QR Link Tracker

Simple Flask tool for creating short links, UTM variants, QR codes, and a password-protected analytics dashboard.

Features

• Create one short URL for a destination link
• Generate a quick direct QR code without creating a short link
• Generate UTM variants on that short URL
• Generate QR codes that point to tracked short URLs
• Record every short-link visit before redirecting
• View visit and unique visitor totals, UTM breakdowns, daily trends, top links, and recent visits
• Recover generated campaign links from the campaign analytics page
• Export finished campaigns to CSV and clean up old campaign data

Setup

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Run Locally

$env:ANALYTICS_PASSWORD = "change-me"
$env:PUBLIC_BASE_URL = "http://127.0.0.1:5000"
python app.py

Then open http://127.0.0.1:5000.

Configuration

• ANALYTICS_PASSWORD: required for the creator and analytics pages; short links stay public
• SECRET_KEY: recommended for stable login sessions
• DATABASE_URL: Neon/Postgres connection string for production
• DB_BACKEND: optional, defaults to postgres when DATABASE_URL is set and sqlite otherwise
• DATABASE_PATH: optional local SQLite path, defaults to link_tracker.db
• PUBLIC_BASE_URL: optional public origin for generated short URLs, such as https://your-domain.com

Tests

python -m unittest discover -s tests

Deployment Notes

The included api/index.py and vercel.json provide a Vercel Python entrypoint for the Flask app.

Use local SQLite for development and Neon Postgres for Vercel production. In Vercel, set:

• DATABASE_URL: the Neon pooled connection string
• SECRET_KEY: a long random value
• ANALYTICS_PASSWORD: the shared password for creator and analytics pages
• PUBLIC_BASE_URL: the deployed site URL, for example https://links.example.com

The app creates the required tables on cold start if they do not exist. The production Postgres schema is also available in schema.sql if you prefer to run it manually in Neon first.

Data Cleanup Direction

For finished campaigns, export the campaign CSV from its analytics page before cleanup. Cleanup deletes campaign visits, can optionally delete saved generated_links, and can optionally deactivate campaign short links. Short links stay active by default so old QR codes do not break.