How do I log in for the first time?

Open https://your-domain right after the installation: Kutt shows the form that creates the administrator account. Enter your email and password; the first account created becomes the administrator, which is why you should create it straight away. The form is refused afterwards, and no password is generated in advance.

Can anyone create links on my instance?

No. Public sign-up and anonymous links are disabled by default: only the administrator and the accounts they create from the admin page can shorten links. This is deliberate — an open shortener is quickly used to disguise phishing links, and your domain's reputation would pay for it.

How do I create a short link from a script?

Generate an API key in your account settings, then send a POST to https://your-domain/api/v2/links with the X-API-KEY header and a JSON body containing target (the long address) and, optionally, customurl, password, expire_in or description. The JSON response contains the link field, the short link ready to share.

Can I recover a forgotten password by email?

Not until email sending is configured: Kutt is installed with emails disabled. To enable password resets and address verification, fill in an SMTP server in the application's MAIL_ variables, set MAIL_ENABLED to true, then restart the container.

Automate business processes.

Kutt

Kutt — short links on your own domain: REST API, custom aliases, expiry, password protection and private click statistics on your VPS.

512 MB minimum RAM 1 vCPU Port 8107 In validation

In validation

Automatic installation for this solution is ready and currently going through our tests on a real server. Ordering will open as soon as validation is complete.

Source code

Tech stack

DockerNode.jsKuttSQLite

Minimum RAM512 MB minimum

Minimum CPU1 vCPU

Default port8107

Compatible OSChoice of Linux distributions

Kutt (MIT licence, more than 11,000 GitHub stars) is a modern URL shortener you host yourself. Every short link carries your domain — go.your-domain.com/promo instead of a bit.ly address — and every click stays in your own database, not with a third-party service.

Links are created from the web interface or through the REST API, with one API key per user: that is what makes Kutt a developer tool as much as a marketing one. Your scripts, your CRM or your email campaigns shorten their links automatically, and the dashboard shows the statistics of each one: visits, browsers, operating systems, countries and referrers.

On ServOrbit, Kutt runs in a single container with a SQLite database kept in a volume, behind nginx over HTTPS. Public sign-up and anonymous links are disabled by default: only the administrator you create on first access, and the accounts they add, can shorten links.

Key features

Short links on your domain — every link carries your brand (go.your-domain.com/offer), which earns more trust than a public shortener and survives a change of tool.

Custom aliases — pick the link code (/launch, /webinar) or let Kutt generate a six-character one that avoids ambiguous characters such as 0 and O.

Password, expiry and description — protect a link with a password, set an expiry date or duration, and document each link for the team.

Private statistics — visits over time, browsers, operating systems, countries and referrers, visible only to the owner of the link.

REST API with per-user keys — create, update and delete links from a script, a CRM or a CI pipeline; the API is documented by the project.

Built-in administration — the administrator creates team accounts, reviews every link and bans a malicious link or domain.

Light and frugal — one Node.js container and a SQLite database: about 200 MB of RAM, no external database to maintain.

When to use this solution?

1

Branded campaign links

An agency or a small business publishes links on social networks, in text messages and on posters: go.your-domain.com/sale earns more trust than a bit.ly address and can be read out loud. Per-link statistics show which channel actually brought the visits, without a third-party analytics tool.

2

Shorten through the API from your tools

Your application generates tracking, sharing or payment links that are too long for a text message. A POST to /api/v2/links with the API key returns a short link in milliseconds: wire it into a CRM, an invoicing script or a CI pipeline that publishes preview links.

3

Links that expire on their own

A limited-time offer, a document shared for a week, an event registration link: set a validity period and the link stops redirecting when it ends. Add a password for a document reserved for one client.

Deploy Kutt on your VPS

Guide optimized for ServOrbit Cloud VPS.

01

Create the VPS and choose the address

Order an Ubuntu 24.04 VPS with 512 MB of RAM. Kutt requires a domain: it builds every short link from it, and a link pointing to a local address opens for nobody. Ideally pick a short subdomain of one of your domains (for example go.your-domain.com); the VPS's free subdomain (kutt.{dns_slug}.servorbit-dns.com), HTTPS included, also works to get started. No need to buy a domain name to try it.

02

Install Kutt from the Marketplace

In your client area, select Kutt, choose the address and click Install. The script deploys the official container, generates the secret key that signs sessions, creates the volume for the SQLite database and configures the nginx reverse proxy over HTTPS.

03

Log in for the first time

Open https://your-domain as soon as the installation finishes: Kutt redirects you to the form that creates the administrator account. Enter your email and a strong password, twice; this first account becomes the administrator and the form is then refused to everyone. No credentials are created in advance.

04

Create your first link

Paste a long address in the main field, optionally choose a custom code, an expiry date or a password, then submit. The short link appears in your list with its visit counter; open its statistics to see browsers, countries and referrers.

05

Generate an API key

In your account settings, generate an API key. Send it in the X-API-KEY header of a POST to /api/v2/links with a JSON body {"target": "https://…"}: the response contains the short link. Each team member has their own key, revoked by generating a new one.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Kutt builds every short link from its domain: without a public address, links would point to a local machine. You do not need to buy one to start: every ServOrbit VPS comes with a free subdomain (kutt.{dns_slug}.servorbit-dns.com) with an HTTPS certificate. For truly short links, prefer a brief subdomain of one of your domains, for example go.your-domain.com.

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