🔗 Shortify – Flask URL Shortener

Shortify is a modern, minimal, and fully-functional URL shortener built using Flask and MongoDB. It allows you to shorten URLs, customize short codes, track click counts, and optionally set expiration times.

---

🚀 Features

• 🔗 Shorten long URLs into compact links
• ✏️ Optional custom short codes
• ⏳ Optional expiration (in hours)
• 📈 Real-time click tracking
• 📋 Copy-to-clipboard button
• 🎨 Clean, responsive Bootstrap frontend
• ❌ 404 page for broken links

---

🧱 Tech Stack

• Backend: Flask
• Database: MongoDB
• Frontend: HTML, Bootstrap 5, JavaScript
• Others: pymongo, python-dotenv

---

📂 Project Structure

shortify/
├── app/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── config.py
│   ├── models.py
│   ├── routes.py
│   └── utils.py
├── templates/
│   ├── index.html
│   └── 404.html
├── static/              # Optional for CSS/JS
├── run.py
├── requirements.txt
├── .env
└── README.md

---

⚙️ Setup Instructions

1. Clone the Repo

git clone https://github.com/Nuraj250/shortify
cd shortify

2. Create a Virtual Environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # or venv\Scripts\activate on Windows

3. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set Up Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the root directory:

MONGO_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/
DB_NAME=shortify
BASE_URL=http://localhost:5000

5. Run the App

python run.py

Visit http://localhost:5000 in your browser 🎉

---

📡 API Endpoints

POST /shorten

Shortens a URL.

Request Body (JSON):

{
  "url": "https://example.com/long-url",
  "custom_code": "mycustomcode",    // optional
  "expires_in": 24                  // optional (in hours)
}

Response:

{
  "short_url": "http://localhost:5000/mycustomcode",
  "custom_code": "mycustomcode",
  "expires_in": 24
}

---

GET /<short_code>

Redirects to the original URL, or returns a 404 page if invalid or expired.

---

GET /<short_code>/stats

Returns click stats for a short URL.

Response:

{
  "short_code": "abc123",
  "clicks": 5
}

---

🛠 Future Ideas

• 🔐 Admin dashboard for URL management
• 📦 Docker support for deployment
• 📊 Analytics with charts
• 💬 QR code generation

---

📸 UI Preview

---

📄 License

MIT License — use it freely!

---

🤝 Contribute

Pull requests and feature ideas are welcome! Drop a ⭐ if you like the project.