🚀 URL Shortener Application — Node.js, Express, MongoDB & JWT (MVC Architecture)

A full-featured, secure URL Shortener RESTful Web Application built using Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB (Mongoose), and Server-Side Rendering (EJS). The project implements strict MVC Architecture, stateless JWT Authentication (via HTTP-Only Cookies), and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).

🔥 Key Features & Implementation Highlights

🏗️ Clean MVC Architecture: Modular structure separating Models (Schemas), Views (EJS Templates), Controllers (Business Logic), and Middlewares/Services.
🔐 JWT Authentication: Stateless session management using JSON Web Tokens set in secure browser cookies.
🛡️ Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Middleware:
- Normal Users: Can generate short URLs, view, manage, and track click analytics for only their own generated links.
- Admin Users: Possess elevated privileges to view and manage all generated URLs across the entire platform.
📈 Real-Time Click Analytics: Dynamic redirection tracking total visits and timestamps for each generated short URL.
🔒 Security & Best Practices: Middleware-level authorization checks, custom error handling, and environment-variable-ready (.env) configuration.

🛠️ Tech Stack & Tools

Runtime: Node.js (v18+)
Framework: Express.js
Template Engine: EJS (Embedded JavaScript)
Database: MongoDB (Local Community Server & Atlas Ready)
ODM Library: Mongoose
Utilities: nanoid, nodemon, cookie-parser, uuid, jsonwebtoken, dotenv
API Testing: Postman
Version Control: Git, GitHub

✨ Features

🏗️ MVC Architecture – Clean separation of concerns with Models, Views, Controllers, Routes, and Services.
🔐 JWT Authentication & Cookies – Secure user signup/login system powered by JSON Web Tokens stored in HTTP-only cookies.
🛡️ Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) – Middleware-level authorization layer restricting routes based on user roles (Admin, Normal).
🖼️ Server-Side Rendering (SSR) – Clean, dynamic user interfaces rendered using the EJS templating engine.
🔗 Dynamic URL Shortening – Generates short, unique IDs using nanoid for fast link management.
📊 Click Analytics & History – Tracks total clicks and logs visit timestamps inside MongoDB for every generated link.
⚙️ Centralized Environment Vault – Secure handling of sensitive keys (MONGO_URL, JWT_SECRET, PORT) via .env integration.
🗄️ MongoDB & Mongoose Validation – Schema-level data validation and efficient database connectivity.
⚡ Developer Workflow – Instant auto-reloads during development powered by nodemon.

🛠️ Tech Stack & Dependencies

Tool / Library	Type	Purpose
Node.js	Runtime	JavaScript execution engine on server-side
Express.js	Framework	Fast, unopinionated web framework for Node.js
MongoDB	Database	NoSQL Document-based database
Mongoose	ODM Library	Schema-based modeling for MongoDB & Express
nodemon	Developer Tool	Automatically restarts the node application when file changes in the directory are detected
nanoid	Utility	Small, secure, URL-friendly unique string ID generator
EJS	Template Engine	Server-side rendering (SSR) of dynamic HTML templates
uuid	Utility	Cryptographically strong Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) generator (e.g., `v4` for unique session/user IDs)
jsonwebtoken	Authentication	Generates and verifies digital signatures/tokens (JWT) to securely pass information between client & server
cookie-parser	Middleware	Express middleware to parse incoming request `Cookie` headers and populate `req.cookies`
dotenv	Utility	Loads environment variables from a `.env` file into `process.env`
Postman	API Client	Testing REST API endpoints (GET, POST, PATCH, DELETE)

📂 Project Directory Structure

Generated: 8/2/2026, 1:35:39 PM Root Path: workspace\Node

├── 📁 Learning
│   ├── 📁 Events
│   │   ├── 📄 main.js
│   │   └── 📄 test.txt
│   ├── 📁 Express
│   │   ├── ⚙️ .gitignore
│   │   ├── 📄 index.js
│   │   ├── ⚙️ package-lock.json
│   │   └── ⚙️ package.json
│   ├── 📁 First
│   │   ├── 📄 contacts.txt
│   │   ├── 📄 file.js
│   │   ├── 📄 file.txt
│   │   ├── 📄 math.js
│   │   ├── 📄 modules.js
│   │   ├── ⚙️ package.json
│   │   └── 📄 test.txt
│   ├── 📁 HTTP
│   │   └── 📄 http-notes.js
│   ├── 📁 RestAPI
│   │   ├── 📁 controllers
│   │   │   └── 📄 user.js
│   │   ├── 📁 logs
│   │   │   └── 📄 logs.txt
│   │   ├── 📁 middlewares
│   │   │   └── 📄 middleware.js
│   │   ├── 📁 models
│   │   │   └── 📄 user.js
│   │   ├── 📁 routes
│   │   │   └── 📄 user.js
│   │   ├── 📁 views
│   │   │   └── ⚙️ .gitkeep
│   │   ├── ⚙️ .gitignore
│   │   ├── ⚙️ MOCK_DATA.json
│   │   ├── 📄 connection.js
│   │   ├── 📄 index.js
│   │   ├── ⚙️ package-lock.json
│   │   └── ⚙️ package.json
│   ├── 📁 Server
│   │   ├── 📄 index.js
│   │   ├── 📄 log.txt
│   │   ├── ⚙️ package.json
│   │   └── 📄 url_note.js
│   └── 📁 Versions
│       └── 📄 version.js
├── 📁 Shortener_URL
│   ├── 📁 controllers
│   │   ├── 📄 static.js
│   │   ├── 📄 url.js
│   │   └── 📄 user.js
│   ├── 📁 middlewares
│   │   └── 📄 auth.js
│   ├── 📁 models
│   │   ├── 📄 url.js
│   │   └── 📄 user.js
│   ├── 📁 routes
│   │   ├── 📄 static.js
│   │   ├── 📄 url.js
│   │   └── 📄 user.js
│   ├── 📁 services
│   │   └── 📄 auth.js
│   ├── 📁 views
│   │   ├── 📄 home.ejs
│   │   ├── 📄 login.ejs
│   │   └── 📄 signup.ejs
│   ├── ⚙️ .gitignore
│   ├── 📄 app.js
│   ├── 📄 connect.js
│   ├── ⚙️ package-lock.json
│   ├── ⚙️ package.json
│   └── ⚙️ vercel.json
└── 📝 README.md

Prerequisites

Node.js (v16 or higher)
npm package manager
Basic knowledge of JavaScript

📜 Available Scripts

In the project directory, you can run the following commands configured in package.json:

🚀 Start Server

npm start

🌐 Deployment & Environment Setup

1. MongoDB Atlas Configuration

Before deploying, ensure your database access is open to Vercel:

Go to MongoDB Atlas.
Navigate to Network Access under Security.
Click Add IP Address and select Allow Access from Anywhere (0.0.0.0/0).
Save changes.

2. Environment Variables on Vercel

Set up your environment variables in Vercel before or after deployment:

In your Vercel Project Dashboard, go to Settings ➔ Environment Variables.
Add your environment key-value pairs (e.g., MONGO_URL, JWT_SECRET, PORT).
⚠️ Important Requirement:
- Ensure Production, Preview, and Development targets are ALL CHECKED.
- DO NOT toggle on the "Sensitive" option for MONGO_URL to prevent variable save/sync issues.

3. Deploy to Vercel

Push your latest code to GitHub.
Go to vercel.com and log in.
Click "New Project".
Connect your GitHub repository.
Select/Connect the exact project root folder containing package.json (to avoid nested directory deployment issues).
Configure Build Settings:
- Vercel automatically detects Vite/Node settings.
- Toggle the "Build Command" switch and manually type npm run build to override it (if using a build step).
Ensure all Environment Variables (MONGO_URL, etc.) are added under the project settings.
Click "Deploy".

💡 Note: If you edit or update any Environment Variable after deploying, always go to the Deployments tab, click the three dots (...) on the latest deployment, and select Redeploy to apply changes! & Make sure your project structure strictly follows the root layout:

Shortener_URL/
├── models/
├── routes/
├── middlewares/
├── views/
├── .env
├── app.js
├── connect.js
└── package.json

⚙️ Environment Setup & Tool Installation Guide

1. Installing Node.js & NPM

Download and install the LTS version from Node.js Official Site. Verify installation in your terminal:

node -v
npm -v

2. Installing MongoDB Community Server & Mongosh

Download MongoDB Community Server from MongoDB Download Center.
Download MongoDB Shell (mongosh) to run CLI database operations.
Start the local server daemon:

# Verify connection using mongosh CLI
mongosh

3. Setting Up `package.json` with ES Modules

Initialize your Node project inside any project directory:

npm init

During the prompt configuration, fill out the selections like this:

package name: (name)

version: (1.0.0)

description: may add entry point: (index.js)

test command: just enter

git repository: (https://github.com/username/repo_name.git)

keywords: may add

author: may add

license: (ISC)

type: (commonjs) recommended module

Is this OK? (yes)

To enable modern ES6 import/export syntax instead of require(), open package.json and add "type": "module":

{
  "name": "node",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "bugs": {
    "url": "https://github.com/username/repo/issues"
  },
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "git+https://github.com/username/repo.git"
  },
  "license": "ISC",
  "author": "",
  "type": "commonjs",
  "main": "app.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "start": "node app.js" // add manually write "nodemon index.js" if installed
  }
}

4. Installing Core Dependencies

Run this command inside your project directory to install npm pakages in pakages.json file:

npm i express
npm i mongoose
npm i nanoid
npm i nodemon
npm i ejs
npm i cookie-parser
npm i uuid
npm i jsonwebtoken
npm i dotenv

It automatically Create package.json if not exists. Like

{
  "name": "pakage name",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Something",
  "keywords": [
    "keywords"
  ],
  "homepage": "https://github.com/github.com/username#readme",
  "bugs": {
    "url": "https://github.com/github.com/username/issues"
  },
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "git+https://github.com/github.com/username.git"
  },
  "license": "ISC",
  "author": "Auther",
  "type": "module",
  "main": "app.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "nodemon app.js"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "cookie-parser": "^1.4.7",
    "dotenv": "^17.4.2",
    "ejs": "^6.0.1",
    "express": "^5.2.1",
    "jsonwebtoken": "^9.0.3",
    "mongoose": "^9.8.0",
    "nanoid": "^6.0.0",
    "nodemon": "^3.1.14",
    "uuid": "^14.0.1"
  }
}

Note: Install pakages when needed

🎯 Architecture & Modules Overview

Component / Module	Purpose
`index.js`	Main entry point; configures `dotenv`, EJS view engine, global middlewares (`cookie-parser`, `express.json`), DB connection, and routes.
`connect.js`	Handles async database connection setup using Mongoose to connect with MongoDB.
`models/url.js`	Mongoose schema for short links; stores `shortId`, `redirectURL`, `visitHistory`, and reference to `createdBy` user.
`models/user.js`	Mongoose schema for authentication; manages user details including `name`, `email`, `password`, and `role` (`Normal`, `Admin`).
`controllers/url.js`	Core URL business logic; generates unique `shortId`s via `nanoid` and logs click timestamps upon redirection.
`controllers/user.js`	Handles user authentication logic (`HandleUserSignup`, `HandleUserLogin`) and sets JWT cookies.
`services/auth.js`	Pure JWT token manager; encodes user payload on login (`setUser`) and decodes/verifies incoming tokens (`getUser`).
`middlewares/auth.js`	Security layer (`AuthorizationHeaderVal`, `RestrictTo`); extracts JWT cookies and enforces role-based access control.
`routes/url.js`	Protected URL endpoints (`POST /url`); restricted to authenticated roles (`Normal`, `Admin`).
`routes/static.js`	Handles SSR page rendering for home dashboard (`/`), signup (`/signup`), and login (`/login`) views.
`routes/user.js`	Endpoints for authentication workflows (`POST /user/signup`, `POST /user/login`).
`views/`	Contains EJS template files (`home.ejs`, `signup.ejs`, `login.ejs`) for rendering the user interface.

🧪 Postman & API Endpoint Testing

Install Postman from 🌐 postman.com to test API's

💡 Note: Postman automatically manages the HTTP-only token cookie after login.

1. User Signup

Method & Route: POST /user/signup
Body (JSON):

{
  "name": "MehmoodCoder",
  "email": "mehmood@example.com",
  "password": "Password123"
}

2. User Login

Method & Route: POST /user/login
Body (JSON):

{
  "email": "mehmood@example.com",
  "password": "Password123"
}

Response: Sets HTTP-only token cookie.

3. Create Short URL (Protected)

Method & Route: POST /url
Body (JSON):

{
  "url": "[https://github.com/MehmoodCoder](https://github.com/MehmoodCoder)"
}

Response (201 Created):

{
  "id": "8xK9p2Lm"
}

4. Redirect Link

Method & Route: GET /url/:shortId
Example: http://localhost:4000/url/8xK9p2Lm
Response (302 Found): Redirects to target destination & updates analytics.

🗑️ Database Maintenance via `mongosh`

If you need to clear all test documents without dropping the collection structure:

# 1. Open mongosh CLI
mongosh

# 2. Show All DB's
show dbs

# 3. Switch to project DB
use project-db-name

# 4. Show Exist DB collections
show collections

# 5. Show All Documents
db.collection.find({})

# 6. Delete all documents inside 'project-db-name' collection if wants
db.project-db-name.deleteMany({})

# 5. Exit the interactive MongoDB Shell session and return to the system terminal
.exit

# 6. And many more

📚 Learning Resources

🟢 Node.js Official Documentation – Core Node.js concepts & runtime docs
⚡ Express.js API Reference – Web framework, routing & middleware guides
🗄️ MongoDB Manual – NoSQL database features & queries
🍃 Mongoose Docs – ODM schemas, models, and queries
📦 NPM Official Registry – Package manager & dependency discovery
🔑 JSON Web Tokens (JWT) – Token-based authentication mechanics
🎨 EJS Templating Engine – Embedded JavaScript templates for SSR
🎲 nanoid Documentation – Unique string generator for short URLs
🧪 Postman Learning Center – API testing, environments & cookies

💡 Core Concepts Covered

✅ MVC Architecture – Structuring backend apps using Models, Views, Controllers, Routes, and Services
✅ Authentication & JWT – Issuing, signing, and verifying JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for user authentication
✅ Cookie Management – Storing and parsing HTTP-only cookies safely with cookie-parser
✅ Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) – Restricting route access dynamically based on user roles (Admin, Normal)
✅ Server-Side Rendering (SSR) – Dynamic UI rendering with EJS and passing session data to views
✅ MongoDB & Mongoose Schema Design – Managing schemas, data types, unique constraints, and population
✅ Database Aggregation & Analytics – Array updates ($push) for recording link click history and timestamps
✅ Express Middleware Pipeline – Request body parsing (json, urlencoded), auth state injection, and protected route guards
✅ RESTful Endpoints & Redirection – Dynamic parameter handling (req.params) and 302 HTTP redirects
✅ Environment Vault & Tooling – Managing configuration variables via .env and automated dev workflows with nodemon

👤 Author

MehmoodCoder

🔗 GitHub: github.com/MehmoodCoder
🌐 Portfolio: My Portfolio Link

📄 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

📝 Changelog

v2.0.0 (Latest Update)

🔐 JWT Authentication System – Implemented user signup and login flows using JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for stateless authentication.
🍪 Cookie-Based Sessions – Integrated cookie-parser middleware to securely pass and verify HTTP-only auth tokens.
🛡️ Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) – Added authorization middlewares (RestrictTo) to restrict endpoints based on user roles (Admin, Normal).
🖼️ SSR Dashboard (EJS Integration) – Built server-side rendered views for user login, registration, and URL management dashboard.
⚙️ Environment Management – Centralized sensitive configurations (PORT, MONGO_URL, JWT_SECRET) into .env file setup.

v1.0.0 (Initial Release)

🚀 Core Fundamentals – Built custom HTTP servers, learned EventEmitters, File System (fs) operations, and NPM module handling.
🛠️ RESTful API Architecture – Structured scalable Express servers following clean MVC (Model-View-Controller) patterns.
⚡ URL Shortener Microservice – Implemented nanoid logic to generate unique short IDs for long URLs.
🗄️ MongoDB Integration – Connected Mongoose schemas with real-time URL redirect logic and automated visit analytics tracking.
🛠️ Developer Experience – Configured nodemon for auto-reloading during development and created custom logging middlewares.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Navigation Menu

Repository files navigation

🚀 URL Shortener Application — Node.js, Express, MongoDB & JWT (MVC Architecture)

🔥 Key Features & Implementation Highlights

🛠️ Tech Stack & Tools

✨ Features

🛠️ Tech Stack & Dependencies

📂 Project Directory Structure

Prerequisites

📜 Available Scripts

🚀 Start Server

🌐 Deployment & Environment Setup

1. MongoDB Atlas Configuration

2. Environment Variables on Vercel

3. Deploy to Vercel

⚙️ Environment Setup & Tool Installation Guide

1. Installing Node.js & NPM

2. Installing MongoDB Community Server & Mongosh

3. Setting Up `package.json` with ES Modules

During the prompt configuration, fill out the selections like this:

4. Installing Core Dependencies

🎯 Architecture & Modules Overview

🧪 Postman & API Endpoint Testing

1. User Signup

2. User Login

3. Create Short URL (Protected)

4. Redirect Link

🗑️ Database Maintenance via `mongosh`

📚 Learning Resources

💡 Core Concepts Covered

👤 Author

📄 License

📝 Changelog

v2.0.0 (Latest Update)

v1.0.0 (Initial Release)

🤝 Contributing

Happy Coding without Chai ! ☕

About

Contributors

Languages

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 96 Commits
Learning		Learning
Shortener_URL		Shortener_URL
README.md		README.md

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History

Repository files navigation

🚀 URL Shortener Application — Node.js, Express, MongoDB & JWT (MVC Architecture)

🔥 Key Features & Implementation Highlights

🛠️ Tech Stack & Tools

✨ Features

🛠️ Tech Stack & Dependencies

📂 Project Directory Structure

Prerequisites

📜 Available Scripts

🚀 Start Server

🌐 Deployment & Environment Setup

1. MongoDB Atlas Configuration

2. Environment Variables on Vercel

3. Deploy to Vercel

⚙️ Environment Setup & Tool Installation Guide

1. Installing Node.js & NPM

2. Installing MongoDB Community Server & Mongosh

3. Setting Up package.json with ES Modules

During the prompt configuration, fill out the selections like this:

4. Installing Core Dependencies

🎯 Architecture & Modules Overview

🧪 Postman & API Endpoint Testing

1. User Signup

2. User Login

3. Create Short URL (Protected)

4. Redirect Link

🗑️ Database Maintenance via mongosh

📚 Learning Resources

💡 Core Concepts Covered

👤 Author

📄 License

📝 Changelog

v2.0.0 (Latest Update)

v1.0.0 (Initial Release)

🤝 Contributing

Happy Coding without Chai ! ☕

About

Topics

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Contributors

Languages

3. Setting Up `package.json` with ES Modules

🗑️ Database Maintenance via `mongosh`