This project is a pet project — a high-performance URL shortener built using a microservices architecture with Rust and Python.

It combines:

Rust (Axum) for performance-critical services and efficient request handling Python (FastAPI) for flexible API development and rapid iteration Redis for caching, fast data access, and temporary storage of frequently used URLs

The system is designed with scalability, modularity, and clean architecture in mind. Each service is isolated and can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently.

The project leverages Redis to:

Cache frequently accessed short URLs for ultra-fast redirection Reduce database load and improve overall performance Potentially handle rate limiting or session-like data

Containerization and environment management are implemented using:

Docker and Dockerfile for building and packaging services Docker Compose (docker-compose.yml) for orchestrating the full microservices stack .env files for managing configuration and environment variables

The goal of this project is to explore:

Microservices architecture in practice Combining low-level performance (Rust) with high-level productivity (Python) Asynchronous communication between services Real-world backend challenges such as URL redirection, caching strategies, containerization, and extensibility

This project is actively developed as a learning and experimentation platform.

URL Shortener

A high-performance URL shortener built with Rust (Axum) and Python (FastAPI), using PostgreSQL and Redis.

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Docker Compose
• Rust (for local development)
• Python 3.12 (for local development)
• sqlx-cli (cargo install sqlx-cli)

Setup

1. Clone the repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd url_short

2.Complete the .env file like .env.example:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@db:5432/app
DATABASE_URL_ANALYTICS=postgresql+asyncpg://user2:password@analytic_db:5432/analytics

POSTGRES_USER=user
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
POSTGRES_DB=app

POSTGRES_USER_ANALYTICS=user2
POSTGRES_PASSWORD_ANALYTICS=password
POSTGRES_DB_ANALYTICS=analytics

REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
REDIS_EXP=3600

3. Run migrations

Start the database first:

docker compose up db -d

Run migrations:

sqlx migrate run --database-url postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/app

4. Start all services

docker compose up --build

Services

Service	URL	Description
shortener	http://localhost:8080	Rust URL shortener API
analytics	http://localhost:8081	Python analytics API
db	localhost:5432	PostgreSQL (shortener)
analytic_db	localhost:5433	PostgreSQL (analytics)
redis	localhost:6379	Redis cache & queue

API

Shortener (port 8080)

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/links	Get all links
POST	/links	Create a short link
GET	/{code}	Redirect to URL

Create a short link

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/links \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com"}'

Analytics (port 8081)

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/links	Get all links with stats

Stopping services

# Stop without removing data
docker compose down

# Stop and remove all data (volumes)
docker compose down -v