@plugdash/shortlink

Every CMS post deserves a short URL, but most setups leave that to external services. Generates short URLs backed by EmDash's KV store and writes them to post metadata on publish. Ships CopyLink.astro - a copy-to-clipboard button that fits the engagement bar. The EmDash equivalent of Pretty Links (basic tier).

Install

pnpm add @plugdash/shortlink

Register

// astro.config.mjs
import { defineConfig } from "astro/config";
import emdash from "emdash";
import { shortlinkPlugin } from "@plugdash/shortlink";

export default defineConfig({
  integrations: [
    emdash({
      plugins: [shortlinkPlugin()],
    }),
  ],
});

Add the redirect page

The plugin ships a ready-to-use Astro page. Create one file in your site:

---
// src/pages/s/[code].astro
import RedirectPage from "@plugdash/shortlink/RedirectPage.astro";
---
<RedirectPage />

That's it. The page resolves the code server-side, issues a 301 redirect to the target on hit, returns 404 for unknown codes, and 410 Gone for expired links. Requires Astro output: "server" or output: "hybrid".

Redirect page props (optional)

| Prop | Type | Default | Description | | ------------- | -------------------- | ------- | ----------------------------------- | | status | 301 \| 302 \| 307 \| 308 | 301 | Redirect status code | | expiredHtml | string | default | HTML body for 410 Gone responses | | notFoundHtml | string | default | HTML body for 404 responses |

To customise the expired/not-found pages:

---
import RedirectPage from "@plugdash/shortlink/RedirectPage.astro";
---
<RedirectPage
  status={302}
  expiredHtml="<h1>This link retired.</h1>"
  notFoundHtml="<h1>No such link.</h1>"
/>

If you need a different prefix than /s/, place the page at a matching path (e.g. src/pages/link/[code].astro) and update the plugin's prefix config in the admin UI.

Config options

Configuration is stored in the plugin's KV store and can be changed via the admin UI at /_emdash/admin/shortlinks. Defaults are seeded on install.

| Option | Type | Default | Description | | ---------- | --------- | ------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | prefix | string | /s/ | Route prefix for short URLs | | codeLength | number | 4 | Length of auto-generated codes (2-12) | | autoCreate | boolean | true | Create shortlinks automatically on publish | | domain | string | site URL | Custom domain for full short URLs |

Companion component

---
import CopyLink from "@plugdash/shortlink/CopyLink.astro";
---

<CopyLink post={post} />

Props

| Prop | Type | Default | Description | | ------- | -------------------------------- | ---------- | ------------------------------ | | post | Record<string, unknown> | required | The post object from EmDash | | showUrl | boolean | false | Show short URL text next to icon | | variant | "circle" \| "pill" \| "ghost" | "circle" | Visual style | | size | "sm" \| "md" \| "lg" | "md" | Button size | | theme | "auto" \| "dark" \| "light" | "auto" | Color theme | | class | string | "" | Additional CSS class |

CSS custom properties

| Token | Default | Description | | ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ------------------- | | --plugdash-engage-size | 2rem | Circle button size | | --plugdash-engage-radius | 9999px | Border radius | | --plugdash-engage-border | rgb(from currentColor r g b / 0.15) | Border color | | --plugdash-engage-bg | rgb(from currentColor r g b / 0.04) | Background | | --plugdash-engage-bg-hover | rgb(from currentColor r g b / 0.08) | Hover background | | --plugdash-engage-transition | 150ms ease | Transition timing | | --plugdash-copy-success-color | #22c55e | Check icon color | | --plugdash-copy-success-duration | 2000ms | Check display time | | --plugdash-font-ui | "Lexend", system-ui, sans-serif | UI font family | | --plugdash-font-mono | "IBM Plex Mono", monospace | URL text font |

Metadata written

On publish, writes to post.data.metadata.shortlink:

{
  code: string    // e.g. "ab3k"
  url: string     // e.g. "/s/ab3k"
  fullUrl: string // e.g. "https://example.com/s/ab3k"
}

What it does

• Fires on content:afterSave when status is published
• Generates a random alphanumeric code (configurable length)
• Stores shortlink data in KV with a reverse index for O(1) duplicate checks
• Writes shortlink metadata to the content record (read-merge-write)
• Provides a public resolve route for redirect lookup
• Ships a Block Kit admin page for managing shortlinks and creating custom slugs
• Handles code collisions with retry and length escalation

What it does not do

• Does not create shortlinks for drafts, archived, or scheduled content
• Does not claim the /s/[code] URL path by itself - EmDash plugins cannot mount top-level routes, so you drop RedirectPage.astro into your site's src/pages/s/[code].astro (one line)
• Does not track click counts - that is the clickcount plugin's job
• Does not generate cryptographically random codes - do not use shortlinks for secret or access-controlled URLs
• Does not delete shortlinks when content is deleted (orphaned links stay until manually removed via admin)
• Does not support custom slugs via the content editor - use the admin page