🔗 Go URL Shortener – Fast & Simple

✨ A backend URL Shortener built using Golang + Gin + PostgreSQL, with Clerk authentication, rate limiting and clean routes.

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⚡ Key Features

• 🔗 URL Shortening
• 🔁 Redirect Handler
• 🔐 Clerk Auth Middleware
• 📦 PostgreSQL Storage
• ⚡ Gin high-performance router
• 🧩 Signup webhook
• 🧱 Rate Limiting middleware
• 🔧 Modular structure

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📦 Tech Stack

• 🦦 Golang (1.22+) – Fast, compiled, highly performant backend language
• 🌿 Gin Framework – Lightweight, minimal & extremely fast HTTP router
• 🗄️ PostgreSQL – Relational storage for persistent URL and user data
• 🛡️ Clerk Authentication – Secure user auth + webhooks

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🔗 API Endpoints

Below are all available endpoints explained briefly 👇

• GET /health-check (Public)

  Checks if the server is healthy and running properly.

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• POST /shorten (Private)

  Creates a short URL for the authenticated user.
  Requires Clerk authentication & rate limiting.

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• GET /:code (Public)

  Redirects to the original long URL based on the short code.
  Returns 404 if the URL does not exist.

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• GET /stats (Private)

  Returns paginated list of URLs owned by the authenticated user.
  Useful for analytics / dashboard views.

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• DELETE /:code (Private)

  Deletes a specific URL owned by the authenticated user.

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• POST /webhook/signup (Public)

  Clerk signup webhook.
  Triggers when a new user registers.

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🛠️ Getting Started

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/LokeshXs/urlbit_url-shortener.git
cd urlbit_url-shortener

2. Install dependencies

go mod tidy

3. Setup Environment variables in .env file from .env.example file

cp .env.example .env

Then open .env and fill the values:

POSTGRES_URL=<your-postgres-url>
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=<your-clerk-secret-key>

6. Run the development server

go run main.go

If everything is setup correctly, you should now see the service running locally 🎉

Database connection or table initialization failures are logged without stopping the HTTP server. /health-check remains available and reports server liveness. Database-dependent endpoints return HTTP 500 with {"message":"Internal server error"} while PostgreSQL is unavailable. Each request retries the database check and any unfinished table initialization, so service resumes when PostgreSQL recovers. Missing or invalid POSTGRES_URL configuration requires correcting the environment and restarting the app.

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✨ Why I built this

Because almost every product needs a clean and reliable short-link system—and building this from scratch gives maximum control & full ownership instead of depending on third-party platforms 👨‍💻

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🧑‍💻 Author

Lokesh Singh
🔗 Portfolio — https://lokesh-singh.vercel.app/