README.md

URL Shortener Project

A beginner-friendly URL shortening service built with Flask and SQLite.

What this project does

• Provides a web endpoint to shorten long URLs into short codes.
• Redirects short codes back to the original URL.
• Stores links in a local SQLite database.

Files in this project

• app.py — the Flask application and API routes.
• database.py — database setup and helper functions.
• requirements.txt — Python dependencies for the project.

How to use it

1. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Run the application:

python app.py

3. Open the app in your browser or use an API tool like Postman.

Available routes

• GET / — confirms the server is running.
• POST /shorten — accepts JSON with a url field and returns a short code.
• GET /<code> — redirects the browser to the original URL.
• GET /links — returns all saved short links.

Example

Request:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:5000/shorten \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com"}'

Response:

{ "code": "a1B2c3" }

Then open:

http://127.0.0.1:5000/a1B2c3

• requirements.txt has the libraries need.
• app.py starts the web server and handles requests.
• database.py keeps the data safe in links.db.