This project is a URL shortener service built with Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. It provides a RESTful API for creating short URLs from original URLs and redirecting from the short URLs to the original URLs.

• URL validation: Only valid URLs can be shortened.
• Custom URL codes: Users can specify a custom code for their short URLs.
• Persistent storage: Shortened URLs are stored in a MongoDB database.
• Error handling: The service handles errors gracefully and returns appropriate HTTP status codes.

• Node.js
• MongoDB

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Sergius-Nyah/url-shortener.git
   

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd url-shortener
   

3. Install the dependencies:

   npm install
   

4. Start the server:

   npm start
   

To shorten a URL, send a POST request to the /shorten endpoint with a JSON body containing the originalUrl and an optional urlCode:

{
  "originalUrl": "https://example.com",
  "urlCode": "customCode"
}

The service will return a JSON object with the original URL, the short URL, and the URL code:

{
  "originalUrl": "https://example.com",
  "shortUrl": "http://short.url/customCode",
  "urlCode": "customCode"
}

To visit the original URL, simply navigate to the short URL in a web browser.

Contributions are welcome! Please read our contributing guidelines to get started.

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.