Shlink Shortener

2026-01-09 297 words 2 minutes

Contents

This web app serves as a simple front-end for Shlink service where anyone can enter a url, the server in turn sends it to your Shlink server via REST API and returns the shortened URL.

Intro

Shlink works great but it only has an admin web interface. There is no simple interface you can provide users to generate URL easily without having to setup API key and then asking user authenticate to the server with API key through the admin web interface.

This web app serves as a simple front-end for Shlink service where anyone can enter a url, the server in turn sends it to your Shlink server via REST API and returns the shortened URL.

Once the URL is shortened, it is displayed on-screen and allows user to copy it to clipboard or generate a QR code (done locally via qrcodejs library)

Note: I am not a UI/UX designer, AI was used to assist in creating html templates.

Setup

Note: copy to clipboard option will not work unless you are setup behind reverse proxy/SSL.

You will need to generate an API key from Shlink server.

See documentation for that here: https://shlink.io/documentation/api-docs/authentication/

The following environmental variables are required!

SHLINK_API_KEY: Generated from the Shlink server
host: The hostname of your Shlink server
tag: Tag that will be applied to links in the Shlink admin interface to differentiate the use of this API key from your other users/keys.

Pre-built Image

docker pull hbuilder/shlink-shortener

docker run --name shlink-shortener -p 5000:5000 -e SHLINK_API_KEY=GeneratedFromShlinkDockerContainer -e host=https://YourShlinkServer.com -e tag=shlinkshortener --restart unless-stopped hbuilder/shlink-shortener

Build Image

git clone https://github.com/hb-i/shlink-shortener

cd shlink-shortener

docker build -t shlink-shortener .

Compose file:

services:
    shlink-shortener:
        container_name: shlink-shortener
        ports:
            - 5000:5000
        environment:
            - SHLINK_API_KEY=GeneratedFromShlinkDockerContainer
            - host=https://YourShlinkServer.com
            - tag=shlinkshortener
        image: shlink-shortener
        restart: unless-stopped