CHALLENGE.md

Node.js Backend Engineer Task

URL Shortener Backend App

Requirements

• You should use latest Node.js
• You can use available ES6 features
• You should store data in-memory
• You should not use a database system
• You should not use Babel or any transpiler

The Task

Your task is to implement a backend for a URL shortener app and send your code to us.

A URL shortener typically creates a short version of a long URL that can be used later to redirect to the original URL.

Create a Node.js application that:

Runs an HTTP server Authorizes the /api/create API endpoint using a JWT token given in the table below Verifies the signature of the JWT tokens Receives the authorization token in the Authorization header as a bearer token, see curl example below

• JWT authorization token: eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VyaWQiOiJqb2huZG9lIiwicmVhbG5hbWUiOiJKb2huIERvZSJ9.10cg9u3gFDOLtY0hQvqkR2LlryOdifz5yrjATBHyXjA
• JWT secret: mysecretkey

Example GET request with authorization (note the Bearer substring witha a space)

curl -i http://127.0.0.1/endpoint --header "Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VyaWQiOiJqb2huZG9lIiwicmVhbG5hbWUiOiJKb2huIERvZSJ9.10cg9u3gFDOLtY0hQvqkR2LlryOdifz5yrjATBHyXjA"

API endpoints to implement

---

POST /api/create

Creates a new shortened version of the given URL and responds with HTTP status 201. If the URL creation is successful it returns a JSON containing the shorthand.

The endpoint is authorized with the JWT token given above.

Responds with HTTP status 409 if the shorthand is already taken.

Payload

Payload should be sent as JSON in the body using Content-Type: application/json

Property	Value type
original_url	String, required
shorthand	String, optional	If not present, a shorthand should be generated and returned.

Example payload

{
  "original_url": "https://www.google.com/?q=this%20is%20a%20really%20long%20url%20that%20should%20have%20been%20shortened",
  "shorthand": "shortgoogle"
}

Another example without the optional shorthand. In this case a shorthand should be generated.

{
  "original_url": "https://www.google.com/?q=this%20is%20another%20really%20long%20url%20that%20should%20have%20been%20shortened"
}

Response

Response containing the shorthand should be sent as a JSON in the body using Content-Type: application/json

Example:

{
  "shorthand": "shortgoogle"
}

---

GET /*

Example:

• GET /shortgoogle
• GET /another_url
• GET /5d41402a

This mathes all other paths.

Responds with an HTTP redirect to the original URL. Responds with status code 404 if shorthand was not found.

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