iShortn

Short links that track every click. Create branded short links with powerful analytics, QR codes, UTM templates, custom domains, and more.

ishortn.ink  ·  About  ·  Features  ·  Screenshots  ·  Tech Stack  ·  Getting Started  ·  Contributing

About

iShortn is an open-source URL shortener and link intelligence platform. It turns long URLs into short, branded links and gives you deep insight into every click — country, city, device, referrer, and hour-by-hour trends — without shipping third-party cookies or chasing visitors across the web.

Use it for marketing campaigns, product onboarding, event tracking, newsletter links, QR codes on printed material, or as a self-hosted alternative to proprietary shorteners.

Features

Link management

• Custom short aliases and friendly names
• Custom domains
• Password-protected links
• Expiration dates and click limits
• One-click deactivation
• Folders to organise links
• UTM builder and reusable templates
• QR code generation with logo overlay
• Bulk CSV import and export
• Full REST API for links

Analytics

• Total clicks and unique visitors
• Country, region, and city breakdowns
• Device, OS, and browser stats
• Referrer and source tracking
• Time-series click charts
• Per-link dashboards
• Privacy-friendly tracking (no third-party cookies)

Platform

• Authenticated workspaces via Clerk
• Usage-based billing with Lemon Squeezy and Stripe
• Transactional email via Resend and React Email
• S3-compatible object storage via Cloudflare R2
• Dark and light themes
• Built-in safe-browsing checks for submitted URLs

Screenshots

Dashboard

Manage all your links, filter by status and tags, and see click counts at a glance.

Analytics

Per-link analytics with click volume over time, unique visitor counts, and geography and device breakdowns.

Tech Stack

• Framework — Next.js 15 (App Router, Turbopack) on React 19
• Language — TypeScript
• Styling — Tailwind CSS, Radix UI, Framer Motion
• Database — MySQL with Drizzle ORM
• Cache — Redis via ioredis
• API layer — tRPC with TanStack Query
• Auth — Clerk
• Billing — Lemon Squeezy and Stripe
• Object storage — Cloudflare R2
• Email — Resend with React Email
• Product analytics — PostHog
• AI — Vercel AI SDK with OpenAI
• Package manager / runtime — Bun

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Bun 1.1 or newer
• Docker (optional, for local MySQL and Redis)
• A Clerk application for authentication
• A Resend account if you want outbound email

1. Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/AmoabaKelvin/ishortn.ink.git
cd ishortn.ink
bun install

2. Configure environment variables

cp .env.example .env

At a minimum the following variables must be set for the app to boot:

Variable	Example	Notes
DATABASE_URL	mysql://ishortn:ishortn@localhost:3306/ishortn_rewrite	MySQL connection string
REDIS_URL	redis://localhost:6379	Used for caching and rate limiting
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL	http://localhost:3000	Public base URL of the app
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY	pk_test_...	From the Clerk dashboard
CLERK_SECRET_KEY	sk_test_...	From the Clerk dashboard

Optional integrations (Resend email, Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Cloudflare R2, PostHog, Google Safe Browsing, Discord webhooks) can be left empty until you need them — see .env.example and src/env.mjs for the full list.

3. Start MySQL and Redis locally

The repo ships with a Docker Compose file that boots MySQL and Redis with sensible defaults.

docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up -d

Or run the Docker stack and the dev server together with a single command:

bun run d

4. Push the database schema

bun run db:push

Open Drizzle Studio any time to inspect the tables:

bun run db:studio

5. Run the app

bun dev

The app is now running at http://localhost:3000.

Scripts

Command	Purpose
bun dev	Start the Next.js dev server with Turbopack
bun run d	Boot the Docker stack and start the dev server
bun run build	Production build
bun start	Start the production server
bun run typecheck	Run tsc --noEmit
bun run lint	Run Next.js + Biome linting
bun run db:push	Push the Drizzle schema to the database
bun run db:generate	Generate SQL migrations
bun run db:migrate	Run migrations against the configured database
bun run db:studio	Open Drizzle Studio

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. If you find a bug or want to propose a feature:

1. Open an issue describing the problem or idea first, especially for larger changes.
2. Fork the repo and create a feature branch.
3. Keep PRs focused — one feature or fix per PR.
4. Run bun run typecheck and bun run lint before pushing.
5. Open a pull request against main.

Code style is enforced by Biome via bun run lint.

License

Released under the MIT License.