Slinkr

Stretch. Shrink. Share.

A sleek, Flask-powered web app for shortening, expanding, QR-coding, and validating URLs.

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📋 Table of Contents

1. Demo
2. Features
3. Tech Stack
4. Getting Started
   • Configuration
   • Run Locally
5. Usage Examples
6. Deployment
7. Contributing
8. License

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📷 Demo

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🚀 Features

Public (No Account Required)

• Expand URLs – Reveal full links.
• QR Code Generator – PNG/SVG output, logo optional.

Verified Users

• URL Shortener – Create branded short links (/abc123).
• Basic Link Checker – HTTP status & reachability tests.

Admin-Only

• User Management – View, verify, or delete users via /admin/users.
• Rate Limiting Controls – Fine-tune abuse protection.

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🛠 Tech Stack

• Backend: Flask, TinyDB, Flask-Login, Flask-Bcrypt, Flask-Limiter
• Frontend: TailwindCSS, Vanilla JS
• QR Codes: qrcode + Pillow
• Utilities: requests, shortuuid

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📦 Getting Started

Configuration

Create a .env file in your project root:

SECRET_KEY=your_super_secret_key
APP_BASE_URL=http://localhost:5000

Run Locally

git clone https://github.com/your-username/slinkr.git
cd slinkr
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py

First user to register becomes an admin and is auto-verified. Subsequent users require admin approval.

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💻 Usage Examples

• Shorten a URL

  curl -X POST "$APP_BASE_URL/api/shorten" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
    -d "url=https://example.com"  
  # → {"short_url":"http://.../Ab3XyZ"}

• Generate a QR Code

  curl "$APP_BASE_URL/api/qrcode?url=https://example.com" \
    --output qr.png

• Check a Link

  curl -X POST "$APP_BASE_URL/api/check" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
    -d "url=https://example.com"

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🚀 Deployment

• Use Gunicorn + Nginx or Caddy.

• Do not run app.py with debug=True in production.

• Swap TinyDB for PostgreSQL/SQLite for higher scale.

• Configure Flask-Limiter with Redis:

  limiter = Limiter(app, storage_uri="redis://localhost:6379")

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🤝 Contributing

Please read our Code of Conduct first, then:

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a feature branch
3. Run tests: pytest
4. Open a Pull Request

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📄 License

MIT © Michael Borck