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Terminal.skills
Use Cases/Build a URL Shortener with Analytics

Build a URL Shortener with Analytics

Build a URL shortener with custom slugs, click analytics, geographic tracking, device detection, QR code generation, link expiration, and A/B testing for marketing campaigns.

#redis#caching#database#pub-sub#queues
Works with:claude-codeopenai-codexgemini-clicursor

Skills stack · 5 skills

Avg quality 93/100·All SAFE
>

typescript

v

Not yet scored
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>

redis

v1.0.0

Build applications with Redis — caching, session storage, pub/sub, streams, rate limiting, leaderboards, and queues. Use when tasks involve in-memory data storage, real-time messaging, distributed locking, or performance optimization with caching layers.

93/100 quality
1.81× impact
SAFE
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>

postgresql

v1.0.0

Assists with designing schemas, writing performant queries, managing indexes, and operating PostgreSQL databases. Use when working with JSONB, full-text search, window functions, CTEs, row-level security, replication, or performance tuning. Trigger words: postgresql, postgres, sql, database, jsonb, rls, window functions, cte.

87/100 quality
1.53× impact
SAFE
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>

hono

v1.0.0

You are an expert in Hono, the ultrafast web framework for the edge. You help developers build APIs and web applications that run on Cloudflare Workers, Deno, Bun, Node.js, AWS Lambda, and Vercel Edge — with a tiny footprint (~14KB), middleware ecosystem, JSX support, RPC client, and Web Standards API compatibility that makes code truly portable across runtimes.

93/100 quality
3.00× impact
SAFE
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>

zod

v1.0.0

You are an expert in Zod, the TypeScript-first schema declaration and validation library. You help developers define schemas that validate data at runtime AND infer TypeScript types at compile time — eliminating the need to write types and validators separately. Used for API input validation, form validation, environment variables, config files, and any data boundary.

100/100 quality
1.21× impact
SAFE
View skill
$

The Problem

Jana leads marketing at a 25-person SaaS. They share links on social media, email campaigns, and partner sites — but have zero visibility into what happens after. They don't know which channels drive traffic, what devices users click from, or which geographic regions convert best. They use Bitly ($348/year) but need custom branded domains, deeper analytics, and A/B link testing. They need a self-hosted URL shortener with rich analytics.

Step 1: Build the URL Shortener

typescript
// src/links/shortener.ts — URL shortener with analytics and A/B testing
import { randomBytes } from "node:crypto";
import { pool } from "../db";
import { Redis } from "ioredis";

const redis = new Redis(process.env.REDIS_URL!);

const SLUG_LENGTH = 6;
const DEFAULT_DOMAIN = process.env.SHORT_DOMAIN || "link.example.com";

interface ShortLink {
  id: string;
  slug: string;
  originalUrl: string;
  domain: string;
  title: string | null;
  tags: string[];
  expiresAt: string | null;
  password: string | null;
  maxClicks: number | null;
  abTargets: Array<{ url: string; weight: number }> | null;
  clickCount: number;
  createdBy: string;
  createdAt: string;
}

interface ClickEvent {
  linkId: string;
  ip: string;
  country: string;
  city: string;
  device: string;
  browser: string;
  os: string;
  referrer: string;
  timestamp: number;
}

// Create short link
export async function createLink(
  originalUrl: string,
  options?: {
    slug?: string;
    domain?: string;
    title?: string;
    tags?: string[];
    expiresAt?: string;
    password?: string;
    maxClicks?: number;
    abTargets?: Array<{ url: string; weight: number }>;
    userId?: string;
  }
): Promise<{ shortUrl: string; link: ShortLink }> {
  const slug = options?.slug || generateSlug();
  const domain = options?.domain || DEFAULT_DOMAIN;

  // Check slug availability
  const existing = await redis.get(`link:${domain}:${slug}`);
  if (existing) throw new Error("Slug already taken");

  const id = `lnk-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(36).slice(2, 6)}`;

  await pool.query(
    `INSERT INTO short_links (id, slug, domain, original_url, title, tags, expires_at, password, max_clicks, ab_targets, created_by, created_at)
     VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10, $11, NOW())`,
    [id, slug, domain, originalUrl, options?.title, JSON.stringify(options?.tags || []),
     options?.expiresAt, options?.password, options?.maxClicks,
     options?.abTargets ? JSON.stringify(options.abTargets) : null,
     options?.userId]
  );

  // Cache for instant redirect
  await redis.set(`link:${domain}:${slug}`, JSON.stringify({
    id, url: originalUrl, expiresAt: options?.expiresAt,
    password: options?.password, maxClicks: options?.maxClicks,
    abTargets: options?.abTargets,
  }));

  return {
    shortUrl: `https://${domain}/${slug}`,
    link: {
      id, slug, originalUrl, domain, title: options?.title || null,
      tags: options?.tags || [], expiresAt: options?.expiresAt || null,
      password: options?.password || null, maxClicks: options?.maxClicks || null,
      abTargets: options?.abTargets || null, clickCount: 0,
      createdBy: options?.userId || "", createdAt: new Date().toISOString(),
    },
  };
}

// Resolve and redirect
export async function resolveLink(domain: string, slug: string, clickData: Partial<ClickEvent>): Promise<{
  url: string | null;
  expired: boolean;
  passwordRequired: boolean;
}> {
  const cached = await redis.get(`link:${domain}:${slug}`);
  if (!cached) return { url: null, expired: false, passwordRequired: false };

  const link = JSON.parse(cached);

  // Check expiration
  if (link.expiresAt && new Date(link.expiresAt) < new Date()) {
    return { url: null, expired: true, passwordRequired: false };
  }

  // Check max clicks
  if (link.maxClicks) {
    const clicks = parseInt(await redis.get(`clicks:count:${link.id}`) || "0");
    if (clicks >= link.maxClicks) {
      return { url: null, expired: true, passwordRequired: false };
    }
  }

  // Password check
  if (link.password) {
    return { url: null, expired: false, passwordRequired: true };
  }

  // A/B testing: weighted random selection
  let targetUrl = link.url;
  if (link.abTargets?.length > 0) {
    targetUrl = selectABTarget(link.abTargets);
  }

  // Track click (non-blocking)
  trackClick(link.id, targetUrl, clickData).catch(() => {});

  return { url: targetUrl, expired: false, passwordRequired: false };
}

// A/B target selection
function selectABTarget(targets: Array<{ url: string; weight: number }>): string {
  const totalWeight = targets.reduce((s, t) => s + t.weight, 0);
  let random = Math.random() * totalWeight;

  for (const target of targets) {
    random -= target.weight;
    if (random <= 0) return target.url;
  }

  return targets[0].url;
}

// Track click analytics
async function trackClick(linkId: string, targetUrl: string, data: Partial<ClickEvent>): Promise<void> {
  const now = Date.now();
  const day = new Date(now).toISOString().slice(0, 10);
  const hour = new Date(now).toISOString().slice(0, 13);

  const pipe = redis.pipeline();

  // Increment counters
  pipe.incr(`clicks:count:${linkId}`);
  pipe.hincrby(`clicks:daily:${linkId}`, day, 1);
  pipe.hincrby(`clicks:hourly:${linkId}`, hour, 1);
  pipe.expire(`clicks:hourly:${linkId}`, 86400 * 7);

  // Track by dimension
  if (data.country) pipe.hincrby(`clicks:country:${linkId}`, data.country, 1);
  if (data.device) pipe.hincrby(`clicks:device:${linkId}`, data.device, 1);
  if (data.browser) pipe.hincrby(`clicks:browser:${linkId}`, data.browser, 1);
  if (data.referrer) {
    const refDomain = extractDomain(data.referrer);
    pipe.hincrby(`clicks:referrer:${linkId}`, refDomain, 1);
  }

  // A/B tracking
  if (targetUrl) {
    pipe.hincrby(`clicks:ab:${linkId}`, targetUrl, 1);
  }

  await pipe.exec();

  // Persist to DB (batched)
  await pool.query(
    `INSERT INTO click_events (link_id, target_url, ip_hash, country, city, device, browser, os, referrer, clicked_at)
     VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, NOW())`,
    [linkId, targetUrl, data.ip ? simpleHash(data.ip) : null,
     data.country, data.city, data.device, data.browser, data.os, data.referrer]
  );
}

// Get link analytics
export async function getAnalytics(linkId: string): Promise<{
  totalClicks: number;
  clicksByDay: Record<string, number>;
  clicksByCountry: Record<string, number>;
  clicksByDevice: Record<string, number>;
  clicksByBrowser: Record<string, number>;
  clicksByReferrer: Record<string, number>;
  abResults: Record<string, number> | null;
}> {
  const [total, daily, country, device, browser, referrer, ab] = await Promise.all([
    redis.get(`clicks:count:${linkId}`),
    redis.hgetall(`clicks:daily:${linkId}`),
    redis.hgetall(`clicks:country:${linkId}`),
    redis.hgetall(`clicks:device:${linkId}`),
    redis.hgetall(`clicks:browser:${linkId}`),
    redis.hgetall(`clicks:referrer:${linkId}`),
    redis.hgetall(`clicks:ab:${linkId}`),
  ]);

  return {
    totalClicks: parseInt(total || "0"),
    clicksByDay: Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(daily).map(([k, v]) => [k, parseInt(v)])),
    clicksByCountry: Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(country).map(([k, v]) => [k, parseInt(v)])),
    clicksByDevice: Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(device).map(([k, v]) => [k, parseInt(v)])),
    clicksByBrowser: Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(browser).map(([k, v]) => [k, parseInt(v)])),
    clicksByReferrer: Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(referrer).map(([k, v]) => [k, parseInt(v)])),
    abResults: Object.keys(ab).length > 0 ? Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(ab).map(([k, v]) => [k, parseInt(v)])) : null,
  };
}

function generateSlug(): string {
  const chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789";
  return Array.from(randomBytes(SLUG_LENGTH)).map((b) => chars[b % chars.length]).join("");
}

function extractDomain(url: string): string {
  try { return new URL(url).hostname; } catch { return "direct"; }
}

function simpleHash(s: string): string {
  let h = 0;
  for (let i = 0; i < s.length; i++) h = ((h << 5) - h + s.charCodeAt(i)) | 0;
  return h.toString(36);
}

Results

  • Channel attribution solved — each campaign gets its own short link; analytics show Twitter drives 3x more clicks than LinkedIn; marketing budget reallocated accordingly
  • A/B link testing increased conversions 23% — two landing page variants split 50/50; winning variant rolled out to 100% after 1,000 clicks
  • Custom branded domain — links.acme.com instead of bit.ly; brand recognition in every shared link
  • Geographic insights — 60% of clicks from US, 15% from UK; team created UK-specific landing page → UK conversion rate doubled
  • $348/year Bitly cost eliminated — self-hosted with richer analytics and custom features; ROI from A/B testing alone exceeded the development cost in month 1