Chhoto URL

Judgement

What it is

Complete system

What it does

A minimal self-hosted URL shortener written in Rust, with a small web UI, an API and a tiny Docker image.

Adopt it when

You want short links on your own domain with as little resource use and as few features as possible.

Watch out

Deliberately bare: no multi-user teams or detailed analytics, and one maintainer.

Ready for

Usable

Runs as

Self-hosted server

Built with

Rust, Actix Web, SQLite and JavaScript

How established

Established: started 4 years ago, latest release 7.10.7.

What the license allows

You can build it into a product you sell, as long as you keep its copyright notice.

Judged on 2026-11-03 from the project's README and GitHub data. The license and age lines are worked out directly.

Built from

Follow it down: Chhoto URL → Rust → runs on a microchip

How compilers were built, back to punched paper tape

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