Design your own Bitly

Foundation60 minBuilds URL ShortenerRead first: 2.2 Requirements and core entities, 2.3 Designing the API, 3.3 Back-of-the-envelope math

STEP 1 OF 13

The brief

You are building a link shortener like Bitly. Someone pastes a long URL and gets back a short one such as sho.rt/Ab12xY9q. Anyone who opens the short link is redirected to the original page.

In this lab you will design it the way you would in an interview, one decision at a time. Each step asks you to do something on the canvas, answer a question, or put your design under load. A step unlocks the next one when it passes.

What the product must do

Create a short link for any http or https URL, with an optional expiry date.
Redirect active links. Unknown codes return 404; expired ones return 410.
Count clicks for analytics, without slowing the redirect.

How big it is

New links: 100 / second
Redirects: 10,000 / second
Redirect p99 goal: under 100 ms
Record size: about 500 bytes

Your design is saved as you go. It is the same design you see under Practice library → URL Shortener, so you can come back to it later.

Saved 02:39

6 components · 0 connections

React Flow

Design your own Bitly

Foundation60 minBuilds URL ShortenerRead first: 2.2 Requirements and core entities, 2.3 Designing the API, 3.3 Back-of-the-envelope math

STEP 1 OF 13

The brief

You are building a link shortener like Bitly. Someone pastes a long URL and gets back a short one such as sho.rt/Ab12xY9q. Anyone who opens the short link is redirected to the original page.

What the product must do

Create a short link for any http or https URL, with an optional expiry date.
Redirect active links. Unknown codes return 404; expired ones return 410.
Count clicks for analytics, without slowing the redirect.

How big it is

New links: 100 / second
Redirects: 10,000 / second
Redirect p99 goal: under 100 ms
Record size: about 500 bytes

Your design is saved as you go. It is the same design you see under Practice library → URL Shortener, so you can come back to it later.

Saved 02:39

6 components · 0 connections

React Flow