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sanjay kumar
sanjay kumar

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How I Built a URL Shortener Using Node.js, Redis, Docker & Deployed It on Render

#webdev #javascript #programming #devops

👋 A Quick Backstory
Hey everyone, I’m Sanjay — a self-taught dev who loves building from scratch and learning by doing. I recently went deep into DevOps and containerization, and this URL shortener project was my way of exploring Redis, Docker, and cloud deployment — all in one shot.

This project was never about just shortening URLs. For me, it was about:

Learning how to structure a scalable backend 🧱

Working with Redis as a primary data store 🧠

Deploying real-world projects with Docker + Render 🚀

It’s simple on the surface, but I learned a ton building this. Here's the breakdown 👇

Preview Image

🔗 URL Shortener – Node.js, Redis & Docker

A full-stack, production-grade URL shortening service built with Node.js, Express, Redis, and Docker — complete with a RESTful API, unit tests, containerization, and cloud deployment on Render.

🌍 Live Demo

🟢 Deployed on Render
Frontend: Static HTML + JS
Backend: Node.js + Redis
Dockerized with Dockerfile and nginx (for local use)

🧰 Tech Stack

  • Frontend: HTML, JavaScript (Vanilla)
  • Backend: Node.js + Express
  • Database: Redis (for storing shortened URLs)
  • Testing: Jest

  • DevOps: Docker, Render, NGINX
    (Experimental): Rate Limiting, GitHub Actions (CI)

    • Docker & docker-compose (for local development)
    • Render (for cloud deployment)
    • NGINX (proxy for local routing)

📁 Project Structure 

05sanjaykumar-url-shortern/
├── public/             # Static frontend (HTML + JS)
├── src/
│   ├── app.js          # Main app setup
│   ├── controllers/    # Shorten & redirect logic
│   ├── middleware/     # Rate limiting (dummy)
│   ├── routes/         # API endpoints
│   └── services/       # Redis logic + URL generation
├── test/               # Unit tests + Redis mocks
├── nginx/              # NGINX config (for local Docker)
├── .github/workflows/  # CI pipeline (placeholder)
├── Dockerfile + docker-compose.yml
├── server.js
└── .env-example
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✅ Features

  • 🔗 Shortens long URLs to unique 6-character codes
  • 🚀 Redirects to original URLs
  • 🧠 Stores URL mappings in Redis
  • 🧪 Unit-tested with mocked Redis interactions
  • 🛠️ Includes a basic demo rate limiter (not production-grade)
  • 🐳 Local Docker support
  • 🌐 Fully deployed backend + frontend on Render

⚙️ Running Locally

Option 1: Docker (recommended) 

docker-compose up
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Then open: localhost

(OR)

Option 2: Manual 

git checkout render-deploy
npm install
redis-server
npm start
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Then open: http://localhost:3000

🧪 Run Tests 

npm test
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Tests include mocked Redis functionality for isolated unit testing.

📦 Deployment (Render)

The app is deployed using Render:

  • Backend connects to Redis
  • Frontend served statically (via nginx or Render)
  • Base URL is dynamically handled in production

📌 Learnings

  • 📦 Designed modular Express backend (routes, controllers, services)
  • 🧪 Wrote unit tests with Redis mocks
  • 🐳 Containerized with Docker + Docker Compose
  • 🚀 Deployed on Render (frontend + backend)
  • 🛠️ Explored how rate limiting works in Express (demo-only)
  • 🌱 Gained deeper insight into app structure, devops, and deployment

⚠️ Note: The rate limiter is a basic, demonstration-only middleware. For real-world production use, consider packages like express-rate-limit or Redis-backed implementations.

🙌 Author

Sanjay Kumar — Lifelong learner, and builder of things.
GitHub Repo

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