🔗 SimplifyLink

A production-style URL shortening and analytics service built with ASP.NET Core, Entity Framework Core, SQLite, Docker, and xUnit.

SimplifyLink generates unique short URLs and tracks detailed analytics for every click — including timestamp, IP address, and User-Agent metadata.

This project demonstrates backend engineering fundamentals such as REST API design, database indexing, async programming, dependency injection, caching, Docker containerization, and cloud deployment.

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🌐 Live Demo

🔹 Swagger API:
https://simplifylink-api.onrender.com/swagger/index.html

🔹 Example Working Short Link:
https://simplifylink-api.onrender.com/521e23

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🚀 Features

• Generate unique 6-character short codes (GUID-based)
• Public short link redirection
• Track click count
• Store detailed click metadata:
  • Timestamp (UTC)
  • IP address
  • User Agent
• Real-time analytics (last 7 days)
• Swagger API documentation
• SQLite database persistence
• Auto database migration on production startup
• Unique index on ShortCode
• Unit testing with xUnit (13 passing tests)
• Clean layered architecture
• Async + dependency injection best practices
• Dockerized deployment (Render)

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🛠 Tech Stack

• ASP.NET Core (.NET 9)
• Entity Framework Core
• SQLite
• Docker
• xUnit
• Swagger / OpenAPI
• MemoryCache

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📌 API Endpoints

🔹 Create Short Link

POST /api/links

Request:

{
  "originalUrl": "https://google.com"
}

Response:

{
  "id": 1,
  "originalUrl": "https://google.com",
  "shortCode": "abc123",
  "shortUrl": "https://simplifylink-api.onrender.com/abc123"
}

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🔹 Redirect

GET /{shortCode}

Example:

https://simplifylink-api.onrender.com/abc123

Redirects to the original URL and records click metadata.

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🔹 Analytics

GET /api/links/{id}/stats

Returns:

• Click count
• Total click events
• Last 7-day breakdown

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🗄 Database

SQLite database file:

simplifylink.db

Tables:

• ShortLinks
• ClickEvents

Unique Index:

IX_ShortLinks_ShortCode

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🧪 Running Tests

dotnet test

Includes:

• URL validation tests
• ShortCode uniqueness tests
• Service logic tests

All tests currently passing.

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▶️ Run Locally

dotnet restore
dotnet ef database update
dotnet run

Open:

https://localhost:5292/swagger

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🐳 Run via Docker

docker build -t simplifylink .
docker run -p 8080:8080 simplifylink

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💡 Engineering Concepts Demonstrated

• RESTful API architecture
• Database normalization & indexing
• Async programming patterns
• Dependency injection
• Unit testing & separation of concerns
• Caching optimization
• Docker containerization
• Cloud deployment strategy
• Production-style backend engineering

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👨‍💻 Author

Mohammed Akrama
Bachelor of Information Technology (Class of 2026)
Aspiring Software Development Engineer