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LinkShorter v2 β€” User Guide

LinkShorter is a self-hosted URL shortening tool that lets you create short, shareable links, protect them with passwords, set expiration rules, generate QR codes, and track click statistics. Below is a step-by-step guide covering every feature.

1. Logging In

  1. Open your browser and go to your LinkShorter URL (e.g. https://link.fabula.vision/).
  2. You will see a login screen with Username and Password fields.
  3. Enter the credentials your administrator set up, then click Login.
  4. After a successful login you are taken to the Dashboard.

2. The Dashboard

The dashboard is the main screen. It has three areas:

  • Create a new short link (the form at the top)
  • Search bar (to find existing links)
  • Links table (a list of all your shortened links)

3. Creating a Short Link

In the "Shorten a Link" card at the top of the dashboard:

Field Required? What to enter
URL Yes The full, long URL you want to shorten (e.g. https://example.com/some/very/long/page)
Custom Slug No A short keyword for the link (e.g. my-link). If left empty, one is generated automatically. Only letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores are allowed. A live preview below the field shows you what the final short URL will look like.
Password No If you type a password here, anyone who clicks the short link will be asked to enter that password before being redirected.
Expires At No Pick a date and time. After that moment the link will stop working automatically.
Max Clicks No Set a number. Once the link has been clicked that many times it will stop working.

Click Create Short Link when you are done. A green success message will appear containing your new short URL (e.g. https://link.fabula.vision/my-link). You can now share that URL.

4. Batch Import (Creating Many Links at Once)

  1. On the dashboard, click the Batch Import button next to "Create Short Link".

  2. A pop-up window appears with a large text box.

  3. Paste your URLs β€” one URL per line, for example:

    https://example.com/page1
https://example.com/page2
https://example.com/page3

  4. Click Create All.

  5. A results table will appear showing each URL, its new short link, and whether it succeeded or failed.

Note: Batch-imported links do not get custom slugs, passwords, or expiration β€” those can be set afterwards by editing each link.

5. Searching and Sorting Links

  • Search: Type a keyword into the search bar above the links table and click Search. It matches against both slugs and destination URLs. Click Clear to remove the filter.
  • Sort: Click any column header in the table (Slug, Destination, Clicks, Created) to sort by that column. Clicking again toggles between ascending and descending order.
Button What it does
Copy Copies the short URL to your clipboard. The button briefly changes to "Copied!" to confirm.
QR Opens a pop-up showing the QR code for this link, with options to download it as PNG or SVG (see Section 8).
Edit Opens the edit page where you can change every setting of the link (see Section 7).
Stats Opens a detailed statistics page for this link (see Section 9).
Delete Deletes the link permanently. A confirmation dialog appears first β€” click OK to confirm or Cancel to abort.

On the edit page you can change:

  • URL β€” the destination the short link points to.
  • Slug β€” the short code. Changing it changes your short URL.
  • Password β€” choose from:
    • Keep current (don't change anything)
    • Set new (type a new password in the field that appears)
    • Remove (remove password protection entirely)
  • Expires At β€” set or clear an expiration date.
  • Max Clicks β€” set or clear a click limit.
  • Active checkbox β€” uncheck to deactivate the link (visitors will see a "No longer available" page). Check it again to reactivate.

Click Save Changes when finished.

The edit page also shows:

  • A QR Code preview with download buttons.
  • An OpenGraph Preview showing the title, description, and image that social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Slack, etc.) will display when someone shares your short link.

8. QR Codes

  1. From the dashboard: Click the QR button on any link's row. A pop-up shows the code with download options.
  2. From the edit or stats page: A QR code preview is shown at the bottom.

Download formats:

  • PNG β€” a standard image file, good for printing or embedding in documents.
  • SVG β€” a scalable vector file, ideal for high-quality printing at any size.

If your administrator has uploaded a center icon (see Settings), it will appear in the middle of every QR code.

9. Click Statistics

Click the Stats button on any link to see:

  • Total Clicks β€” how many times the link has been used.
  • Max Clicks β€” the limit you set (or ∞ for unlimited).
  • Status β€” βœ“ for active, βœ— for inactive.
  • Recent Clicks table β€” the last 100 clicks, showing:
    • Time β€” when the click happened.
    • IP β€” the visitor's IP address.
    • Referer β€” where the visitor came from (e.g. a social media site), or - if unknown.
    • User Agent β€” the visitor's browser/device information.

10. Settings

Click Settings in the top navigation bar.

QR Code Center Icon

You can upload a small logo (in SVG format only) that will be placed in the center of all generated QR codes:

  1. Click Choose File and select an .svg file from your computer.
  2. Click Upload Icon.
  3. All previously cached QR codes are regenerated automatically.

If an icon is already uploaded, a small preview is shown.

Configuration Info

The settings page also displays read-only information:

  • Base URL β€” the root address of your LinkShorter installation.
  • Database β€” the file path of the database.
  • Cron URL β€” the URL to call periodically to auto-deactivate expired links (see Section 12).

11. What Visitors See

Scenario What happens
Normal link The visitor is instantly redirected to the destination URL.
Password-protected link The visitor sees a "This link is password protected" page. They must enter the correct password and click Continue to be redirected.
Expired / inactive / max-clicks-reached link The visitor sees a "No longer available" page.
Non-existent slug The visitor sees a "404 β€” This link does not exist" page.
Social media crawler (Facebook, Twitter, Slack, Discord, etc.) Instead of a redirect, the crawler receives OpenGraph metadata (title, description, image) so the link shows a rich preview in chat and social feeds.

12. Automatic Expiration (Cron)

https://link.fabula.vision/cron

To make this run automatically, ask your hosting provider or administrator to set up a cron job (a scheduled task) that visits this URL periodically, for example every 5 minutes. This ensures expired links are deactivated promptly.

If you don't set up a cron job, expired links will still show the "No longer available" page to visitors (the expiration is checked at click time too), but they will remain listed as "Active" in your dashboard until the cron URL is called.

13. API (for Advanced Users or Integrations)

LinkShorter provides two API endpoints that external tools or browser extensions can use:

Check Connection

GET https://link.fabula.vision/api/check
Authorization: Basic (your credentials)

Returns {"status":"ok","title":"LinkShorter"} if the credentials are correct.

POST https://link.fabula.vision/api/shorten
Authorization: Basic (your credentials)
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "url": "https://example.com/long-url",
  "slug": "optional-custom-slug",
  "password": "optional-password",
  "expires_at": "2025-12-31T23:59",
  "max_clicks": 100
}

Returns {"short_url":"https://link.fabula.vision/abc123","slug":"abc123"} on success.

Basic authentication means your username and password are sent encoded with every request. Most HTTP tools (Postman, cURL, browser extensions) have a built-in "Basic Auth" option β€” just enter your LinkShorter username and password.

14. Quick Reference

I want to… Do this
Create a link Dashboard β†’ fill in URL β†’ click Create Short Link
Create many links at once Dashboard β†’ Batch Import β†’ paste URLs β†’ Create All
Copy a short URL Dashboard β†’ click Copy on the link's row
See a QR code Dashboard β†’ click QR on the link's row
Edit a link Dashboard β†’ click Edit
See who clicked Dashboard β†’ click Stats
Delete a link Dashboard β†’ click Delete β†’ confirm
Deactivate without deleting Edit page β†’ uncheck Active β†’ Save Changes
Add password protection Edit page β†’ Password β†’ Set new β†’ type password β†’ Save Changes
Set an expiration Create or Edit page β†’ fill in Expires At
Upload a QR logo Settings β†’ upload an SVG file
Log out Click Logout in the top navigation
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