🔗 URL Shortener

A simple URL Shortener web application built using Node.js, Express, MongoDB, and EJS. It allows users to shorten long URLs and track visit history.

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🚀 Features

• 🔗 Generate short URLs
• 📊 Track number of clicks
• 🌐 Redirect to original URL
• 📄 View all shortened URLs in a table
• ⚡ Fast and simple UI using EJS

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🛠️ Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Database: MongoDB
• Templating Engine: EJS
• Other: Mongoose, NanoID

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📁 Project Structure

URL_shortner/
│
├── controllers/
├── models/
├── routes/
├── views/
├── connections/
├── index.js
├── package.json

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⚙️ Installation & Setup

1️⃣ Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/url-shortener.git
cd url-shortener

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2️⃣ Install dependencies

npm install

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3️⃣ Start MongoDB

Make sure MongoDB is running locally:

mongodb://localhost:27017/short-url

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4️⃣ Run the server

node index.js

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5️⃣ Open in browser

http://localhost:5001/

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📌 API Routes

Method	Route	Description
POST	/url	Create short URL
GET	/url/:shortId	Redirect to original URL
GET	/url/analytics/:shortId	Get analytics

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📸 How It Works

1. Enter a long URL
2. Click Generate
3. Get a short URL
4. Click short URL → redirected
5. Visit count increases

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🧠 Learning Outcomes

• Express routing & middleware
• MongoDB with Mongoose
• MVC structure
• Server-side rendering with EJS
• REST API design

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🔮 Future Improvements

• 🔘 Copy to clipboard button
• 📊 Advanced analytics (graphs)
• 🔐 User authentication
• 🌍 Deploy to cloud (Render / Vercel / AWS)
• ⚛️ React frontend

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🤝 Contributing

Feel free to fork this repo and improve it!

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👨‍💻 Author

Garv Saxena