DSLF - Damn Small Link Forwarder

A blazing fast, self-hosted link shortener and LinkTree-style page builder. Built with Rust for maximum performance and minimal resource usage.

Why DSLF? Replace bit.ly, TinyURL, and Linktree with a single, self-hosted service that's fast, private, and simple to configure.

Quick Start

1. Create redirects.csv and optionally link-index.yaml (see Configuration)
2. Copy Dockerfile.user-example to Dockerfile
3. Build and run:

docker build -t my-links .
docker run -p 3000:3000 my-links

Your links are live at http://localhost:3000.

Features

Feature	Description
Blazing Fast	Sub-millisecond redirects, 50k+ req/sec on modest hardware
LinkTree Page	Beautiful landing page with Catppuccin theming
Zero Database	Simple CSV/YAML config—no PostgreSQL, Redis, or external services
Tiny Footprint	5MB binary, <10MB RAM, sub-second cold starts
Privacy First	No tracking, no analytics, fully self-hosted
SEO Optimized	Open Graph, Twitter Cards, JSON-LD structured data
Accessible	WCAG compliant with semantic HTML and ARIA labels
Import Support	Migrate from Rebrandly with one command

Configuration

File	Required	Runtime Mountable	Description
redirects.csv	Yes	✅ Yes	Your short link redirects
link-index.yaml	No	❌ No (build-time)	LinkTree-style landing page config

Important: The landing page is compiled at build time—rebuild to update it. Redirects can be mounted at runtime.

Redirects (redirects.csv)

url,target,status

# Development
/gh,https://github.com/yourusername,301
/docs,https://docs.yourproject.com,301

# Marketing (302 for tracking)
/promo,https://yoursite.com/offer,302

• url — Short path (e.g., /gh)
• target — Destination URL
• status — 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary)

Comments (#) and blank lines are supported.

LinkTree Page (link-index.yaml)

Optional landing page at /. Requires rebuild to update.

profile:
  name: "Your Name"
  bio: "Software Developer | Open Source Enthusiast"
  type: "person" # or "organization"
  avatar: "https://example.com/avatar.jpg" # optional

theme:
  preset: "mocha" # mocha | macchiato | frappe | latte
  buttonStyle: "glass" # glass | solid | outline

seo:
  site_url: "https://yourdomain.com" # enables sitemap.xml

social:
  github: "https://github.com/yourusername"
  linkedin: "https://linkedin.com/in/yourusername"

links:
  - title: "My Portfolio"
    url: "https://portfolio.example.com"
    icon: "fas fa-briefcase"
  - title: "Contact"
    url: "https://example.com/contact"
    highlight: true

footer:
  show_powered_by: true

• Theme: Catppuccin palette (Mocha, Macchiato, Frappé, Latte)
• Social: GitHub, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube, Discord, Mastodon, Bluesky, and more
• SEO: Set site_url to generate sitemap.xml and robots.txt

Deployment

With Landing Page (Recommended)

Use the multi-stage build with the pre-built builder image:

# Dockerfile
FROM vpetersson/dslf:builder AS static
COPY redirects.csv ./
COPY link-index.yaml ./
RUN bun run build

FROM vpetersson/dslf:latest
COPY --from=static /static/dist /app/static
COPY --from=static /static/redirects.csv /app/

docker build -t my-dslf .
docker run -p 3000:3000 my-dslf

Docker Compose:

services:
  dslf:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    restart: unless-stopped

Redirects Only

If you don't need a landing page, mount redirects.csv at runtime:

docker run -p 3000:3000 -v $(pwd)/redirects.csv:/app/redirects.csv vpetersson/dslf:latest

Available Images

Image	Description
vpetersson/dslf:latest	Runtime image with default assets
vpetersson/dslf:builder	Builder image for custom builds
vpetersson/dslf:v1.2.0	Specific version
ghcr.io/vpetersson/dslf:*	Same tags on GitHub Container Registry

CLI Reference

dslf [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]

Options:
  -c, --config <FILE>    CSV file path [default: redirects.csv]
  -b, --bind <ADDR>      Bind address [default: 0.0.0.0]
  -p, --port <PORT>      Port [default: 3000]
  -m, --modern           Use 307/308 instead of 301/302
  -v, --validate         Validate destination URLs
  -k, --check            Check config syntax
  -s, --silent           Disable request logging
      --static-dir <DIR> Static files directory

Commands:
  import rebrandly       Import links from Rebrandly

Development

git clone https://github.com/vpetersson/dslf.git && cd dslf
bun install && bun run build    # Frontend
cargo build --release           # Backend
cargo test && bun test          # Tests

Release

git tag -a v1.x.0 -m "Release v1.x.0" && git push origin v1.x.0

License

Apache 2.0