CS 61A Link Server

This is a very simple shortlink server used by 61A for links.cs61a.org (as well as a similar internal link server).

It's typically designed to work with a Google Sheet, but you can use any publicly readable CSV file.

Deploying

We deploy this using Dokku, but anything that can host a simple Flask server should be fine.

Using with Google Sheets

1. Create a workbook with at least one sheet with headers Shortlink, URL, and Creator. Anything in other columns will be ignored. Make the sheet readable to anyone with a link.
2. Find the workbook ID: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/$WORKBOOK_ID/edit.
3. Set the BASE_URL env variable to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/$WORKBOOK_ID/export?format=csv&id=1-$WORKBOOK_ID&gid=.
4. For each sheet you want to use, find the sheet ID, which is the number after the # when the sheet is open.
5. Add all sheet IDs separated by commas to the SHEETS env variable.

Important Things to Note

• When using Google Sheets as described above, the document will be world readable, so avoid putting sensitive information in the links themselves.
• Links do not refresh automatically. You need to go to yourdomain.com/_refresh to have the server re-fetch the sheets.
• All links will be at yourdomain.com/<shortlink>. You can see a preview of the link and the listed creator at yourdomain.com/preview/<shortlink>.