URL Shortener Application

This is a Flask-based URL shortener application designed to provide a simple and scalable solution for shortening and managing URLs. The application includes authentication, rate limiting, and a database-backed implementation for handling users and URLs.

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Features

• User Management: Create, read, update, and delete users.
• URL Management: Shorten URLs, manage aliases, and track redirect metrics.
• Authentication: Basic authentication with hashed passwords.
• Rate Limiting: Limits requests per minute, hour, and day.
• Database Support: Uses SQLite by default, easily extendable to other databases.
• Production-ready: Compatible with Gunicorn for deployment.

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Project Structure

app/
├── dal/                # Data Access Layer
├── database/           # Database setup
├── models/             # Database models
├── resources/          # Flask-RESTful resources
├── tests/              # Test suite
├── utils/              # Utility functions
└── app.py              # Main application entry point

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Works with Python 3.13.0+
• pip (Python package manager)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/crossy-l/url-shortener.git
   cd url-shortener

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Initialize the database (optional):

   python api.py --recreate-db

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Running the Application

Local Development

Run the application locally:

python api.py

The app will be available at http://127.0.0.1:5000.

Gunicorn Support

Run the application in production using Gunicorn:

gunicorn -w 4 -b 0.0.0.0:5000 api:gunicorn_app

• -w 4: Specifies 4 worker processes.
• -b 0.0.0.0:5000: Binds to all network interfaces on port 5000.

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Testing the Application

Running Tests

To run the test suite, execute:

pytest app/tests/

Test Coverage

To measure test coverage, use:

pytest --cov=app app/tests/

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Configuration

You can configure the application using command-line arguments or environment variables.

Command-Line Arguments

• --recreate-db: Recreate the database tables.
• --cache-dir: Path to the cache directory (default: cache).
• --sql-db-path: Path to the SQLite database (default: database.db).
• --requests-per-day: Number of requests allowed per day (default: 28800).
• --requests-per-hour: Number of requests allowed per hour (default: 1200).
• --requests-per-minute: Number of requests allowed per minute (default: 20).
• --cache-timeout: Cache timeout in seconds (default: 86400).

Arguments to specify host and port will follow, for now these are the prototype arguments.

Example Configuration

python app.py --recreate-db --cache-dir /tmp/cache --sql-db-path mydb.sqlite

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License

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