ShortLink

A self-hosted link shortener with multi-user support, invite-based registration, and role hierarchy.

Features

• Short links: yourdomain.com/slug redirects to any URL
• Homepage: public page with a text box to look up short links
• Roles: admin → mod → user hierarchy
  • Admin: full control — manage all links, users, roles, and invites
  • Mod: manage all links, create user invites
  • User: manage own links only
• Invite system: admins create mod/user invites, mods create user invites
• First-run setup: first user becomes admin automatically
• Click tracking: each redirect increments a counter
• No JavaScript frameworks: plain Go templates, minimal vanilla JS for copy buttons

Quick start

1. Clone this repo
2. Copy the example environment file and edit it:

cp .env.example .env

3. Edit .env:
   • Set BASE_URL to your actual domain (e.g. https://go.example.com)
   • Set SITE_NAME to whatever you like
   • Change DB_PASS and MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD to strong, unique passwords
4. Run:

docker compose up -d --build

5. Visit your domain — you'll be prompted to create the first admin account.

Environment variables

All configuration is done via the .env file (see .env.example for a template).

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	8080	HTTP listen port
DB_HOST	db	MariaDB hostname
DB_PORT	3306	MariaDB port
DB_USER	shortlink	MariaDB username
DB_PASS	(required)	MariaDB password
DB_NAME	shortlink	MariaDB database name
MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD	(required)	MariaDB root password
SITE_NAME	ShortLink	Displayed in nav and homepage
BASE_URL	http://localhost:8080	Public URL (for copy buttons)

Role permissions

Action	Admin	Mod	User
Create own links	✓	✓	✓
Delete own links	✓	✓	✓
View all links	✓	✓	✗
Delete any link	✓	✓	✗
Create user invites	✓	✓	✗
Create mod invites	✓	✗	✗
Change user roles	✓	✗	✗
Delete users	✓	✗	✗

Reverse proxy (Caddy example)

go.example.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:8080
}

Licence

CC0 — public domain.