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Show HN: Trails – a transparent, privacy-first URL shortener API (github.com)
4 points by anwitars 306 days ago
Hi HN,

I built Trails, a transparent URL shortener with a simple public API.

Unlike most URL shorteners, Trails: - does not store IPs - visits are counted using a SHA-256 hash, so they can’t be linked back to users - Lets you “peek” at a short link before clicking, so you know where it goes - Has no accounts, paywalls, or tracking — just a free API

You can find examples on the GitHub page, and also it has a public website that uses this service: https://trls.link/

API repo: https://github.com/anwitars/tiny-trails Web client repo: https://github.com/anwitars/trails-web

I would love feedback on design decisions, and the roadmap included in the API's readme, especially the dynamic Trails idea.
1 comments
TimLeland 305 days ago
Looks neat — just a heads up, be prepared for malicious users to find the service and immediately start using it for harmful redirects. I ran into this pretty early on when I launched T.LY, so it’s something worth thinking about from the start.

I ended up building an entire service to detect these URLs as soon as possible, protecting the service. Happy to give you some tips, just reach out.

link
anwitars 305 days ago
I appreciate your feedback, and I completely agree with you that malicious users would immediately start to exploit it. Although I remain confident (for now), that the service's peek/info features help protecting innocent users from such activities. If it fails to deliver that safety, I will definitely implement something that you mentioned.

I would always love to hear feedback, so you should just reach out as well if you have anything in mind.

link