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URL Shortener (2)

Source: Jolli-sample-repos/url-shortener  Last Updated: 4/8/2026

URL Shortener

Node.js + Express API for shortening URLs with analytics, custom codes, and expiration.

System Flow

Request/response lifecycle showing how URLs flow from browser through validation, storage, and back.

File Structure

Project organization with backend TypeScript modules and vanilla JS frontend.

url-shortener/
├── backend/src/
│   ├── index.ts       # Express setup, /r/:code redirect handler
│   ├── routes.ts      # 6 API endpoints + OpenAPI comments
│   ├── models.ts      # TypeScript interfaces (5 types)
│   ├── storage.ts     # Map operations with dual indexes
│   ├── generator.ts   # nanoid 6-char codes, custom code validation
│   ├── validator.ts   # Zod schemas for create/update
│   └── swagger.ts     # OpenAPI configuration
└── frontend/
    ├── index.html     # URL form, list, stats
    ├── js/app.js      # API client, DOM manipulation
    └── css/style.css  # Responsive layout

Core Features

What the URL shortener supports out of the box.

  • Auto-gen codes: nanoid 6-char alphanumeric (62^6 = 56B combinations)
  • Custom codes: 4-20 chars, uniqueness validation
  • Expiration: ISO 8601 datetime, returns 410 Gone
  • Analytics: Click tracking, last accessed timestamp
  • Deduplication: Same long URL returns existing short code
IndexModels