Shortener: A Cloudflare Workers URL Shortener

A fast, serverless URL shortener service built with Rust and deployed on Cloudflare's global edge network. This service provides instant URL redirection with global low-latency access through Cloudflare's distributed infrastructure.

Features

• Edge-first architecture: Deployed across Cloudflare's global network for minimal latency
• Rust-powered: Written in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly for maximum performance
• KV storage: Uses Cloudflare KV for persistent, globally distributed URL mappings
• Instant redirects: Sub-millisecond redirect responses from edge locations
• Observability: Built-in logging and monitoring through Cloudflare Workers

How it Works

The service operates with a simple routing structure:

1. Root path (/): Redirects to a configured home URL (set via HOME environment variable)
2. Short URLs (/:url): Looks up the URL parameter in Cloudflare KV storage and redirects to the target URL if found

URL mappings are stored in Cloudflare KV, allowing for:

• Global distribution and replication
• Fast lookup times from any edge location
• Persistent storage without managing databases

Development

Prerequisites

• Rust with wasm32-unknown-unknown target
• Wrangler CLI
• Cloudflare account with Workers and KV enabled

Commands

# Run local development server with file watching and hot reload
wrangler dev

# Deploy to Cloudflare Workers globally
wrangler deploy

# Build the project (compiles Rust to WebAssembly) - for testing only
wrangler deploy --dry-run --outdir=dist

Configuration

Edit wrangler.toml to configure:

• Environment variables (like HOME redirect URL)
• KV namespace bindings
• Workers deployment settings

Architecture

• Runtime: Cloudflare Workers (V8 isolates)
• Language: Rust compiled to WebAssembly
• Storage: Cloudflare KV (globally distributed key-value store)
• Build: Uses worker-build for optimized WASM compilation