Developer tools · Case study
go.avenash-kumar.com
Short links, real analytics.
The problem
Why this needed to exist
Most link shorteners put analytics behind an account or a paywall, and the free ones give you a short link and nothing else. If you want to know whether anyone actually clicked, and from where, you have to sign up and pay.
Redirects also matter. A short link that bounces through a slow server adds a delay to every click. At the edge, the redirect happens in the nearest data center instead.
What I built
The product
The shortener creates a short link with a custom slug, an optional expiry date, and an optional click limit. Every link gets a QR code generated in the browser, and a dashboard shows total clicks, top links, and 7, 14, and 30 day charts.
Links can be searched and filtered, copied, paused and resumed, and each one has its own analytics page. Pause, expiry, and click limit are checked on every redirect, not just displayed.
How it works
Under the hood
A single Cloudflare Worker handles the API and the redirects at the edge. Links and click events live in D1, SQLite at the edge, and static assets are served through the ASSETS binding. The frontend is plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with no build step.
When someone opens a short link, the Worker checks whether it is paused, expired, or past its click limit, then records the click with country, device, browser, and referrer before redirecting.
Results
Where it stands
- Custom slugs, QR codes, and click analytics, free with no signup.
- Redirects at the edge with pause, expiry, and click limit enforced on every redirect.
- Dashboard with total clicks, top links, and 7, 14, and 30 day charts.
- Deployed on merge to main through GitHub Actions and Wrangler.