Overview

Purpose

Korta is a full-stack URL shortener built for developers and creators. Its goal is to provide simple, secure, and consistent link shortening with both:

• public anonymous usage, and…
• authenticated user workflows (dashboard + API key access).

Scope

Current scope includes:

• Public short URL creation (/urls/public)
• User authentication (email/password + Google OAuth)
• Email verification
• Private link management (create, update, delete, list)
• Basic analytics (clicks per link)
• API key lifecycle for integrations
• Production deployment on Vercel (frontend) + Koyeb (backend)

Out of scope for now:

• Multi-tenant org/team management
• Advanced analytics (geo/device/referrer dashboards)
• Distributed caching/queue architecture
• Enterprise-grade SLA and disaster recovery guarantees

Key concepts

• Short ID Unique slug used to resolve a short URL to its original destination.

• Dual auth model Bearer JWT for user sessions and X-API-Key for integration use cases.

• Ownership-based authorization Only the owner of a private link can modify or delete it.

• Rate-limited API Backend limits request volume per IP to mitigate abuse.

• Versioned API Endpoints are served under /api/v1 for explicit contract versioning.

System requirements

• Node.js 18+ (20+ recommended)
• pnpm
• PostgreSQL
• Environment variables for backend/frontend
• Optional integrations:
  • Google OAuth credentials
  • SMTP credentials for verification emails

Next step

Continue with Quickstart.