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Custom protocols

YOURLS can shorten URLs with non standard protocols (other than http or https).

What for?​

All links are not intended to redirect to a site. Depending on your needs, you may want to shorten and share short links that redirect to a mailto: address, an ftp:// URL, your facetime: or skype: profile.

Example: yourls.org/mailto

When you shorten a non-standard link, a visual clue will be added next to the shortened link.

Supported and forbidden protocols​

A wide variety of popular non-standard protocols is included out of the box. They include:

  • common stuff: http(s)://, ftp://, feed://, mailto:, news: ...
  • developer oriented protocols: git://, svn://, ...
  • p2p: ed2k://, magnet:, ...
  • streaming and music: lastfm://, spotify:, mms://, ...
  • text and voice: facetime://, gtalk:, irc://, skype:, teamspeak://, ...

Some protocol are deliberately forbidden for security reasons, such as javascript:, data:, about: or chrome://

I want to allow/forbid a specific protocol​

Depending on your use you may want to restrict allowed protocols or add custom protocols to the white list. This is easily feasible: see Public shortening and this example plugin: YOURLS/custom-protocol