ShrinkL.ink

Shrink long URLs – they exist only as long as you need and can be password protected.

Features

Shrink absurdly long URLs into small, sharable ones.
Add a timed duration of when the URL can be accessed. Use cases:
- sharing a prototype with sponsor users
- showing website progress to a client
Apply a passcode to protect access to the URL. Serves as an extra layer of privacy when sharing links.
Redirect and frame links:
- Redirect link takes the user directly to the original link
- Frame link embeds the original link in an iframe to help hide the URL from the user
Local history of created links with expiration status

Getting Started

Clone the repo and install dependencies.

git clone https://github.com/samrose3/shrink-link.git
cd shrink-link
npm install

Developing

Using Docker Compose

You can run the app in development mode using the docker-compose.dev.yml configuration. This will do the following in two docker containers:

Run the Express server
Spin up and link a MongoDB instance

Starting

docker-compose -f "docker-compose.dev.yml" up -d --build

The app should now be running on http://localhost:3000.

Stopping

You can stop the Docker containers with a Compose down command.

docker-compose -f "docker-compose.dev.yml" down

Without Docker

You can also run the app without Docker, just make sure you provide a MongoDB URL as an environment variable. Copy the .env.sample file, rename it to .env, then replace the MONGO_URL with your own URL.

Creating a MongoDB instance

Create a local or hosted MongoDB database before running the app. You can create a free sandbox database on mlab.com if you want an alternative to a local DB.

Create a .env file in the root directory containing your MongoDB URL with credentials. Follow the .env.sample file.

# .env
MONGO_URL=mongodb://<user>:<password>@<hostname>:<port>/shrink-link

Make sure your database is running, then start the app in development mode.

npm run dev