URLVanish API Documentation

Introduction

Welcome to the URLVanish API! Our API allows you to integrate URL shortening capabilities directly into your applications. Create shortened URLs programmatically while maintaining the same privacy-focused approach that makes URLVanish unique.

Authentication

URLVanish API supports optional API key authentication. Authenticated requests link shortened URLs to your account so you can manage them from your dashboard.

1. Create an account at URLVanish
2. Log in and go to your Dashboard
3. Generate an API key from the API Keys section
4. Include your API key in the request header

Authentication Header

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Rate Limits

To ensure fair usage for all users, we implement the following rate limits:

• Unauthenticated requests: 100 requests per hour
• Authenticated requests: 1,000 requests per hour

Create Short URL

Creates a new shortened URL.

Request Headers

Header	Required	Description
Content-Type	Yes	Must be application/json
Authorization	No	Bearer token for authenticated requests: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Request Body (JSON)

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
originalUrl	string	Yes	The URL to shorten
customAlias	string	No	Custom alias for the short URL (letters, numbers, dashes, underscores)

Example Request

{
  "originalUrl": "https://example.com/very-long-url",
  "customAlias": "my-custom-link"
}

Success Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "alias": "https://urlvanish.com/my-custom-link",
  "originalUrl": "https://example.com/very-long-url"
}

Authenticated Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "alias": "https://urlvanish.com/my-custom-link",
  "originalUrl": "https://example.com/very-long-url",
  "authenticated_as": "your_username"
}

Error Response

{
  "status": "error",
  "message": "Missing required parameter: originalUrl."
}

Get URL Information Coming Soon

Delete URL Coming Soon

List URLs Coming Soon

Error Handling

The API uses HTTP response codes alongside a JSON response to indicate success or failure.

Status Code	Description
200	Success — URL created
401	Unauthorized — Invalid or inactive API key
500	Internal Server Error

Error Response Format

{
  "status": "error",
  "message": "Description of what went wrong"
}

Common Errors

Message	Cause
Missing required parameter: originalUrl.	The originalUrl field is missing or empty in the request body
Invalid or inactive API key.	The Bearer token is not a valid API key or has been deleted
Alias already exists. Please choose a different alias.	The customAlias you requested is already taken
Invalid HTTP method. Please use POST.	The request was not a POST request

Code Examples

cURL

curl -X POST https://urlvanish.com/create_api.php \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "originalUrl": "https://example.com/long-url",
    "customAlias": "my-link"
  }'

cURL (without authentication)

curl -X POST https://urlvanish.com/create_api.php \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "originalUrl": "https://example.com/long-url"
  }'

JavaScript

const response = await fetch('https://urlvanish.com/create_api.php', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    originalUrl: 'https://example.com/long-url',
    customAlias: 'my-link'
  })
});

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);
// { status: "success", alias: "https://urlvanish.com/my-link", originalUrl: "...", authenticated_as: "..." }

Python

import requests

url = "https://urlvanish.com/create_api.php"
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}
data = {
    "originalUrl": "https://example.com/long-url",
    "customAlias": "my-link"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=data, headers=headers)
print(response.json())
# {'status': 'success', 'alias': 'https://urlvanish.com/my-link', 'originalUrl': '...', 'authenticated_as': '...'}

PHP

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://urlvanish.com/create_api.php');
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
    'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
    'Content-Type: application/json'
]);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode([
    'originalUrl' => 'https://example.com/long-url',
    'customAlias' => 'my-link'
]));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
$data = json_decode($response, true);
curl_close($ch);

print_r($data);
// Array ( [status] => success [alias] => https://urlvanish.com/my-link [originalUrl] => ... [authenticated_as] => ... )