URL Shortener with MERN Stack

This repository contains a simple URL shortener application built using the MERN stack. The project is divided into two main folders: client for the Vite React app and server for the Express.js backend.

Live Demo

Check out the live demo of the URL shortener app at linky-orcin.vercel.app.

Client

Dependencies

• axios (version 1.6.2): A promise-based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js.
• react (version 18.2.0): A JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
• react-dom (version 18.2.0): Entry point for working with the DOM in React applications.
• react-router-dom (version 6.21.0): Declarative routing for React.js.

Getting Started

1. Navigate to the client folder.

2. Install dependencies by running:

   npm install

3. Start the development server:

   npm run dev

4. Open your browser and visit http://localhost:3000.

Usage

• The main page (/) provides a form to shorten URLs.
• Shortened URLs are displayed on the page with their corresponding original URLs.
• Clicking on a shortened URL redirects to the original URL.

Server

Dependencies

• cors (version 2.8.5): Middleware for handling Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS).
• dotenv (version 16.3.1): Loads environment variables from a .env file.
• express (version 4.18.2): Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for Node.js.
• mongoose (version 8.0.3): MongoDB object modeling for Node.js.
• shortid (version 2.2.16): Library for creating unique, short IDs.
• valid-url (version 1.0.9): Library for URL validation.

Getting Started

1. Navigate to the server folder.

2. Create a .env file based on the provided .env.example and set the required variables.

3. Install dependencies by running:

   npm install

4. Start the server:

   npm start

API Routes

• POST /shorten: Shortens a provided URL.
• GET /:hash: Redirects to the original URL associated with the given hash.

Contributing

Feel free to contribute to this project by submitting issues or pull requests.