URL SHORTENER

An implementation of a microservice-architecture-based URL shortener application.

In this project (experiment), I’ve built a scalable URL shortener service using microservice architecture.
I integrated tools like Kafka and Redis to improve performance and handle real-time communication.
Some tools may seem redundant or like an overkill for such a small project — but that’s intentional. The main goal was to learn how they work and how they can be applied in real-world scalable systems.

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Tech Stack

Backend: Spring Boot (Microservices)
Messaging: Apache Kafka
Cache: Redis
Database: PostgreSQL and MongoDB (used as TimeSeries DB for analytics)
Service Discovery: Eureka Server
API Gateway: Spring Cloud Gateway
Containerization: Docker, Docker Compose
Others: Node.js and Server-Sent Events (for live dashboard updates)

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Features

• Shorten long URLs with unique short codes
• Redirect shortened URLs to their original destination
• Real-time click analytics using Kafka Streams
• Caching with Redis for fast URL retrieval and analytics data
• Microservice architecture for scalability and modularity
• API Gateway for routing and service management
• SSE-based live analytics dashboard

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Architecture Overview

The application is split into multiple microservices:

1. URL Shortener Service – Handles short code generation and storage. For now, URL redirection is also handled here.
2. Analytics Service – Consumes click events from Kafka, stores them, and exposes REST API endpoints for retrieving analytics.
3. User Service – Handles user management and authentication. Users can register and log in via email/password or OAuth. The code is modular and adaptable to other OAuth providers.
4. Analytics Dashboard – A Node.js service that consumes live aggregated click event windows and displays real-time analytics using Server-Sent Events.
5. API Gateway – Routes incoming requests to respective services and authenticates protected API endpoints via the User Service.
6. Eureka Server – Manages service discovery.

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Setup & Installation

1️⃣ Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/url-shortener.git
cd url-shortener

docker-compose up --build -d

NOTE : There are some environment variables defined in the docker compose file make sure to change them and update them

Access the API Documentation from this endpoint

http://localhost:8001/swagger-ui/index.html