PROJECT NOTES
URL shortener
A small API for shortening links, managing URLs, and tracking visits.
JavaScript / Node.js / Express / PostgreSQL
The project
A URL shortening service built as a backend learning project. It takes a long URL, gives it a short code, and redirects visitors to the original address.
The API also supports updating and deleting saved links, along with retrieving visit statistics. PostgreSQL stores the data, while Express handles the HTTP routes.
What I worked through
The interesting part was connecting the pieces: validating a request, running a database query, choosing an HTTP response, and handling a failure when something goes wrong.
Short codes also introduced a useful database question. How should the application respond when a value needs to be unique? Working with PostgreSQL’s unique constraints made that question concrete.
What I’m taking away
This project brought together HTTP, persistent storage, and error propagation in a single application. It gave me a reason to work through how errors reach Express middleware and how expected failures should be presented to a client.
It is a completed learning milestone that I can return to as my understanding develops.