clipURL ✂️

A fast, minimal URL shortener built with Node.js, TypeScript, Redis, Nginx and Docker.

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What is clipURL?

clipURL takes a long URL and returns a short, shareable link that redirects to the original. Links auto-expire based on a TTL you define. Built as a hands-on exploration of Redis fundamentals — key-value storage, TTL, bidirectional mapping, and rate limiting.

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Tech Stack

Layer	Tool
Runtime	Node.js 18
Language	TypeScript
Framework	Express
Database	Redis
Process Manager	PM2
Containerization	Docker + Docker Compose
Reverse Proxy	Nginx

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Features

• 🔗 Shorten any valid URL
• ⏳ Custom expiry (TTL) per link
• 🐬 Duplicate URL detection — same URL returns same short code
• 🚀 Fast redirects via Redis lookup
• 🐳 Fully containerized with Docker Compose
• ♻️ PM2 process management inside container
• 🔁 Reverse Proxy and IP based rate limiting

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API

Shorten a URL

POST /api/v1/shortner
Content-Type: application/json

Request Body:

{
  "url": "https://www.example.com/some/very/long/url",
  "expires_in": 3600,
  "size": 4
}

Field	Type	Description
url	string	Valid URL to shorten
expires_in	number	TTL in seconds (max 86400 = 24hrs)
size	number	size of the code (max 8)

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "short_url": "http://localhost:80/clip/a1b2c3d4"
}

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Redirect

GET /clip/:id

Redirects (302) to the original URL. Returns 404 if the link has expired or doesn't exist.

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Environment Variables

PORT=8080
BASE_URL=http://localhost:80

REDIS_HOST=redis
REDIS_PORT=6379
REDIS_PASSWORD=yourpassword
REDIS_DB=0

URL_TTL=86400

For local development without Docker, set REDIS_HOST=localhost

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Running Locally

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Docker Compose

Start

# clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/RupakBoral/clipURL.git
cd clipurl
cd backend

# copy env
cp .env.example .env

# start all services
docker-compose up -d --build

Stop

docker-compose down