#68
B+
Rank #39
Shlink
A self-hosted URL shortener with a clean, API-first REST design. Standout trait is treating the API as the primary interface, with official web/CLI clients built on top.
77.5
/ 100
⚙ Full Stack
PHP application built on a custom lightweight framework (formerly Symfony components) backed by MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL, exposing a documented OpenAPI REST interface with API-key auth.
📈 Scaling Analysis
Scales cleanly since the API tier is stateless PHP-FPM behind a real ACID database — add read replicas or more app replicas without redesign. Redirect-path latency is the main scale concern at very high click volumes, mitigated by DB indexing on short codes.
🚀 Running on Nexlayer
Two pods: the Shlink app and a postgres/mysql pod (postgres.pod:5432); set DEFAULT_DOMAIN via env since Nexlayer assigns the URL at deploy time rather than hardcoding it into the shortener's link generation.