Snippet Box

A secure, high-performance web application for organizing and sharing code snippets. Built with Go and MySQL.

Overview

Snippet Box is a self-hosted application that allows users to paste and save text snippets (such as code blocks or configuration files) for later retrieval. It features secure user authentication, snippet expiration, and a clean, responsive interface.

Architecture

The application follows a standard MVC-like pattern, separating the web layer (handlers/routes) from the data layer (models).

graph TD
    Client[Client Browser] -->|HTTPS Request| Middleware[Middleware Stack]
    Middleware -->|Secure, Log, Recover| Router[HTTP Router]
    Router -->|Route| Handler[Request Handlers]
    
    subgraph Application
    Handler -->|Read/Write| Model[Data Models]
    Handler -->|Render| Template[HTML Templates]
    end
    
    subgraph Data
    Model -->|SQL| DB[(MySQL Database)]
    end
    
    Template -->|HTML Response| Client

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Features

• Create Snippets: Save text with a title and expiration time (1 day, 1 week, 365 days).
• User Accounts: Secure signup and login functionality.
• View & Share: Each snippet gets a unique permalink.
• Security:
  • HTTPS/TLS enforced.
  • Secure session management using MySQL.
  • Protection against XSS, CSRF, and clickjacking.
  • Bcrypt password hashing.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Go (Golang)
• Database: MySQL
• Router: httprouter
• Session Store: SCS (MySQL)
• Frontend: Go HTML Templates, CSS

Installation

Prerequisites

• Go 1.22 or higher
• MySQL 8.0+
• Make (optional, for running Makefile commands)

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/adcondev/snippet-box.git
   cd snippet-box

2. Database Setup: Create a MySQL database and user, then run the SQL scripts in the sql/ directory to create the necessary tables (snippets, users, sessions).

   source sql/create_snippetbox_db.sql;
   source sql/create_users_table.sql;
   source sql/create_snippets_table.sql;
   source sql/create_sessions_table.sql;

3. TLS Certificates: Generate self-signed certificates for development (or use real ones for prod) and place them in a tls/ directory:

   mkdir tls
   cd tls
   go run /usr/local/go/src/crypto/tls/generate_cert.go --rsa-bits=2048 --host=localhost

4. Configuration: The application accepts command-line flags for configuration.

   • -addr: HTTP network address (default ":4000")
   • -dsn: MySQL data source name (e.g., web:pass@/snippetbox?parseTime=true)
   • -static-dir: Path to static assets

Usage

To run the application locally:

# Using Make
make run SB_ADDR=":4000" DB_DSN="web:pass@/snippetbox?parseTime=true"

# Or directly with Go
go run ./cmd/web -addr=":4000" -dsn="web:pass@/snippetbox?parseTime=true"

Visit https://localhost:4000 in your browser. Note that you will need to accept the self-signed certificate warning if running in development mode.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the project
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request