tiny-redirects

tiny-redirects is a minimal Git-based redirect management system that lets you configure short URLs using YAML files. All redirect entries are compiled into a static _redirects file, ideal for deployment on Netlify/Cloudflare. In this case Netlify is preferred because Decap CMS integrated seemlessly with Netlify.

How it works

• All .yaml files inside the redirects/ folder are processed.
• The build.py script reads, validates, and converts them into a single _redirects file.
• This _redirects file can be served directly by Netlify to handle static redirects.
• If deployed on Netlify, urls can be added via Decap CMS

Folder Structure

tiny-redirects/
├── redirects/             # Folder for all redirect YAML files
│   ├── example.yaml
│   └── blog-redirects.yml 
├── _redirects             # Output file generated by build.py, served by Netlify
├── build.py               # Script to compile YAML redirects into _redirects
├── admin/
│   └── config.yml
|   └── index.html         # Entry point for CMS admin UI
└── README.md           

How to Use

1. Add Redirect YAML Files

Each file should contain redirect entries like:

- short_url: "/cv"
  target_url: "https://rishikeshs.com/docs/cv.pdf"
  status_code: 301

Or, if editing via CMS:

redirects:
  - short_url: "/cv"
    target_url: "https://rishikeshs.com/docs/cv.pdf"
    status_code: 301

Note: build.py supports both formats.

2. Run the Build Script

python build.py

This generates a _redirects file at the project root.

3. Deploy to Netlify

Once _redirects is present, Netlify will automatically handle the redirects during deployment. In Netlify, set build command as python3 build.py

Decap CMS Integration (admin UI)

• admin/config.yml is preconfigured for use with Decap CMS (formerly Netlify CMS).
• It uses GitHub as a backend, and authentication is handled by Netlify Identity.
• Visit /admin on your deployed site to use the admin panel.

config.yml sample:

backend:
  name: github
  repo: rishikeshsreehari/tiny-redirects
  branch: main

media_folder: "static/uploads"
public_folder: "/uploads"

media_library:
  name: uploadcare

collections:
  - name: 'redirects'
    label: 'Redirect Files'
    folder: 'redirects'
    create: true
    extension: 'yaml'
    format: 'yaml'
    slug: '{{slug}}'
    summary: '{{filename}}'
    fields:
      - label: 'Redirects'
        name: 'redirects'
        widget: 'list'
        label_singular: 'Redirect'
        fields:
          - label: 'Short URL'
            name: 'short_url'
            widget: 'string'
          - label: 'Target URL'
            name: 'target_url'
            widget: 'string'
          - label: 'Status Code'
            name: 'status_code'
            widget: 'number'
            default: 301

Notes

The file blog-redirects.yml inside the redirects/ folder is auto-generated from an external repository for personal use. Reference: https://github.com/rishikeshsreehari/personal-blog/blob/main/scripts/short_url.py

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