LinkForge

A scalable URL shortening platform with analytics, QR generation, and system design focused architecture.

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Overview

LinkForge is a full-stack URL shortener built with scalability and real-world backend architecture in mind.

It goes beyond a simple tool and evolves into a production-ready system with:

• URL shortening
• Custom aliases
• Expiry support
• QR code generation
• Rate limiting
• (Upcoming) Authentication, analytics, Kafka streaming, Redis caching

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Features (Version 1)

• Shorten long URLs
• Custom alias support
• Expiry date & time
• Optional password protection
• QR code generation
• Rate limiting (basic protection)
• Clean UI with React

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Tech Stack

Frontend

• React (Vite)
• Tailwind CSS
• Lucide Icons

Backend

• Spring Boot
• REST APIs
• MySQL

Tools

• Git & GitHub
• Postman
• Maven

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Architecture (Current)

Client (React) ↓ Spring Boot API ↓ MySQL Database

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Future Architecture (Planned)

Client ↓ API Gateway ↓ | Link Service | | Auth Service | | Analytics Service |

↓ Kafka → Consumers → DB ↓ Redis Cache Layer

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API Endpoints (Core)

🔹 Create Short URL

POST /api/links

🔹 Redirect

GET /{shortCode}

🔹 QR Details

GET /api/qr/details/{shortCode}

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Setup Instructions

1. Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/LinkForge.git

cd LinkForge

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2. Backend Setup

cd backend

Create:

application.properties

Add your DB config:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/linkforge spring.datasource.username=YOUR_USERNAME spring.datasource.password=YOUR_PASSWORD

Run:

mvn spring-boot:run

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3. Frontend Setup

cd frontend npm install npm run dev

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Security Note

Sensitive configs like database credentials are not committed.

Use:

application.properties (local only) application-example.properties (for reference)

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Version Roadmap

This project is developed in multiple versions to demonstrate system evolution.

Version 1 — Core Product

• URL shortening
• Custom alias
• Expiry
• QR generation
• Rate limiting

Release: Version v1

v1.0.1 - MVP release - V!.0.2 - MVP release (Stable) -

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Version 2 — User System

• JWT Authentication
• User-specific links
• History dashboard

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Version 3 — Performance Optimization

• Redis caching
• Faster redirects
• Reduced DB load

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Version 4 — Event-Driven Architecture

• Kafka integration
• Async click tracking
• High throughput handling

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Version 5 — Advanced Analytics

• Stream processing (Apache Beam)
• Real-time insights
• Trending links

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Key Design Decisions

• Rate limiting to prevent abuse
• Stateless backend for scalability
• Modular structure for future microservices
• Async processing (planned via Kafka)
• Cache layer (Redis planned)

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Scaling Strategy

• Redis caching for hot data
• Kafka for high write throughput
• DB indexing on short_code
• Horizontal scaling support
• Future DB sharding

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Screenshots

Add screenshots here

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Future Improvements

• Link analytics dashboard
• Password-protected access flow
• Mobile responsiveness improvements
• Dark mode UI
• Admin panel

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Docker (Planned)

Docker support will be added in later versions for:

• Backend service
• Frontend service
• Kafka & Redis integration

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Author

Subramanya V

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