Kutt.it - a Free, Self Hosted, Open Source URL Shortener
Kutt.it is a great little application. It was suggested by a subscriber, and I really have like it. It's got a simple, clean interface, and does exactly what you expect from a link shortening application.
Installation is pretty straight forward, and like most things I cover we'll use Docker and Docker-Compose
What you'll need
- A server or machine with Docker and Docker-compose installed.
- A Domain Name you own, and can set an A-record for with the public IP of your server.
- (Suggested) NGinX Proxy Manager to proxy traffic and get LetsEncrypt Certificates for the application.
Installation of Docker and Docker-Compose
Today, docker-CE can be installed with a one-line command provided by the Docker CE folks. Open a terminal window on your machine and put this in:
curl https://get.docker.com | sh
Enter your super user password when prompted so the install can run. When it completes, add yourself to the 'docker' group with
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
Once this runs, you need to log out and back in, so that the changes will allow your user to run the docker command without sudo.
Install NGinX Proxy Manager
I have a video and instructions on this, so check it out here: Using NGinX Proxy Manager
Install Kutt.it
To install Kutt.it, you'll need to pull down the repo from Github.
git clone https://github.com/thedevs-network/kutt.git
Next, move into the folder it creates.
cd kutt
Now, you can look at the contents with the command
ls -al
You'll see a few files that start with a dot "." . These are hidden files in the linux/unix world.
Next, we need to copy the .docker.env file to a file called ".env".
cp .docker.env .env
Now, we need to edit the .env file contents we just copied.
nano .env
Inside this file we need to edit the following fields:
SITE_NAME (the short name of your site)
DEFAULT_DOMAIN (you need a domain for this to work, for instance mine is osia.me)
LINK_LENGTH (optional)
DISALLOW_LOGIN (optional)
DISALLOW_ANONYMOOUS_LINKS (optional)
USER_LIMIT_PER_DAY (optional)
NON_USER_COOLDOWN (optional)
JWT_SECRET (make this a long strong secret - not something you have to remember)
ADMIN_EMAILS (emails that are comma separated for admins fo the software)
Email Section: This is necessary if you want registration to work. If you don't intend to use Registration, just don't mess with the Email setting section.
MAIL_HOST
MAIL_PORT (needs to be 465 and SSL as Kutt does not yet support StartTLS on 587)
MAIL_SECURE=true
MAIL_USER
MAIL_FROM
MAIL_PASSWORD
REPORT_EMAIL (optional)
Save the file with CTRL+O, then Enter / Return, and exit with CTRL+X.
Next, we need to open the file called "docker-compose.yml".
nano docker-compose.yml
In this file you need to potentially edit the following values:
Under the section labeled "kutt", you may need to change the port on the left side fo the colon. By default it's set as "3000:3000". If you have port 3000 already in use on your host, you should change the left side of the colon to a free port. I changed mine to be 3030, so it now looks like this:
"3030:3000"
Next, you need to change the environment valued under the section labeled "kutt" and "postgres", and ensure these values match.
DB_USER = POSTGRES_USER
DB_PASSWORD = POSTGRES_PASSWORD
DB_NAME = POSTGRES_DB
Set the values to what you want, just ensure they are equal in those two sections.
Once you've made these adjustments, save with CTRL+O, then Enter / Return to save, and CTRL+X to exit.
Run the Kutt Server
We now just need to run Kutt.it with the command
docker-compose up -d
Give it time to pulldown the necessary images, then give it a minute after you see 'done' in the terminal. You'll likely not be able to reach it via the IP address and port, but instead need to set it up to be accessed via the domain name you procured.
For this, I'll be using NGinX Proxy Manager.
Setup Kutt for Access via Domain Name in NPM
Go to NGinX Proxy Manager (server IP and port 81 - for example my server IP is 192.168.7.125, so I go to http://192.168.7.125:81). Login, hopefully you got all this setup from the information above. If not, go back and get it setup, then continue.
Add a new Proxy Host, and in the Details tab of the pop-up enter your registered domain name. I registered "osia.me", so that's what I'll enter, then press tab to make sure it's accepted.
Next, in the IP address field, we want to enter localhost (if the application is running on the same machine you have NPM running on), or the IP of the machine on your LAN if running inside your Local Area Network.
Now I enable Block Common Exploits and Websocket Support, and save.
I test by clicking the URL in the list on the NPM page. It should open a new tab, and take you to your running Kutt.it server.
Now Setup SSL
Once you can reach the page through http, we want to set it up to run with https (SSL encryption). We'll go back to NGinX Proxy Manager and edit our entry.
On the SSL tab of the pop-up, select "Request a New Certificate" from the drop down, then enable the Force SSL option. Enter your email address in the field, and Accept the Terms of Service for LetsEncrypt.
Click Save again, and if you've got everything setup properly, a new SSL certificate will be added for your page.
Now, if you click the URL in the list on NPM, you'll be taken to a new tab that will be through https.
Voila! You've done it. If you hit issues along the way, make sure to go back and check my video for any clues.
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