Quickstart¶

Get an API key and create your first short link in under five minutes.

1. Get an API key¶

API keys are created from your GoByte dashboard.

1. Open the dashboard. Sign in at app.gobyte.io.
2. Create a key. Go to Settings → API Keys and create a new key. Give it a name and pick the scopes it needs (for creating links you need links:write).
3. Copy it now. Your key is shown once, at creation time. It looks like gb_live_sk_xxxxxxxxxxxx. Copy it and store it securely — GoByte only keeps a hashed copy and cannot show it to you again.

2. Create your first short link¶

Send a POST request to /api/v1/public/links with your destination URL.

curl -X POST https://api.gobyte.io/api/v1/public/links \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gb_live_sk_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "destinationUrl": "https://example.com/a-very-long-url-to-shorten"
  }'

import requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.gobyte.io/api/v1/public/links",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer gb_live_sk_your_key_here"},
    json={"destinationUrl": "https://example.com/a-very-long-url-to-shorten"},
)
print(res.json()["shortUrl"])

const res = await fetch("https://api.gobyte.io/api/v1/public/links", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: "Bearer gb_live_sk_your_key_here",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    destinationUrl: "https://example.com/a-very-long-url-to-shorten",
  }),
});
const link = await res.json();
console.log(link.shortUrl);

A successful call returns 201 Created with the new link:

{
  "id": "01J8XABCDEF...",
  "shortCode": "aB3xY",
  "shortUrl": "https://lnk.gobyte.io/aB3xY",
  "destinationUrl": "https://example.com/a-very-long-url-to-shorten",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "totalClicks": 0,
  "createdAt": "2026-01-01T12:00:00Z"
}

Open the shortUrl in a browser — it redirects to your destination.

3. Customize the link¶

Pass optional fields to control the alias, expiry, and click limit:

curl -X POST https://api.gobyte.io/api/v1/public/links \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gb_live_sk_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "destinationUrl": "https://example.com/summer-sale",
    "customAlias": "summer-sale",
    "expiresAt": "2026-09-01T00:00:00Z",
    "maxClicks": 1000
  }'

4. Read analytics¶

Once your link gets traffic, fetch its stats:

curl https://api.gobyte.io/api/v1/public/links/{id}/analytics?period=7d \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gb_live_sk_your_key_here"

Next steps¶