URL Shortener API — No API Key Required

Quick start — one GET request, no key

The fastest way to shorten a link. No account, no API key, no POST body:

curl "https://urlvanish.com/api/shorten?format=simple&url=https://example.com/a/very/long/address"

https://urlvanish.com/a1b2c3d4

Or as JSON:

curl "https://urlvanish.com/api/shorten?url=https://example.com/page"

{
  "shorturl": "https://urlvanish.com/a1b2c3d4",
  "alias": "a1b2c3d4",
  "originalUrl": "https://example.com/page"
}

Compatibility: the same request also works against https://urlvanish.com/create.php?format=simple&url=…, which is the shape other no-key shorteners use. Both routes are the same endpoint.

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
url	Yes	The address to shorten. u, long_url and originalUrl are accepted as aliases.
format	No	json (default), or simple/text for the bare short URL as plain text.
shorturl	No	Request a custom alias. Letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores, up to 50 characters.
base64	No	Set to 1 if url is base64 encoded. Base64 input is auto-detected too.

Expanding a short link

The reverse operation resolves a URLVanish short link back to its destination. It does not count as a click and never consumes a single-use link:

curl "https://urlvanish.com/api/expand?format=simple&url=https://urlvanish.com/a1b2c3d4"

https://example.com/page

The destination of a password-protected link is deliberately withheld and returns 403. Suspended, expired and used-up links return 410.

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, counted per IP address
• Authenticated requests: 1,000 requests per hour, counted per API key

Every response carries your current allowance, so you do not have to guess:

• X-RateLimit-Limit — requests allowed in the current hour
• X-RateLimit-Remaining — requests left
• X-RateLimit-Reset — Unix timestamp when the window resets

Exceeding the limit returns 429 Too Many Requests with a Retry-After header giving the number of seconds to wait.

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, up to 50 characters)

Checking a link without following it: append a + to any short URL — https://urlvanish.com/abc12345+ — to get a page showing the destination, the click count and whether the link carries a password or an expiry. It needs no authentication, does not count as a click, and does not consume a single-use link. The destination of a password-protected link is withheld.

Note: password protection, expiry dates, click limits and self-destructing links are available on the website but are not yet exposed through the API. A link created through the API has none of those controls. Any extra fields you send are ignored — including userId, which is deliberately not accepted: a link belongs to the account whose API key created it, or to nobody.

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

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Error Handling

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

Status Code	Description
200	Success — URL created
400	Bad Request — missing originalUrl, malformed JSON, an invalid URL, or an invalid custom alias
401	Unauthorized — Invalid or inactive API key
405	Method Not Allowed — use POST
409	Conflict — the requested custom alias is already taken
429	Too Many Requests — hourly rate limit reached. See the Retry-After and X-RateLimit-* headers.
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] => ... )