🚀 Shorty - URL Shortener

Shorty is a full-stack URL shortener app built with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB.
The backend also serves the frontend, so once the build is done — everything runs together in one container.

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🧰 Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following installed:

• Podman
• Node.js (for local builds)
• Git
• A MongoDB connection (Atlas cluster or local)

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⚙️ Project Setup

1️⃣ Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/shorty.git
cd shorty

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2️⃣ Environment Variables

Your repository includes an env.example file.
Create a new .env file based on it:

cp env.example .env

Then open .env and fill in the required values:

PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=development
MONGODB_URL=mongodb+srv://<your-cluster-url>
BASE_URL=https://shorty.yourdomain.com

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3️⃣ Build the Frontend

The frontend is located in the client folder and is served by the backend after building.

cd client
npm install
npm run build
cd ..

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4️⃣ Build the Container Image

Make sure you’re back in the project root directory.

podman build -t shorty:latest .

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5️⃣ Run the Container

Run the app with your environment variables.

podman run -d   -p 3000:3000   -e PORT=3000   -e NODE_ENV=development   -e MONGODB_URL="your-mongodb-url"   -e BASE_URL="https://shorty.yourdomain.com"   --name shorty-container   localhost/shorty:latest

✅ The app should now be running on:
http://localhost:3000

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🧩 Useful Commands

Stop the Container

podman stop shorty-container

Restart the Container

podman start shorty-container

View Logs

podman logs -f shorty-container

Remove Container and Image

podman rm -f shorty-container
podman rmi shorty:latest

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🧱 Development Notes

• The frontend build output (client/build) is automatically served by the backend Express server.
• .dockerignore ensures .env and unnecessary files are not included in the image.
• MongoDB should be hosted externally (e.g., Atlas), as the container does not include a database.

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🌐 Deployment Option

If you’ve pushed your image to Docker Hub or Podman registry, others can directly pull and run:

podman pull docker.io/sanskarspamz/shorty:latest
podman run -d -p 3000:3000 --name shorty docker.io/sanskarspamz/shorty:latest

You can also add environment variables in the run command as shown above.

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🤝 For Contributors

If you’d like to contribute to Shorty, follow these steps:

1️⃣ Fork and Clone

git fork https://github.com/<your-username>/shorty.git
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/shorty.git
cd shorty

2️⃣ Create a Branch

git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

3️⃣ Make Changes and Test

Build and test locally:

cd client
npm install && npm run build
cd ..
podman build -t shorty:test .
podman run -p 3000:3000 --env-file .env shorty:test

4️⃣ Commit and Push

git add .
git commit -m "Added new feature"
git push origin feature/your-feature-name

5️⃣ Create a Pull Request

Go to your fork on GitHub and create a pull request to the main repo.

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🧠 Troubleshooting

• If you get “connection refused” on MongoDB, ensure your cluster’s IP whitelist includes 0.0.0.0/0.
• If localhost:3000 doesn’t load, check container logs using podman logs shorty-container.
• Always rebuild (podman build ...) if you make code changes in src/ or client/.

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👨‍💻 Author

Sanskar Diwedi
📧 Contact
🌐 https://sanskardiwedi.in