Where Goes the Link

A Chrome extension (Manifest V3) that expands shortened URLs without visiting them. Click the icon, get the real destination copied to your clipboard. No tracking pixels fired, no pages loaded.

Powered by the free UnshortLink API.

Why this exists

If you use a network-level firewall like Little Snitch with blocklists such as ph00lt0/blocklist (22,500+ short URL domains), you can't visit shortened links at all. Toggling the entire list on and off is disruptive, and editing individual entries breaks automatic updates.

This extension resolves those links via a third-party API — the lookup happens on their servers, not your machine, so your firewall rules stay intact. The trade-off is a slight delay (a few seconds) while the API follows the redirect chain.

How it works

1. Navigate to a page with a shortened URL (e.g. a t.co or bit.ly link)
2. Click the extension icon in the toolbar
3. The icon turns orange while resolving, then green on success
4. The expanded destination URL is copied to your clipboard
5. A notification shows the result (both an OS notification and a page overlay)

Installation

From source (Developer Mode)

1. Clone or download this repository
2. Open chrome://extensions in Chrome
3. Enable Developer mode (top right toggle)
4. Click Load unpacked and select the where_goes_the_link folder
5. The onboarding wizard will open automatically — follow it to set up your API key

API key setup

1. Create a free account at UnshortLink Portal
2. Copy your API key from the dashboard
3. Paste it into the extension (during onboarding or in Settings)

The free plan includes 500 API calls per month — no credit card required.

Features

• One-click expand — click the icon, get the real URL on your clipboard
• No page visits — the API resolves redirects server-side
• Visual feedback — icon changes color (orange = processing, green = success, red = error)
• Dual notifications — page overlay with selectable text + OS notification as fallback
• Quota tracking — optional badge showing days remaining or API calls left
• Rate limiting — built-in 5-second cooldown to respect API limits
• Configurable — all timings, timeouts, and display options adjustable in Settings
• Privacy-first — no telemetry, no analytics, API key stored locally

Settings

Right-click the extension icon and choose Settings, or go to chrome://extensions and click Options.

Section	What you can configure
API Configuration	API key, base URL, endpoint path
Advanced API Parameters	Max redirect hops, per-hop timeout
Quota (Manual Override)	Total plan calls, billing cycle start
Badge Display	Show/hide badge, choose between days remaining or calls remaining
Visual Feedback Timing	Duration of processing, success, and error icon states
Notification Timing	How long the page overlay and OS notification stay visible

File structure

where_goes_the_link/
├── manifest.json            # Manifest V3 configuration
├── background.js            # Service worker — all core logic
├── offscreen.html/js        # Clipboard write bridge
├── content-overlay.js/css   # Injected page toast overlay
├── options.html/js/css      # Settings page
├── onboarding.html/js/css   # First-install setup wizard
└── icons/                   # 20 PNGs (5 states × 4 sizes)

Permissions

Permission	Why
activeTab	Read the current tab's URL when you click the icon
scripting	Inject the overlay toast into pages
contextMenus	Right-click menu (Settings, Setup Guide)
notifications	OS-level notifications
storage	Persist settings, API key, quota data
offscreen	Clipboard write from service worker
clipboardWrite	Allow clipboard access in offscreen document

License

MIT