Set link expiry and password protection

Most short links live forever; some shouldn't. Elido has three built-in ways to constrain a link's lifetime, all configurable from the link create form or under the link's Settings tab.

Expire on a date#

The simplest constraint. Pick a UTC date and time; once it passes, the redirect serves a 410 Gone page (or, optionally, a fallback URL of your choice).

• The check happens at lookup time on the edge, with a 1-second precision.
• Links don't auto-delete after expiry; they stay in your workspace as historical records and analytics keep working.
• You can extend or remove the expiry at any time. Re-extending an already-expired link starts serving the redirect again immediately.

Expire on click count#

Useful for "first 100 customers" promos. Pick a click cap; once the cap is reached, the link starts serving the same 410 / fallback as a date-expired link.

The counter is eventually consistent across edge regions — under heavy concurrent load you may see 1–2% over-delivery. If you need exact-once behaviour (e.g. a serial-numbered prize), use single-use tokens instead.

Password-protect#

Set a password on a link and visitors hit a "Enter password" page before being redirected. The password is stored as an Argon2id hash; we never see the plaintext after the API request that set it.

• Failed attempts are rate-limited per IP (10 attempts per minute).
• Successful unlocks are stored in a session cookie scoped to the redirect domain, so the visitor doesn't have to re-enter on subsequent clicks within the same browser session.
• You can rotate the password at any time, which invalidates all existing session cookies.

Combining constraints#

You can stack any combination — e.g. password-protected, expires after 100 clicks, fallback to a press-release page. The order of evaluation is:

1. Date expiry → 410 / fallback.
2. Click cap → 410 / fallback.
3. Password gate.
4. Geo rules (Pro+).
5. Redirect to destination.

Use cases#

• Press embargo. Date expire on the embargo date so the link goes live exactly on schedule.
• Beta access. Click-cap at the seat count plus 10% buffer.
• Sensitive sharing. Password-protect a link to a draft document on the marketing CDN.
• Compliance. Combine date expiry with a click cap so a regulated promo has hard outer bounds even under viral traffic.