This is a simple URL shortener that I made using Node.js and Express for my Free Code Camp API and Microservice certification.

How to use

First install dependencies in the newly cloned repository using npm install

To start the service, do npm start and the service will start running on port 3000.

To create a new shortened URL, POST a URL address (with field name "url") to /api/shorturl/new. The shortened URL is returned in field "shortened_url." URLs should follow the format `http(s)://www.domain.com/routes/if/you/have/them

To visit the URL using the new shortened URL, go to /api/shorturl/{short_url} and you should be redirected to the the corresponding site.

How it works

All URLs are retrieved, added, and saved in the "urls.json" file inside of an array. The URL's index in the array corresponds the the short_url returned to the user after the POST request.

Future TODO that I hopefully remember to work on:

• [] Create a spiffy looking index page with functional GET and POST test forms
• [] Use a database like mongo instead of a JSON file to store URLs
• [] Add comments to code to explain what the heck is going on