🔗 trim.lol - URL Shortener

Overview

URLShortener is a robust, user-friendly application designed to make managing and sharing long web addresses simpler. Built with an efficient backend powered by Flask, and MongoDB, this tool provides a smooth experience for shortening URLs. It is built with a focus on practicality, usability, and reliability, helping users manage their links with ease.

Live Preview

Preview.mp4

This website is currently hosted at trim.lol using Vercel

Contribution

Please check out CONTRIBUTION.md for more information regarding contribution.

Setting up Locally using Docker (Recommended Method)

Prerequisites

Ensure you have Docker installed on your system.

• Docker: Download and install Docker.

Installation Steps

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/AverageBlank/URLShortener.git
   cd URLShortener

2. Setup environment variables

• Create a .env file in the root directory of the project and paste the following variables:

  link={your_mongo_uri}
  SECRET_KEY={your_secret_key}

  • Now set the link and SECRET_KEY variables in the .env file according to your needs.

3. Run the container

• Start the MongoDB & Flask server with one of the following command:

  docker compose up

  or if you encounter compatibility issues, use the following command:

  docker-compose up

4. Open your browser

   • Navigate to http://127.0.0.1:5000/ to see the application running locally.

Setting up Locally (without Docker)

Prerequisites

Ensure you have Python and MongoDB installed on your system.

• Python: Install Python.
• MongoDB: Follow MongoDB's installation guide.
• MongoDB Compass (optional): A GUI for MongoDB.

Installation Steps

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/AverageBlank/URLShortener.git
   cd URLShortener

2. Run install script

   • Linux/MacOS: bash install.sh
   • Windows: .\install.bat

3. Run MongoDB

   • Start the MongoDB server. If you installed MongoDB locally, you can start it with the following command:

     mongod

4. Connect to MongoDB with MongoDB Compass (optional)

   • Open MongoDB Compass.
   • In the "New Connection" window, enter your MongoDB URI in the connection string field (this is the same URI you entered during the install phase (present in the .env file in root directory of the project)).
   • Click "Connect" to connect to your MongoDB server.
   • You can now view and manage your databases and collections through the Compass GUI.

5. Run the application

   • Linux/MacOS: bash start.sh
   • Windows: .\start.bat

6. Open your browser

   • Navigate to http://127.0.0.1:5000/ to see the application running locally.

Tech Stack

• Python: The main programming language used for the backend.
• HTML: Markup language used for structuring the web pages.
• Tailwind CSS: A utility-first CSS framework for styling the web pages.
• JavaScript: Programming language used for client-side scripting.

Python Libraries Used

• Flask: A lightweight WSGI web application framework in Python.
• PyMongo: A Python distribution containing tools for working with MongoDB.
• Datetime: A module to work with dates and times.
• Hashids: A small library to generate YouTube-like hashes from one or many numbers.
• Python-dotenv: Reads key-value pairs from a .env file and can set them as environment variables.
• OS: A standard library in Python to interact with the operating system. Built-in Python library
• Random: Implements pseudo-random number generators for various distributions. Built-in Python library
• String: A built-in Python library to perform common string operations.
• Gunicorn: Python WSGI HTTP Server for UNIX systems(Used for Render Hosting. Ignore if running local instance)