AWS URL Shortener is a project that shows how to create a Vanity URL Shortening Service using just AWS S3 Static Website Hosting and Route 53. This approach is fully serverless and does not require any coding. Platform specific CLI scripts (AWS CLI wrappers) are provided to make managing the shortlinks easier. The service works by using a little known feature in S3 called Object Redirection, which consists of setting some system-defined metadata on an empty object to redirect requests to a website configured as the target destination. Since these objects hold 0 bytes, the overall cost for this project is near 0 per month excluding the already low cost of a hosted zone in Route 53.
Releases: https://github.com/StevenJDH/AWS-URL-Shortener/releases
- Fully manage all shortlinks with simple to remember commands.
- Use human readable names for shortlinks instead of random characters.
- Create permanent and temporary shortlinks to suite different needs.
- Unlimited shortlinks with no need to set up redirection rules.
- Powered by native S3 features that remove the need for a databases.
- Link previews for destination URLs in apps like Whatsapp.
- Support for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- Terraform project to quickly set up the backend for all of this.
- AWS CLI 2.7.x or newer installed.
- Domain registered in Route 53.
- Terraform 1.30.x or newer installed.
- Sufficient permissions in AWS to run everything.
Included is a Terraform project for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to quickly create a working backend environment. It mainly creates some S3 buckets with test files and the needed DNS records to make this work with the selected domain. To begin, perform the following steps:
-
Change to the
Terraformdirectory, and initialize the project:terraform init
-
Create a plan to see what AWS resources will be created:
terraform plan -var domain=my.link -out backend.tfplan
-
Create the resources based on the plan:
terraform apply "backend.tfplan" -
To remove the backend, run destroy using the same variable as before:
terraform destroy -var domain=my.link
The domain variable controls what domain will be used for the vanity URL shortening service. In other words, make sure to replace my.link with the needed one.
To test if the backend is set up correctly, open a browser, and enter the configured domain, like my.link. A welcome page should appear if it works. Next, test if shortlinks are being redirected by navigating to <your-domain>/test. If this redirects to google.com, then the setup is working. Finally, perform the same tests by adding the www subdomain to everything to ensure the same results.
Extract the CLI script that is compatible with the operating system it will run on, and place it into a folder. Add the folder location where the script is installed to the system PATH. After, type setx AWS_URL_SHORTENER my.link for Windows, or export AWS_URL_SHORTENER=my.link for Linux and macOS, to tell the CLI script what Domain/S3 Bucket to use for the shortlinks. For Windows, the console may need to be restarted for the changes to take effect, and for Linux and macOS, run chmod +x shortlink to add the execution bit if needed. Finally, type shortlink version to confirm the CLI script is working.
Below is the usage information that is needed to manage the shortlinks via the command line.
Usage: shortlink OPERATION shortlink_id destination_url [expires]
Operation:
create Creates or updates a shortlink using both required parameters.
remove Removes an existing shortlink using first parameter only.
list Lists the existing shortlinks.
describe Describes a shortlink's configuration.
version Displays the version of the script.
Examples:
shortlink create foobar "https://www.google.com"
shortlink create foobar "https://www.google.com" expires
shortlink describe foobar
shortlink remove foobar
The following shows a sample output when describing an existing shortlink called github:
> shortlink describe github
------------------------------------------------------
| HeadObject |
+-------------------+--------------------------------+
| Property | Value |
+-------------------+--------------------------------+
| Shortlink | my.link/github |
| Destination | https://github.com/StevenJDH |
| Expiration | Never |
| UTCLastModified | 2023-08-19T20:47:48+00:00 |
+-------------------+--------------------------------+
Operation completed successfully.
📝NOTE: All files and folders not related to shortlinks will be ignored by the CLI script. This was done so that a static website can also be hosted in the same bucket as the shortlinks to extend support for a UI, or to allow for any other need.
Pull requests will trigger automatic checks for any modified Terraform files before they can be merged into main. To avoid issues, run the same checks locally from the root of the Terraform folder before submitting a PR.
terraform init -backend=false
terraform fmt -check -diff -recursive
terraform fmt -recursive
terraform validate📝NOTE: If using Windows, the
-diffflag may not work without additional setup. Use git bash instead, or runchoco install diffutilsas per GNU DiffUtils for Windows. Or drop the flag if it's too much trouble.
Install the needed CLI from here, or use winget install TerraformLinters.tflint if Windows, then run the following commands:
tflint --init --recursive
tflint -f compact --recursive📝NOTE: Any issues detected will have to be fixed manually.
AWS URL Shortener is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
Thanks for your interest in contributing! There are many ways to contribute to this project. Get started here.
Many commonly asked questions are answered in the FAQ: https://github.com/StevenJDH/AWS-URL-Shortener/wiki/FAQ
| Method | Address |
|---|---|
| PayPal: | https://www.paypal.me/stevenjdh |
| Cryptocurrency: | Supported options |
// Steven Jenkins De Haro ("StevenJDH" on GitHub)