• SQLite (included with Python)

Backend Setup

git clone https://github.com/shin0biX/Shorty.git
cd Shorty

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

pip install -r requirements.txt
uvicorn main:app --reload

The backend will be available at http://127.0.0.1:8000.

Frontend Setup

cd frontend

npm install
npm run dev

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📡 API Overview

Endpoint	Description
POST /shorten-link	Create a new shortened URL
GET /{short_code}	Redirect to the original URL
POST /unlock/{short_code}	Unlock a password-protected link
GET /analytics/{short_code}	View analytics for a specific link

FastAPI's interactive API documentation is also available when running the backend locally at /docs.

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📁 Project Structure

Shorty/
├── main.py              # FastAPI application entry point
├── models.py            # SQLAlchemy database models
├── database.py          # Database configuration and sessions
├── routes/              # API routes and application logic
├── frontend/            # React frontend
│   ├── src/
│   └── package.json
├── requirements.txt     # Python dependencies
└── README.md

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🔮 Future Improvements

Ideas I'd like to explore as the project evolves:

• 👤 User accounts and personal link dashboards
• 🌐 Custom domain support
• ⏳ Link expiration
• 📈 Enhanced analytics and trends
• 📱 QR code generation
• 🧪 Automated tests
• 🐳 Docker support

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Built with FastAPI and React 🚀

⭐ If you found this project interesting, consider giving it a star!