QuickShareLink

QuickShareLink is a GitHub-powered short link service. Users can create short links, set expiration dates, and manage them entirely via GitHub Issues. Expired links are automatically cleaned up once per day.

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Features

• Create short links via GitHub issues
• Custom or randomly generated slugs
• Expiration dates up to one year
• Automatic cleanup of expired links
• Delete links via issue comments (author or admin)
• Fully powered by GitHub Pages and Actions — no external server needed

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How It Works

1. Create a Short Link

1. Open a new issue in the repository.
2. Set the issue title to: Create short link
3. In the issue body, provide the following fields:

   URL: https://example.com
   Slug: mylink # optional, leave empty for random
   Expires: 2025-12-31 # or 1998-08-06 for infinite
   

4. Once the issue is created, the GitHub Action will:
   • Validate the data
   • Generate the redirect HTML page under docs/slugs/<slug>
   • Update data/links.json
   • Comment back with the short link:
     ✅ Link created: https://qsl.li/<slug>
   • Close the issue automatically

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2. Delete a Link

To delete a short link:

1. Comment on the original issue with: delete link <slug>
2. Only the issue author or admins can delete links.
3. The GitHub Action will:
   • Remove the slug folder from docs/slugs
   • Update data/links.json
   • Comment with confirmation:
     ✅ Link "<slug>" deleted by @username

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3. Automatic Cleanup

• Expired links (with a date in the past) are automatically deleted once per month via a scheduled GitHub Action.

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Technical Details

• Hosting: GitHub Pages (docs/ folder)
• Storage: data/links.json stores all slug mappings
• Scripts:
  • scripts/create-link.js → handles issue-based creation
  • scripts/delete-link.js → handles comment-based deletion
  • scripts/cleanup.js → deletes expired links automatically
• Workflows:
  • create-link.yml → runs on issue creation
  • delete-link.yml → runs on comment creation
  • cleanup-expired.yml → runs monthly via cron

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Link Expiration Rules

• Maximum expiration: 1 year from creation
• Invalid or past dates will be rejected

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Example Issue Body

URL: https://example.com Slug: mylink Expires: 2025-12-31

• If Slug is omitted, a random 8-character slug is generated.
• After creation, the short link will be available at:

https://qsl.li/mylink

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Future ToDo (or possible contributions)

• Add a homepage of the project explaining how to use it
• Create favicon
• Add a reminder one week before and one day before expiring
• Add function to renew link (max 1 year)
• Add a comment when the link is expired to the relative issue
• Changing issue method with form
• Add citation.cff