The URL Shortener is a custom solution for creating short, sharable URLs that can be used for QR codes on business cards, utilizing an AWS S3 feature with a Cloudfront for caching and tracking of requests while maintaining data privacy and allowing for analysis.
The main motivation behind the URL shortener was to create short URLs that could be used for QR codes on business cards. In searching for a suitable tool, it was discovered that established solutions would involve sharing requests with unknown parties and ultimately having no control over data privacy.
The goal was to create a fast, cost-effective, and anonymous solution that did not rely on active user tracking, while still allowing the marketing team to conduct analysis.
To achieve these goals, an AWS S3 feature is utilized. When an S3 bucket is configured for static hosting, each object is a part of the URL path. These objects have the ability to contain meta tags, such as the x-amz-website-redirect-location. Requests to objects with this tag are interpreted as 301 redirects.
A Cloudfront is placed in front of the S3 bucket, which has caching enabled. To track the number of requests, all requests are logged in Cloudwatch and saved as files in a separate S3 bucket.
When the files are created, a lambda is triggered to analyze the logs and send them to an analytics tool. The creation of redirects is achieved through a request to a lambda.
- Build you api handler, implementing
lib/create-lambda/useCaseInterface.ts. - Use this implementation in
lib/create-lambda/handler.ts:10. - Implement you custom analytics url builder in
lib/analytics-lambda/handler.ts. - Configure
.env. - Deploy this with the aws cdk. Either directly with the cli or with a ci job.