YOURLS: Your Own URL Shortener

About YOURLS

What is YOURLS

YOURLS stands for Your Own URL Shortener. It is a small set of PHP scripts that will allow you to run your own URL shortening service (a la TinyURL or bitly).

Running your own URL shortener is fun, geeky and useful: you own your data and don't depend on third party services. It's also a great way to add branding to your short URLs, instead of using the same public URL shortener everyone uses.

YOURLS Features

Free and Open Source software.
Private (your links only) or Public (everybody can create short links, fine for an intranet)
Sequential or custom URL keyword
Handy bookmarklets to easily shorten and share links
Awesome stats: historical click reports, referrers tracking, visitors geo-location
Neat Ajaxed interface
Terrific Plugin architecture to easily implement new features
Cool developer API
Full jsonp support
Friendly installer
Sample files to create your own public interface and more

Screenshots

Main admin dashboard

Stats for each short URL

See a live example of YOURLS stats on http://yourls.org/cookie+

Download

Download YOURLS from Github

You can follow YOURLS' development on the commit history and get current development build

Credits

YOURLS is made by awesome people.

Keep up to date: follow @yourls, @ozh (lead developper)and read the official YOURLS Blog

Configuration (in `user/config.php`)

MySQL settings

YOURLS_DB_USER
your MySQL username
Example: define( 'YOURLS_DB_USER', 'joe' );
YOURLS_DB_PASS
your MySQL password
Example: define( 'YOURLS_DB_PASS', 'MySeCreTPaSsW0rd' );
YOURLS_DB_NAME: The database name
Example: define( 'YOURLS_DB_NAME', 'yourls' );
YOURLS_DB_HOST
The database host
Example: define( 'YOURLS_DB_HOST', 'localhost' );
YOURLS_DB_PREFIX
The name prefix for all the tables YOURLS will need
Example: define( 'YOURLS_DB_PREFIX', 'yourls_' );

Site options

YOURLS_SITE
Your (hopefully short) domain URL, no trailing slash, lowercase. If you pick the non-www version of your domain, don't use the www version in your browser (and vice-versa)
Example: define( 'YOURLS_SITE', 'http://ozh.in' );
YOURLS_HOURS_OFFSET
Timezone GMT offset
Example: define( 'YOURLS_HOURS_OFFSET', '-5' );
YOURLS_PRIVATE
Private means the admin area will be protected with login/pass as defined below. See Private or Public for more.
Example: define( 'YOURLS_PRIVATE', 'true' );
YOURLS_UNIQUE_URLS
Allow multiple short URLs for a same long URL
Set to true to allow only one pair of shortURL/longURL (default YOURLS behavior), or to false to allow creation of multiple short URLs pointing to the same long URL (as bit.ly does)
Example: define( 'YOURLS_UNIQUE_URLS', 'true' );
YOURLS_COOKIEKEY
A random secret hash used to encrypt cookies. You don't have to remember it, make it long and complicated. Hint: generate a unique one at http://yourls.org/cookie
Example: define( 'YOURLS_COOKIEKEY', 'qQ4KhL_pu|s@Zm7n#%:b^{A[vhm' );
yourls_user_passwords
A list of username(s) and password(s) allowed to access the site if private
Passwords can either be in plain text, or encrypted: see http://yourls.org/userpassword for more information.
Example: 'joe' => 'mypassword'

URL Shortening settings

YOURLS_URL_CONVERT
URL shortening method: base 36 or 62. See FAQ for more explanations
yourls_reserved_URL
A list of reserved keywords that won't be used as short URLs. Define here negative, unwanted or potentially misleading keywords
Example: 'porn', 'faggot', 'sex', 'nigger', 'fuck', 'cunt', 'dick'

Optional settings

YOURLS_PRIVATE_INFOS
If YOURLS_PRIVATE is set to true, you can still make stat pages public. To do so, define with:
define('YOURLS_PRIVATE_INFOS', false);
YOURLS_PRIVATE_API
If YOURLS_PRIVATE is set to true, you can still make your API public. To do so, define with:
define('YOURLS_PRIVATE_API', false);
YOURLS_NOSTATS
If YOURLS_NOSTATS is set to true, redirects won't be logged and there will be not stats available.

Advanced settings

YOURLS will look for the MySQL extension PDO, MySQLi or MySQL, in that order. If you want to force usage of one particular extension, add the following line to your config.php:
define( 'YOURLS_DB_DRIVER', 'mysqli' );
You can install YOURLS behind a firewall or a proxy: see Proxy Support
File includes/load-yourls.php contains a few more undocumented but self explanatory and commented settings. Add them to your own config.php if you know what you're doing.

YOURLS' API

Features

Generate or get existing short URLs, with sequential or custom keyword
Get some statistics about your links: top clicked links, least clicked links, newest links
Output format: JSON, XML, or simple raw text
Authentify either with login/password or using a secure passwordless mechanism

Usage

You need to send parameters to http://your-own-domain-here.com/yourls-api.php either via GET or POST (remember to URL encode parameters if via GET). These parameters are:

A valid username / password pair, or your signature (see Passwordless API requests)
The requested action: "shorturl" (get short URL for a link), "expand" (get long URL of a shorturl), "url-stats" (get stats about one short URL), "stats" (get stats about your links) or "db-stats" (get global link and click count)
With action = "shorturl" :
- the url to shorten
- optional keyword and title for custom short URLs
- output format: either "jsonp", "json", "xml" or "simple"
With action = "expand" :
- the shorturl to expand (can be either 'abc' or 'http://site/abc')
- output format: either "jsonp", "json", "xml" or "simple"
With action = "url-stats" :
- the shorturl for which to get stats (can be either 'abc' or 'http://site/abc')
- output format: either "jsonp", "json" or "xml"
With action = "stats" :
- the filter: either "top", "bottom" , "rand" or "last"
- the limit (maximum number of links to return)
- output format: either "jsonp", "json" or "xml"
With action = "db-stats" :
- output format: either "jsonp", "json" or "xml"

Sample requests

Example of a GET request with Javascript (using jQuery) to shorten a URL

var api_url  = 'http://sho.rt/yourls-api.php';
var response = $.get( api_url, {
    username: "your_username",
    password: "your_password",
    action:   "shorturl",
    format:   "json",
    url:      "http://ozh.org/"
    },
    // callback function that will deal with the server response
    function( data) {
        // for instance, return short URL
        return data.shorturl;
    }
);

Example of a POST request with PHP to expand a short URL

<?php
$username = 'your_username';
$password = 'your_password';
$api_url =  'http://sho.rt/yourls-api.php';

// Init the CURL session
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $api_url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);            // No header in the result
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); // Return, do not echo result
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);              // This is a POST request
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, array(     // Data to POST
        'shorturl' => 'ozh',
        'format'   => 'json',
        'action'   => 'expand',
        'username' => $username,
        'password' => $password
    ));

// Fetch and return content
$data = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

// Do something with the result. Here, we echo the long URL
$data = json_decode( $data );
echo $data->longurl;

Sample returns

Sample return in JSON format for the shorturl action

{
  "url": {
    "keyword": "ozh",
    "url": "http:\/\/ozh.org",
    "title": "Ozh RICHARD \u00ab ozh.org",
    "date": "2014-10-24 16:01:39",
    "ip": "127.0.0.1"
  },
  "status": "success",
  "message": "http:\/\/ozh.org added to database",
  "title": "Ozh RICHARD \u00ab ozh.org",
  "shorturl": "http:\/\/sho.rt\/1f",
  "statusCode": 200
}

Sample return in XML format for the expand action

<result>
    <keyword>ozh</keyword>
    <shorturl>http://sho.rt/ozh</shorturl>
    <longurl>http://ozh.org/</longurl>
    <message>success</message>
    <statusCode>200</statusCode>
</result>

Sample file

There's a sample PHP file included that serves as an example on how to play with the API

Expand the API

You can easily implement custom API actions with a plugin. See the plugin list for examples.

FAQ

Server requirements

A server with mod_rewrite enabled
At least PHP 5.2
At least MYSQL 4.1
Note: YOURLS can also run on Nginx and Cherokee

Server recommendations

PHP CURL extension installed if you plan on playing with the API

Limitations

Maximum length of custom keyword is 200 characters
That makes about 8 sexdecillions of centillions of available URLs (seriously. That's a 355 digits number).

Difference Between Base 36 And Base 62 Encoding

Base 36 encoding uses 0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz for short URLs
Base 62 encoding uses 0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Stick to one setting, don't change after you've created links as it will change all your short URLs!
Base 36 is the default and should be picked if you're not sure.

Getting a short domain name for your YOURLS install

Unless you plan on making it public and as popular as bit.ly, any shared hosting will be fine. Ozh runs all his YOURLS instance on Dreamhost and it works just great.
Domainr is a fun search tool that might inspire and help you
Aim for exotic top level domains (.in, .im, .li ...), they're often cheap and a lot are still available. Gandi is a pretty comprehensive registrar, for instance.

YOURLS needs its own .htaccess

You cannot install YOURLS and, say, WordPress, in the same directory. Both need to handle URLs differently and need their own .htaccess file.
If you want to install YOURLS on the same domain than your blog, give it its own (short) subdirectory, such as yourblog.com/s/ (for "short") or yourblog.com/x/ (for "exit")

If YOURLS generates 404 for your short URLs

Make sure mod_rewrite is enabled with your Apache server
Make sure your .htaccess file looks like this one
Eventually, check your server Apache configuration allows use of .htaccess (AllowOverride All directive, ask your server admin)

There is no index page at the root of the install

Indeed. It's intented. It's up to the user to make what they need. Some will redirect the root to a different place, some make a public interface for anyone to shorten links, some make a portfolio. You make it.
If you want to make a public interface and run your own little bitly.com, there's a sample file provided as an example: sample-public-front-page.txt. This implies important issues to deal with: spam, performance and security. Read Public Shortening for important information.

Uppercase letters in short URLs are eaten up, eg "`OmgOzh`" becomes "`mgzh`" !

Indeed. It's intented if you selected Base 36 (see above). Letters that don't belong to the character set, eg @#! or ABC, are removed.
If you want to force lowercase, you'll need a plugin.

Feedback, feature requests and bug reporting

Please don't get in touch directly by mail or Twitter. Please.
Check the Road Map for future features.
Read all the wiki documents.
Search in all the issues, open and closed.
Eventually raise a new issue. To do so, please read the contribute guidelines. Thanks!

Community

YOURLS is open source, so the community of users plays a great role in its development, by contributing, helping others or giving feedback that helps improve the software.

Resources

The official YOURLS blog, for news, hints and showcase.
The wiki: advanced documentation, plugins, tips and more
Follow @YOURLS for hardcore development, and @Ozh for tips and news (and random geekiness too)

Showcase

Here are a few examples of sites running YOURLS with a unique design or concept

http://oe.cd/
OECD's internal URL shortener with a neat interface and private features
http://tini.link/
A fun top level domain and a very nicely designed YOURLS public interface
http://xib.me/
A nicely styled YOURLS public interface
http://vt802.us/
Defined as "The World's First Vermont-centric URL Shortener"
http://yourwish.es/
Easily share an Amazon wishlist
http://vbly.us
Public YOURLS setup and early adopter, run by famous sex writer Violet Blue as "the internet's first and only sex-positive url shortener", once taken down by Libya (story)

YOURLS and other platforms or frameworks

WordPress
There are numerous WordPress plugin with YOURLS support. YOURLS Link Creator is recommended.
Drupal
Allows for the automatic creation of short urls using a YOURLS installation
Perl
WWW-Shorten-Yourls is a Perl module to shorten URLs using YOURLS
Ruby
A Ruby wrapper for the YOURLS API
Python
A Python client for YOURLS
VB .Net
A VB .Net 4.0 wrapper for the YOURLS API
Javascript
JavaScript bindings for the YOURLS API to leverage JSONP support
CakePHP
Plugin which integrates CakePHP with Yourls
status.net
A plugin for status.net to use YOURLS
Sharetronix
A YOURLS addon for Sharetronix

YOURLS works with your favorite sofware or device

Tweetie 2
How to set up Tweetie2 so it uses your own service
Tweetbot
Make Tweetbot run with YOURLS
Twitterfeed
Use Twitterfeed with YOURLS
Mac Client
Simple app to have a global keyboard shortcut send a link to YOURLS
Android: URLy and URL Shortener
Android apps that plays nice with YOURLS
iOS: ShortTail for YOURLS, Clicklytics and myYOURLS
Apps to use YOURLS on iPhones and iPads
Chrourls
Google Chrome quick link shortening addon for YOURLS
Firefox Addon
Firefox Addon for YOURLS
Textexpander and YOURLS
Making YOURLS and Textexpander on the Mac play together

More stuff to do with YOURLS

Infinity Squared
∞² is a public page theme for YOURLS to help you design your own public interface
John Girvin's page
Example index page listing all the URLs held in a YOURLS database
http://screenr.com/nTs
A screencast explaining how to setup YOURLS
YOURLS: Short URL Widget
Creates a fully configurable widget that outputs the short URL to the current post or page
YOURLS Widget for WordPress
This widget adds a convenient short URL service into your sidebar. Check the above link for a live example
Twitter Tools & YOURLS
Companion plugin for Alex King's Twitter Tool for WordPress, that enables YOURLS support
Export URLS as text list
A simple script to list all URLs, one per line, in plain text (for using as an indexer config file, for example)
YOURLS featured on Lifehacker

"Celebrity endorsements", sort of.

http://smashed.by/ by Smashing Magazine
http://oe.cd/ by the OECD
http://cuny.is/ by the City University of New York
http://virg.in/ for the Virgin Group companies
http://dhurl.org/ by Dreamhost
http://ithem.es/ by iThemes

URLZ: Your Own URL Shortener