🔗 URL Shortener Service

A simple URL shortening service like bit.ly or tinyurl.com, built using Python and Flask.

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🚀 Features

• Shorten long URLs to a short 6-character alphanumeric code.
• Redirect using the short code.
• Track and view analytics (click count, original URL, creation timestamp).
• In-memory storage (no database).
• REST API with JSON responses.

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🛠 Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• pip (Python package manager)
• 3 hours of focused development time (for challenge)

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📁 Project Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/Nikhilks2002/URL-Shortner.git
   cd url-shortener

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2. Install dependencies

   pip install -r requirements.txt

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▶️ Run the Flask Server

In a new terminal window:

On Windows PowerShell:

$env:FLASK_APP = "app.main"
python -m flask run

On macOS/Linux (or Git Bash):

export FLASK_APP=app.main
python -m flask run

You should see:

 Running on http://127.0.0.1:5000

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✅ Running the Tests

In a separate terminal while the Flask server is running:

pytest

Alternatively, if you have a custom test file (e.g., test_api.py):

python test_api.py

✅ Make sure the Flask server is running before you run tests — otherwise requests will fail with connection errors.

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🔄 Example API Usage

1. Shorten a URL

curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/shorten \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://www.example.com/very/long/url"}'

Response:

{
  "short_code": "abc123",
  "short_url": "http://localhost:5000/abc123"
}

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2. Redirect to Original URL

curl -L http://localhost:5000/abc123

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3. Get Analytics

curl http://localhost:5000/api/stats/abc123

Response:

{
  "url": "https://www.example.com/very/long/url",
  "clicks": 5,
  "created_at": "2024-01-01T10:00:00"
}

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🧪 Testing Notes

• At least 5 tests cover:

  • Shorten logic
  • Redirection
  • Analytics
  • Error cases (e.g., invalid URL, missing short code)
  • Concurrent behavior

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