LinkShort

A no-nonsense URL shortener built with Go & React.

Getting Started

Follow these steps to set up the project for development or production.

Database

LinkShort uses SQLite: No manual database installation required. The SQLite database file is created automatically on first run, and migrations are applied at startup.

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Installation

You can run LinkShort with Docker or manually.

Docker (Recommended)

Prerequisites

• Docker & Docker Compose

Check your environment:

# use the setup checker
make docker-setup

Steps

1. Prepare environment variables

   Copy and edit the configuration files:

   # Backend config
   cp example.linkshort.yaml .linkshort.yaml
   # Edit .linkshort.yaml as needed
   
   # Frontend config
   cp web/env.example web/.env
   # Edit web/.env to match your environment

2. Build and start

   make build-docker

3. Rebuild (if needed)

   make re-build-docker

4. Stop

   make down-docker

Notes:

• Ensure .linkshort.yaml is in your working directory and mounted into the container
• Database migrations run automatically on container startup
• Access the app at http://localhost:8000

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Manual Setup

Frontend

1. Install dependencies

   Requires Node.js and npm.

   cd web
   npm install

2. Configure environment

   cp env.example .env
   # Edit .env as needed

3. Development mode

   npm run dev

   Access at http://localhost:3001

4. Production build

   npm run build

Backend

1. Prerequisites

   Install Go 1.25+ and ensure it's in your PATH.

2. Configure

   cp example.linkshort.yaml .linkshort.yaml
   # Edit .linkshort.yaml as needed

3. Build

   make build

4. Run

   ./linkshort --conf .linkshort.yaml

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Makefile

View all available commands:

make help

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.