A small, focused Python command-line tool to shorten URLs using the shrtco.de API. Designed to be compact (under 100 lines) and simple to use from a terminal.

• Shortens a single URL from the command line
• Minimal dependencies (requests)
• Clear output suitable for piping or scripts

• Python 3.7+
• requests

Install requests (or all deps) with:

pip install -r requirements.txt

or

pip install requests

1. Clone or copy this repository into a folder.
2. Ensure requests is installed (see Requirements).
3. Run the script from the folder containing url_shortener_cli.py.

Basic usage (positional argument):

python url_shortener_cli.py https://example.com/very/long/url

If the script supports flags (example placeholders — check the script for exact options):

python url_shortener_cli.py --help

or

python url_shortener_cli.py -u https://example.com

Input:

python url_shortener_cli.py https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Xp9n8Oa4X1Z0Yw7y_W0t2Q1b1L1E2L7fC2T3Y1S4T5F6G7H8J9K0L/edit

Output:

Original URL: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Xp9n8Oa4X1Z0Yw7y_W0t2Q1b1L1E2L7fC2T3Y1S4T5F6G7H8J9K0L/edit

Shortened URL: https://shrtco.de/dl2f7a

• The script will print a clear error message when:
  • the API returns an error,
  • the input URL is missing or malformed,
  • there is a network problem.

Check exit codes or pipe the output to other tools if you need programmatic handling.

• This tool uses the public shrtco.de API. Review their terms before using it in production.
• The CLI is intentionally compact — if you want more features (batch shortening, clipboard copy, JSON output), consider extending the script.

Ideas, fixes, or improvements are welcome via pull requests or issues.

Specify your project license here (e.g., MIT). Replace this line with the actual license text or a link.