2.2 KiB
publish, title, created, modified, tags, cssclasses
| publish | title | created | modified | tags | cssclasses | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| true | urlref | 2026-01-19T18:15:38.889-07:00 | 2026-01-19T18:40:10.504-07:00 |
|
As an avid user of pen and paper for note taking I have had endless trouble figuring out how to store url's without having to write them out in full. I seem to have found a solution to this issue with urlref from the fantastic Benjamin Hollon. I did have a little bit of fun setting up for myself though so I am documenting here in case it is helpful to anyone, including future me.
Installation
Install Nim
Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S nim nimble
Other distributions: See https://nim-lang.org/install.html
Build
cd urlref
nimble build
Install system-wide (optional)
nimble install
This installs the binary to ~/.nimble/bin/. Ensure it's in your PATH:
export PATH="$HOME/.nimble/bin:$PATH"
Usage
Create a short reference
urlref create "https://example.com/some/long/url"
# Output: ABC
Start the redirect server
urlref
The server runs on port 9873. Visiting http://localhost:9873/ABC redirects to the original URL.
Examples
systemd service
[Unit]
Description=URL Reference Redirect Server
After=network.target
[Service]
ExecStart=%h/.nimble/bin/urlref
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
qutebrowser Integration
This qutebrowser integration works for me, you are on your own for other browsers!
Userscript
Should live at ~/.local/share/qutebrowser/userscripts
#!/bin/bash
# Qutebrowser userscript to shorten the current URL using urlref
shortcode=$(~/.nimble/bin/urlref create "$QUTE_URL")
if [ -n "$shortcode" ]; then
echo "message-info 'Shortcode: $shortcode'" >> "$QUTE_FIFO"
echo "yank inline $shortcode" >> "$QUTE_FIFO"
else
echo "message-error 'Failed to create shortcode'" >> "$QUTE_FIFO"
fi
Bind it to a key
config.bind('ar', 'spawn --userscript urlref-shorten')
Add a custom search engine
c.url.searchengines['r'] = 'http://localhost:9873/{}'