Perimattic Managed YOURLS - URL Shortener on AWS

This AMI runs YOURLS, the open-source URL shortener, with MariaDB 11.8 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. You create short links on your own domain, choose custom keywords, track clicks and manage links in the admin area, or script it all through the YOURLS API. The upstream vendor image of YOURLS 1.10.6 (Apache and PHP) is pinned, with MariaDB 11.8.9, and baked into the AMI, so first start does not depend on a registry.

What Perimattic adds

Administrator and installer handled for you: a fresh YOURLS shows an installer to the first visitor and keeps its login in a configuration file. This AMI runs the installer during first-login setup, before anything is published, and writes the configuration itself. The administrator password is generated on your server (24 characters) and stored in the configuration only as a hash; the cookie key that signs logins and the API token is generated per instance. YOURLS runs in private mode. Setup then checks that the password works, that wrong and default logins are refused, that anonymous requests to the API cannot create links or read statistics, that the statistics page of a link asks for the login, and that the installer is closed.

HTTPS: Apache is configured as a reverse proxy and a free Let's Encrypt certificate is requested for your domain with certbot. YOURLS and MariaDB listen only on the loopback interface and inside the Docker network. The check for new YOURLS versions is switched off, so the server contacts no outside service by itself.

Patched base: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS built through an automated EC2 Image Builder pipeline, with security updates applied at build time.

Limits you should know

Short links are public by design: anyone who knows or guesses a keyword (https://your-domain/keyword ) is redirected, so do not shorten secret URLs. The admin area, the API and link statistics need the login; the API also accepts the signature token shown under Tools in the admin area. The site root has no landing page. Keywords cannot contain hyphens unless you activate a plugin. When you add a link, YOURLS fetches the page title of the target address from your server. No plugin is activated. The password is changed by editing the configuration file; the instructions are in the credentials file. YOURLS has one administrator account by default.

In our tests YOURLS used about 50 to 65 MB of memory and MariaDB about 135 MB, so a t3.small (2 GB) is the recommended starting size. Short links and clicks are stored in MariaDB on the instance's root volume.

Licence and attribution

YOURLS is released under the MIT licence and MariaDB under the GPL version 2; this AMI runs the unmodified upstream images. Built on the open-source YOURLS (MIT). Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the YOURLS project; YOURLS is a trademark of its owner.

Getting Started Launch the AMI and open ports 22, 80 and 443 in the security group SSH in and answer the setup prompts (domain and admin email) Open https://your-domain/admin/  and sign in as admin with the password printed at the end of setup Create your first short link, or use the API with the signature token from the Tools page

A domain name with an A record pointing at the instance is required, because the site is served over HTTPS.

This AMI is built and supported by Perimattic.

Book a free setup consultation at https://cal.com/gaurav-pareek-perimattic/marketplace-setup-consultations  or email us at aws-support@perimattic.com .

Support Managed and supported by Perimattic, a cloud infrastructure company with 13+ years of experience serving global clients. We offer free setup assistance, custom integrations, infrastructure consulting, and 24/7 support.