diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 8359889d9..811e0d099 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
   <version>1.0.0</version>
   <properties>
     <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
+    <kotlin.compiler.jvmTarget>1.8</kotlin.compiler.jvmTarget>
     <version.kotlin-stdlib>1.3.21</version.kotlin-stdlib>
     <version.maven-failsafe-plugin>2.22.2</version.maven-failsafe-plugin>
     <version.rest-assured>3.3.0</version.rest-assured>
@@ -80,6 +81,11 @@
       <artifactId>commons-compress</artifactId>
       <version>${version.commons-compress}</version>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.squareup.okhttp3</groupId>
+      <artifactId>okhttp</artifactId>
+      <version>4.2.2</version>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
       <artifactId>rest-assured</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/__tests__/launcher-quarkus.spec.tsx b/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/__tests__/launcher-quarkus.spec.tsx
index b07e659de..93e27637d 100644
--- a/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/__tests__/launcher-quarkus.spec.tsx
+++ b/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/__tests__/launcher-quarkus.spec.tsx
@@ -66,10 +66,7 @@ jest.mock('../backend-api', () => ({
     },
   ]),
   fetchConfig: () => { throw new Error("not used"); },
-  shortenUrl: async (url: string) => Promise.resolve(
-    {
-        link: 'http://bit.ly/2Mzdn9Z'
-    })
+  shortenUrl: async (params: string) => Promise.resolve('http://bit.ly/2Mzdn9Z')
 }));
 
 
diff --git a/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/backend-api.ts b/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/backend-api.ts
index 1c2379020..cfa3b8fa3 100644
--- a/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/backend-api.ts
+++ b/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/backend-api.ts
@@ -20,18 +20,7 @@ export async function fetchConfig() {
   }
 }
 
-export async function shortenUrl(downloadLink: string) {
-  const response = await fetch('https://api-ssl.bitly.com/v4/shorten', {
-    method: 'POST',
-    headers: {
-      'Accept': 'application/json',
-      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
-      'Authorization': 'Bearer a3badec1a128e46e42f36a138165cbbd21ed6cee'
-    },
-    body: JSON.stringify({
-      'group_guid': 'Bjam8omLBjB',
-      'long_url': downloadLink
-    })
-  });
-  return response.ok ? await response.json() : undefined
+export async function shortenUrl(params: string) {
+  const response = await fetch(`${backendUrl}/api/shorten?${params}`);
+  return response.ok ? await response.text() : undefined
 }
diff --git a/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/code-quarkus.tsx b/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/code-quarkus.tsx
index 75976f0d4..2972daaf1 100644
--- a/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/code-quarkus.tsx
+++ b/src/main/frontend/src/code-quarkus/code-quarkus.tsx
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ async function generateProject(project: QuarkusProject): Promise<{ downloadLink:
   const backendUrl = process.env.REACT_APP_BACKEND_URL || publicUrl;
   const downloadLink = `${backendUrl}/api/download?${stringify(params)}`;
 
-  const data = await shortenUrl(downloadLink);
+  const link = await shortenUrl(stringify(params));
   window.open(downloadLink, '_blank');
-  return { downloadLink: data ? data.link : downloadLink };
+  return { downloadLink: link || downloadLink };
 }
 
 const DEFAULT_PROJECT = {
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/io/quarkus/code/CodeQuarkusResource.kt b/src/main/kotlin/io/quarkus/code/CodeQuarkusResource.kt
index e4f9a5339..9d54329bb 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/io/quarkus/code/CodeQuarkusResource.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/io/quarkus/code/CodeQuarkusResource.kt
@@ -11,14 +11,19 @@ import org.eclipse.microprofile.openapi.annotations.media.Content
 import org.eclipse.microprofile.openapi.annotations.media.Schema
 import org.eclipse.microprofile.openapi.annotations.responses.APIResponse
 import javax.inject.Inject
+import javax.json.bind.JsonbBuilder
 import javax.validation.Valid
 import javax.ws.rs.BeanParam
 import javax.ws.rs.GET
 import javax.ws.rs.Path
 import javax.ws.rs.Produces
 import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON
+import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN
 import javax.ws.rs.core.Response
 
+import okhttp3.*
+import okhttp3.MediaType.Companion.toMediaType
+import okhttp3.RequestBody.Companion.toRequestBody
 
 @Path("/")
 class CodeQuarkusResource {
@@ -32,6 +37,8 @@ class CodeQuarkusResource {
     @Inject
     lateinit var projectCreator: QuarkusProjectCreator
 
+    private val httpClient = OkHttpClient()
+
     @GET
     @Path("/config")
     @Produces(APPLICATION_JSON)
@@ -57,6 +64,36 @@ class CodeQuarkusResource {
         return extensionCatalog.extensions
     }
 
+    @GET
+    @Path("/shorten")
+    @Produces(TEXT_PLAIN)
+    @Operation(summary = "Create a short url based on the parameters")
+    fun shorten(@Valid @BeanParam project: QuarkusProject): Response {
+        val JSON = "application/json; charset=utf-8".toMediaType()
+        val body = """
+        {
+                "group_guid": "$bitlyGroupId",
+                "long_url": "https://code.quarkus.io/api/download?g=${project.groupId}&a=${project.artifactId}&v=${project.version}&c=${project.className}&e=${project.extensions}"
+        }
+        """.toRequestBody(JSON)
+
+        val request = Request.Builder()
+                .url("https://api-ssl.bitly.com/v4/shorten")
+                .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer $bitlyAccessToken")
+                .post(body)
+                .build()
+
+        httpClient.newCall(request).execute().use { response ->
+
+                if (!response.isSuccessful) throw IOException("Unexpected code $response")
+
+                val jsonb = JsonbBuilder.create()
+                val obj = jsonb.fromJson(response.body!!.string(), BitlyResponse::class.java)
+
+                return Response.ok(obj.link).build()
+        }
+    }
+
     @GET
     @Path("/download")
     @Produces("application/zip")
@@ -67,6 +104,5 @@ class CodeQuarkusResource {
                 .type("application/zip")
                 .header("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=\"${project.artifactId}.zip\"")
                 .build()
-
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/io/quarkus/code/model/BitlyResponse.kt b/src/main/kotlin/io/quarkus/code/model/BitlyResponse.kt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f503919c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/io/quarkus/code/model/BitlyResponse.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package io.quarkus.code
+
+class BitlyResponse {
+    var link: String? = null
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/resources/application.properties b/src/main/resources/application.properties
index e7cbfef54..4e7c1491b 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -3,4 +3,7 @@ quarkus.log.file.enable=false
 quarkus.http.cors=true
 io.quarkus.code.quarkus-version=${version.quarkus}
 io.quarkus.code.quarkus-platform-version=${version.quarkus-platform}
-io.quarkus.code.git-commit-id=${git.commit.id.abbrev}
\ No newline at end of file
+io.quarkus.code.git-commit-id=${git.commit.id.abbrev}
+
+io.quarkus.code.bitly.generic-access-token=a3badec1a128e46e42f36a138165cbbd21ed6cee
+io.quarkus.code.bitly.group-id=Bjam8omLBjB
\ No newline at end of file