shorten

Minimal secure URL shortener

Pure Nim score 15/100 · tests present · no docs generated

Summary

Latest Version 0.2.0
License MIT
CI Status Failing
Downloads 0
Last Indexed 2026-09-04 07:26

Tags

url shortener web server cli

Authors

  • Carlo Capocasa

Installation

nimble install shorten
choosenim install shorten
git clone https://github.com/capocasa/shorten

OS Compatibility

Platform Linux macOS Windows FreeBSD OpenBSD NetBSD Android iOS WASM Embedded
shorten ✓ ✓ ✓ - - - - - - -

Dependencies

Package Version Optional
nim >= 2.0.0 No
limdb - No
httpbeast#master - No
libsha - No

Source

Repository https://github.com/capocasa/shorten
Homepage https://github.com/capocasa/shorten
Registry Source nimble_official

README

shorten

A minimal, secure URL shortener written in Nim.

Server

shortend is a headless HTTP server backed by an embedded LMDB database. Write operations require bearer token authentication.

Build

nimble build

Token Setup

Generate a hash for your secret token:

$ export NIMSHORT_TOKEN=mysecrettoken
$ shortend
a1b2c3d4...

The hash is printed to stderr and the program exits. Use it in the systemd config below.

Systemd

# /etc/systemd/system/shortend.service
[Unit]
Description=shortend
After=network.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
DynamicUser=True
ExecStart=shortend
Restart=always
NoNewPrivileges=yes
PrivateDevices=yes
PrivateTmp=yes
ProtectHome=yes
ProtectSystem=full
Environment=NIMSHORT_HASH=<your-hash> NIMSHORT_PORT=7071
StateDirectory=shortend
WorkingDirectory=%S/shortend

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

systemctl enable --now shortend

Nginx

Proxy all requests to shortend, serving static files first if they exist:

server {
  server_name short.url;
  listen 443 ssl;
  listen [::]:443 ssl;
  ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/short.url/fullchain.pem;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/short.url/privkey.pem;
  include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf;

  root /var/www/short.url;
  location / {
    try_files $uri @shortend;
  }
  location @shortend {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:7071;
    proxy_buffering off;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
  }
}

API

PUT    /<key>   Auth: Bearer <token>   Body: <url>   → 201
GET    /<key>                                         → 301 redirect
HEAD   /<key>                                         → 200 / 404
DELETE /<key>   Auth: Bearer <token>                   → 201 / 404

CLI

The shorten command is a companion CLI tool included in the same package.

Setup

Add to ~/.bashrc:

export SHORTEN_KEY=mysecrettoken
export SHORTEN_URL=https://short.url

Usage

# Shorten a URL
shorten https://example.com/very/long/url
# https://short.url/abcdef

# Pipe from stdin
echo https://example.com/long | shorten

# Look up a short URL
shorten get abcdef
# https://example.com/very/long/url

# Delete a short URL
shorten delete abcdef

Changelog

0.2.0   Rename to shorten, add CLI tool
0.1.0   Minimal secure headless URL shortener

License

MIT