CropLink - URL Shortener and Tracker

CropLink is a full-stack web application that allows users to shorten long URLs, customize urls, track clicks, and manage their link history from a personalized dashboard.

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Features

Authentication with Clerk

• Users can securely register, log in, and manage sessions using Clerk.
• Clerk provides a pre-built authentication flow (sign-up, login, logout, forgot password) with support for social logins.

Custom URL Shortening

• Users can generate short URLs automatically, or create custom short codes (e.g., croplink.io/mybrand).

URL Expiration

• All shortened URLs automatically expire 6 hours after creation.
• After expiration, attempting to access the URL will show an "expired link" page instead of redirecting.

Dashboard

• View stats like total links, total clicks, last activity.
• Each short URL shows:
  • Original URL
  • Click count
  • Expiration status
  • Date created

Redirection

• Short URLs seamlessly redirect to the original destination until they expire.

Click Tracking

• Every visit increments a counter in real-time.
• Tracks metrics like last clicked time and total clicks per URL.

Componentized Frontend

• Built with React + TypeScript, styled with Tailwind + Shadcn/UI for a modern and responsive UI.

REST API

• Built with Go (Fiber + GORM + PostgreSQL).
• URL shortening, redirection, expiration, and analytics.

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Tech Stack

Backend	Frontend
Go (Golang)	React + TypeScript
Fiber (Web)	Tailwind CSS
GORM (ORM)	Shadcn/UI Components
PostgreSQL	Axios
Clerk (Auth)	React Router DOM

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Containerization

CropLink is fully containerized using Docker.

Services are isolated into independent containers:

• Frontend container
• Backend container
• PostgreSQL container

Benefits:

• Environment consistency
• Easy deployment
• Simplified local setup
• Clean service networking
• Dockerized services communicate using internal Docker network.

System Architecture

  User
    ↓
  Frontend (React)
    ↓
  Backend (Go Fiber)
    ↓
  PostgreSQL

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Installation and Setup

Clone Repository

https://github.com/08abhinav/cropLink.git

Backend setup

cd backend
go mod tidy

• Create a .env file and add required backend variables:

  JWT_SECRETKEY
  DB_HOST
  DB_PORT
  DB_USER
  DB_PASSWORD
  DB_DBNAME
  DB_SSLMODE
  CLERK_SECRET_KEY

• Run backend

go run main.go

Frontend setup

cd frontend
npm install

• Create a .env file at root and add required backend variables:

  VITE_BACKEND_BASE_URL
  VITE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY

• Run frontend

npm run dev

Docker setup

• After successfully creating the frontend and backend run

NOTE: Make sure you have docker and docker-compose installed locally

docker compose up --build

This starts:

• frontend service
• backend service
• postgres service

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