URL Shortener - Go

A simple URL shortening service built with Go and MySQL. This project allows users to generate short URLs and redirect to the original long URL using a unique key.

Features

• Generate short URLs with unique keys
• Redirect to the original URL
• MySQL integration for URL storage
• JSON-based HTTP API
• Environment variable support via .env file

Project Structure

UrlShortner-Go/
├── config/            # Loads MySQL connection using env vars
├── database/
│   └── mysql.go       # MySQL operations for saving and retrieving URLs
├── handlers/
│   └── UrlHandler.go  # HTTP handlers for shortening and redirecting
├── models/            # Request/response models
├── utils/
│   └── utils.go       # Random key generation
├── .env               # Environment variables
└── main.go            # Entry point of the server

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/0baydullah/UrlShortner-Go.git
   

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd UrlShortner-Go
   

3. Set up your MySQL database and table:

   CREATE DATABASE urlshortener;
   USE urlshortener;
   CREATE TABLE urls (
       id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
       short_key VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
       original_url TEXT NOT NULL
   );
   

4. Create a .env file in the root directory:

   DB_USER=your_db_username
   DB_PASSWORD=your_db_password
   DB_HOST=localhost
   DB_PORT=3306
   DB_NAME=urlshortener
   

5. Run the application:

   go run main.go
   

Usage

Shorten a URL

Send a POST request to /shorten:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8081/shorten -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"url": "https://example.com"}'

Response:

{
  "key": "abc123",
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "shortUrl": "http://localhost:8081/abc123"
}

or If you want to test it you can use PostMan too! ;-)

Here is a preview from Postman (had been hosted on a free VPS, maybe expired already)

Redirect to Original URL

Visit the shortened URL:

http://localhost:8081/abc123

This will redirect to https://example.com.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.