SnapURL: The Beginner-Friendly URL Shortener

SnapURL is an open-source URL shortener web application and chrome-extension. It simplifies the process of converting long URLs into short and shareable links.

Features

User signup and login.
Email verification for added security.
Password reset via email.
Robust password hashing with Bcrypt.
Automated email notifications for account creation and password resets.
URL shortening with randomly generated 10-character strings.
Visit count tracking for shortened URLs.
User-specific lists of generated URLs.
Deletion of shortened URLs.
Secure API authentication using JSON Web Tokens (JWT).
Express Rate Limit for API rate limiting.
Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) enabled.
API documentation powered by Swagger.
Export Generated URLs to Excel file.

Tech Stack

Backend

Node.js
Express.js
MongoDB
Bcrypt
Cors
EJS (for email templates)
Express-rate-limit
JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
Mongoose
Nanoid
Passport
Passport-jwt
Swagger UI Express
Yamljs

Frontend

React.js
Axios
Prettier
React-bootstrap
Material-ui
React-dom
React-icons
React-router-dom
React-toastify

Deployment

The Node.js backend is hosted on the AWS EC2 running Ubuntu and managed using PM2. API Documentation
The React frontend is hosted on Netlify. The URL for the frontend is: https://app.dturl.live
The API documentation is generated using Swagger. The URL for the API documentation is: https://dturl.live/doc

Prerequisites

Node.js and npm installed on your local machine
A MongoDB database

Getting Started

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/DhananjayThomble/URL-Shortener-App.git

for backend:

i. Goto the backend directory:

cd backend

ii. Install the dependencies:

npm install

iii. Create a .env file in the backend directory and add the following environment variables:

DB_URL=<your-mongodb-database-url>
JWT_SECRET=<your-jwt-secret>
SESSION_SECRET=<your-session-secret>
PORT=4001
BASE_URL=http://localhost:4001
SHORT_URL_PREFIX=http://localhost:4001/u/ 
EMAIL_HOST=<your-email-host>, e.g. smtp.gmail.com
EMAIL_PORT=<your-email-port>, e.g. 587
EMAIL_HOST_USER=<your-email-host-user>, e.g. john@gmail.com
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=<your-email-host-password>, e.g. john123

You can get your MongoDB database URL from here. You can get your Email Host, Email Port, Email Host User and Email Host Password from your email service provider. Contact me if you need help with this.

iv. Start the backend server:

npm run dev

for frontend:

i. Goto the frontend directory:

cd frontend

ii. Install the dependencies:

npm install

iii. Create a .env file in the frontend directory and add the following environment variables:

REACT_APP_API_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4001

iv. Start the frontend server:

npm start

Open http://localhost:4001/doc to view the API documentation.
Goto http://localhost:3000 to view the frontend.

Contributing

SnapURL is a welcoming community for all contributors. Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request!

Additional Resources

Wiki: Explore our Wiki to learn more about the project.
Milestones: Check out our Milestones to see what we are working on.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Enjoy your journey with SnapURL! 🚀

Pree46 / URL-Shortener-App