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https://github.com/SinTan1729/chhoto-url

A simple, lightning-fast, selfhosted URL shortener with no unnecessary features. Written in Rust.
https://github.com/SinTan1729/chhoto-url

actix-web docker link-shortener rust self-hosted shortener url-shortener webapp

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A simple, lightning-fast, selfhosted URL shortener with no unnecessary features. Written in Rust.

Lists

README 

        
[![docker-pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/sintan1729/chhoto-url)](https://hub.docker.com/r/sintan1729/chhoto-url)

[![maintainer](https://img.shields.io/badge/maintainer-SinTan1729-blue)](https://github.com/SinTan1729)

![commit-since-latest-release](https://img.shields.io/github/commits-since/SinTan1729/chhoto-url/latest?sort=semver&label=commits%20since%20latest%20release)



# ![Logo](actix/resources/assets/favicon-32.png) Chhoto URL



# What is it?

A simple selfhosted URL shortener with no unnecessary features.



Don't worry if you see no activity for a long time. I consider this project

to be complete, not dead. I'm unlikely to add any new features, but I will try

and fix every bug you report.



If you feel like a feature is missing, please let me know by creating an issue

using the "feature request" template.



## But why another URL shortener?

I've looked at a couple popular URL shorteners, however they either have

unnecessary features, or they didn't have all the features I wanted.



## What does the name mean?

Chhoto (ছোট, [IPA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Bengali): /tʃʰoʈo/) is the Bangla word

for small. URL means, well... URL. So the name simply means Small URL.



# Features

- Shortens URLs of any length to a fixed length, randomly generated string.

- (Optional) Allows you to specify the shortened URL instead of the generated

  one (Missing in a surprising number of alternatives).

- Opening the fixed length URL in your browser will instantly redirect you

  to the correct long URL (you'd think that's a standard feature, but

  apparently it's not).

- Provides a simple API for adding new short links.

- Counts number of hits for each short link in a privacy respecting way

  i.e. only the hit is recorded, and nothing else.

- Allows setting the URL of your website, in case you want to conveniently

  generate short links locally.

- Links are stored in an SQLite database.

- Available as a Docker container.

- Backend written in Rust using [Actix](https://actix.rs/), frontend

  written in plain HTML and vanilla JS, using [Pure CSS](https://purecss.io/)

  for styling.

- Uses very basic authentication using a provided password. It's not encrypted in transport.

  I  recommend using something like [Nginx Proxy Manager](https://nginxproxymanager.com/) to

  encrypt the connection by SSL.

  

# Bloat that will not be implemented

- Tracking or spying of any kind. The only logs that still exist are

 errors printed to stderr and the basic logging (only warnings) provided by the

 [`env_logger`](https://crates.io/crates/env_logger) crate.

- User management. If you need a shortener for your whole organization, either

 run separate containers for everyone or use something else.

- Cookies, newsletters, "we value your privacy" popups or any of the multiple

other ways modern web shows how anti-user it is. We all hate those, and they're

not needed here.

- Paywalls or messages begging for donations. If you want to support me (for

whatever reason), you can message me through GitHub issues.



# Screenshot

![Screenshot](screenshot.png)



# Usage

## Using `docker compose` (Recommended method)

There is a sample `compose.yaml` file in this repository. It contains

everything needed for a basic install. You can use it as a base, modifying

it as needed. Run it with

```

docker compose up -d

```

If you're using a custom location for the `db_url`, make sure to make that file

before running the docker image, as otherwise a directory will be created in its

place, resulting in possibly unwanted behavior.

## Building from source

Clone this repository

```

git clone https://github.com/SinTan1729/chhoto-url

```



### 2. Set environment variables

```bash

# Required for authentication

export password=

# Sets where the database exists. Can be local or remote (optional)

export db_url= # Default: './urls.sqlite'

# Sets the url of website, so that it displays that even when accessed

# locally (optional, defaults to hostname you're accessing it on)

export site_url=

```



### 3. Build and run it

```

cd actix

cargo run

```

You can optionally set the port the server listens on by appending `--port=[port]`.

### 4. Navigate to `http://localhost:4567` in your browser, add links as you wish.



## Running with docker

### `docker run` method

0. (Only if you really want to) Build the image

```

docker build . -t chhoto-url:latest

```

1. Run the image

```

docker run -p 4567:4567

    -e password="password"

    -d chhoto-url:latest

```

1.a Make the database file available to host (optional)

```

touch ./urls.sqlite

docker run -p 4567:4567 \

    -e password="password" \

    -v ./urls.sqlite:/urls.sqlite \

    -e db_url=/urls.sqlite \

    -d chhoto-url:latest

```

1.b Further, set the URL of your website (optional)

```

touch ./urls.sqlite

docker run -p 4567:4567 \

    -e password="password" \

    -v ./urls.sqlite:/urls.sqlite \

    -e db_url=/urls.sqlite \

    -e site_url="https://www.example.com" \

    -d chhoto-url:latest

```



You can also set the redirect method to Permanent 308 (default) or Temporary 307 by setting

the `redirect_method` variable to `TEMPORARY` or `PERMANENT` (it's matched exactly).



## Disable authentication

If you do not define a password environment variable when starting the docker image, authentication

will be disabled.



This if not recommended in actual use however, as it will allow anyone to create new links and delete

old ones. This might not seem like a bad idea, until you have hundreds of links

pointing to illegal content. Since there are no logs, it's impossible to prove

that those links aren't created by you.



## Notes

- It started as a fork of [this project](https://gitlab.com/draganczukp/chhoto-url).

- The list of adjectives and names used for random short url generation is a modified

  version of [this list used by docker](https://github.com/moby/moby/blob/master/pkg/namesgenerator/names-generator.go).