VCurl

Short links first

The core is a link shortener that does not look like one: you point a domain you own at it, add a single TXT record, and VCurl verifies it and issues the certificate. Links are served from your address rather than a generic shortener host, with a readable slug suggested if you do not want to pick one.

Around that sit the guards you actually need in practice — expiry dates, hit caps, password gating, automatic UTM parameters — and click analytics that record referrer, geography, network and device class without storing IP addresses or loading third-party trackers.

One platform, many modules

Short links turned out to be the first of a set. Every module inherits the same tenancy, the same custom domains and the same API:

• Game scoreboards — drop-in high-score tables with achievements and a public read/submit API
• Pastes — shareable markdown documents, safely rendered
• Countdowns, Files, Polls, Availability — a live countdown, a file behind a branded link, a poll or a "when works for you" on your own URL
• Tracking pixels — a clear pixel, an image, or a hit counter that counts every load
• Request bins and email bins — throwaway URLs and inboxes that capture everything sent to them, for testing webhooks and mail
• Feedback forms — typed fields, responses collected privately
• Site Association — hosts apple-app-site-association and assetlinks.json so deep links resolve on both platforms

The modules are the point. Each one is small enough to be unremarkable on its own, and worth building because the domain verification, tenancy, tokens and analytics already exist underneath.

Driven by API

Everything the dashboard does is a versioned REST API with tokens scoped to links:read, links:write and links:analytics, so a module can be wired into something else without a browser. Real Time Balls uses the scoreboard module for its leaderboards and badges, and the hit counters on this site and my others are VCurl tracking pixels.