Marius Voß
DevRel · edge infra
Writing for Elido since April 2024
Marius runs developer relations and edge infrastructure at Elido. Before joining the team in 2024 he spent eight years at a Berlin-based CDN operator and two years on the network reliability team at a German neo-bank, where he learned that the worst kind of latency bug is the one that only shows up at 3% of edge POPs.
He maintains the Elido edge-redirect runbook, contributes to the Helm chart, and writes the engineering posts that go deeper than "we use ClickHouse for analytics" — including the cache-invalidation propagation post, the multi-region failover testing post, and the on-demand TLS deep dive.
Outside Elido, Marius is a regular speaker at the German Cloud Native meetup and contributes occasional patches to fasthttp.
Expertise
- Edge networking and routing
- Multi-region failover and capacity planning
- ClickHouse query tuning
- Kubernetes and Helm deployments
Posts by Marius Voß
Elido vs Shlink: Self-Hosted PHP or Hosted EU Shortener
Elido vs Shlink, from Shlink's docs and Elido's product: licence, stack, redirect rules, visit data, QR codes, upkeep, and who should run which one.
ComparisonsShort Code Generation: Base62 vs Hash vs Random Codes
Short code generation base62 vs hash vs random: exact keyspace math, birthday-bound collision odds, retry patterns, and which approach fits your shortener.
EngineeringRedirect Chain and SEO: How Many Hops Is Too Many?
A redirect chain is two or more redirects in a row. See what Google documents about hops and crawl budget, how to trace chains with curl, and flatten them.
EngineeringQR Code Error Correction Levels: L, M, Q, H Explained
QR code error correction levels L, M, Q and H recover 7, 15, 25 and 30% of a damaged code. See module counts per level and when each one pays off.
TutorialsVerify Webhook Signatures: HMAC-SHA256 in Node, Python, Go
How to verify a webhook signature with HMAC-SHA256: raw body, constant-time compare, replay window and secret rotation, with Node, Python and Go.
EngineeringLink Analytics API: Pull Click Stats With an API Key
A link analytics API guide: which click reports an API key can read, the query params, JSON response shapes, cursor paging and a daily Slack report script.
TutorialsAPI Key Permissions: Least Privilege for Link Tools
API key permissions for link tools, done right: workspace-bound keys, role caps, peppered hashes, per-key rate limits, rotation and safe handoff to n8n or Make.
EngineeringSelf-Hosted n8n Automation for Links: Docker to Webhooks
Run self-hosted n8n link automation with Elido webhooks, Docker Compose and queue mode, keeping workflow data on infrastructure you control in the EU.
Integrationsn8n URL Shortener: HTTP Request or Community Node
Build an n8n URL shortener on the Elido API: HTTP Request setup, domain and workspace IDs, three short link workflows, retries.
IntegrationsMixpanel Link Tracking: Short Link Clicks as Events
Mixpanel link tracking with Elido: each short link click becomes a server-side link_click event. Setup, properties, identity limits and how to verify it.
IntegrationsGitLab CI URL Shortener: Short Links From Every Pipeline
Use GitLab CI as a URL shortener: create review-app short links per merge request and repoint a stable latest link on tags, with a masked, protected key.
IntegrationsShorten Links in Release Notes and Track Every Download
Shorten links in release notes with a stable latest link you repoint per release, one tagged link per channel, and click data that shows what drove downloads.
IntegrationsGitHub Actions URL Shortener: Short Links From Your CI
Build a GitHub Actions URL shortener step: the API key as an encrypted secret, a working workflow, idempotent upserts and least-privilege keys.
IntegrationsDatadog URL Monitoring: Redirect Metrics for Short Links
Datadog URL monitoring for short links: the click logs and metrics Elido sends, a redirect latency dashboard built on Synthetics, monitors and an honest SLO.
IntegrationsGemini URL Shortener: Where Tool Calls Actually Work
Gemini can work as a URL shortener with real links, but not in the app. Why Gems cannot call your API, and how to wire the CLI and the API so a link resolves.
IntegrationsChatGPT URL Shortener: What Works and What Fakes It
ChatGPT cannot shorten a URL by itself and will invent one. Three routes that return a real short link, plus how to shorten a ChatGPT chat link.
IntegrationsCanonical vs 301 Redirect: How to Pick the Right Signal
Google calls both strong signals, but a 301 redirect is the strongest and removes the old URL; a canonical keeps both live. Which fits four duplicate-URL cases.
EngineeringMaximum URL Length: The Real-World Character Limit
There is no maximum URL length in the spec. The real ceiling is the lowest limit in the chain your link crosses: browser, server, inbox, or QR code.
Engineeringllms.txt Explained: What the AI Crawler File Really Does
llms.txt is a Markdown file listing pages for AI models to read. What it actually does, who honors it today, and whether publishing one is worth your time.
AISalesforce Link Tracking: Short-Link Clicks in the CRM
Salesforce only tracks clicks on links it sent. Elido has no native Salesforce connector yet, so here is the honest DIY route using the API and webhooks.
IntegrationsEPC QR Code: The SEPA Payment QR Standard Explained
An EPC QR code encodes a SEPA credit transfer, not a URL, so a banking app can prefill the form. What the payload holds, and why you cannot track it.
FeaturesShort-Link Clicks vs GA4 Sessions: Why They Never Match
Your shortener counts 1,000 clicks and GA4 shows far fewer sessions. What each tool counts, why they diverge, and how to build your own baseline.
TutorialsAI Crawlers and Short Links: What the Bots Actually Do
Training crawlers, live fetchers and search bots all hit your redirects. Which ones follow a 301, what they cost your click counts, and which to let through.
EngineeringURL Encoding Explained: Which Characters to Escape
URL encoding replaces a character with a percent sign and two hex digits so it cannot be read as URL syntax. Which characters need it, and where it breaks.
Engineering301 Redirect in .htaccess: Rules, Order, Query Strings
A 301 redirect in .htaccess is one line of mod_alias. Here is that line, when RewriteRule is the right tool instead, and why order beats line position.
TutorialsDo QR Codes Expire? What Breaks and How to Prevent It
The printed pattern never expires. What expires is the redirect behind a dynamic QR code - the five ways that happens, and how to survive all of them.
FeaturesOpen Graph Image Size: One File for Every Platform
The Open Graph image size that covers Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Slack, and WhatsApp is 1200x630. The specs, plus the safe zone that stops text getting cropped.
TutorialsHow to Redirect a URL: Six Ways, and When Each Is Right
How to redirect a URL from the registrar, server, CMS, platform, client side or a managed short link, and which layer should answer the request.
TutorialsBarcode vs QR Code: Which One Belongs on Your Product
A barcode identifies an item to a system that already knows it. A QR code connects a person to content. Capacity, scanners, and the retail move to 2D codes.
FeaturesRedirect Loop: How to Trace and Fix Too Many Redirects
A redirect loop bounces the browser between URLs until it quits. Trace the redirect chain in one command, name the rule that disagrees, and fix it for good.
EngineeringURL Shortener CLI: Shorten Links From the Terminal
Shorten a URL from the command line with curl and jq, wrap it in a shell function, copy to the clipboard, and shorten a whole file with xargs in parallel.
EngineeringShort Link Not Working? Diagnose It in One Command
A short link not working, whether it 404s, warns about a certificate or opens in one app only, has one of four causes. Read the headers and fix the right one.
TutorialsQR Code Not Scanning? Four Causes and How to Fix Them
A QR code that will not scan almost always fails on size, quiet zone, contrast, or a payload that is too long. Test them in that order and fix the right one.
TutorialsHow to See Where a Short URL Goes Before You Click
Expand a short URL safely: read the Location header with one command, use provider previews, and know what each method tells the other side about you.
TutorialsWhy Your Short Links Get Blocked in Slack and Teams
Short links get blocked in Slack and Teams when a shared shortener domain fails a security check like Safe Links. Why it happens, and the branded-domain fix.
EngineeringAgentic Commerce Links: What AI Agents Get From Yours
AI agents don't click short links like people do. What Elido returns to a known AI agent, which visits get counted, and what commerce protocols leave to you.
EngineeringGA4's AI Assistant Channel: What It Tracks and Misses
GA4's new AI Assistant channel breaks out ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot traffic - but excludes Perplexity and isn't retroactive. What it tracks, and the gaps.
EngineeringDo Firefox and Brave Strip UTM Parameters? What Survives
Firefox strips a short list of tracking IDs, not utm_ parameters. What Firefox, Safari and Brave actually remove, what they block, and how to measure the loss.
EngineeringBitly API Alternative for Developers: What to Look For
A Bitly API alternative for developers: where Bitly's rate limits and plan gating bite, and what a dev-first shortener API should give you instead.
EngineeringWhat Is a Deep Link? A Plain-English Guide
A deep link opens a specific screen inside an app, not the home screen. Deep links vs universal and app links, and life after Firebase Dynamic Links.
FeaturesFree URL Shortener API: Code Examples That Run
A free URL shortener API with runnable curl, JavaScript, Python, and Go examples, plus the honest part: what free tiers gate and what production needs.
EngineeringURL Shortener Browser Extension: One-Click Short Links
A URL shortener browser extension shortens the active tab in one click and copies the branded short link to your clipboard. What Elido's extension does today.
FeaturesAnswer Engine Optimization: How to Get Cited by AI
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is how you get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews: the signals, the page structure, and how to measure it.
AIOpen Redirect Vulnerabilities and How to Prevent Them
An open redirect vulnerability lets an attacker bend a trusted link to a malicious site. How the bug works, why it powers phishing, and the server-side fix.
EngineeringHow to Build a URL Shortener: Architecture and Code
How to build a URL shortener that survives production: short-code generation, the redirect path, caching, click tracking, abuse defense, and what to maintain.
EngineeringTypes of URL Redirects: 301, 302, 307, 308, and More
The types of redirects explained - 301, 302, 303, 307, 308, meta refresh, and JavaScript - what each does, how it affects SEO, and which one to use.
Engineering301 vs 302 Redirects: Which One Should Short Links Use
A 301 is a permanent redirect that passes ranking signals; a 302 is temporary and usually does not. What that means for short links, SEO, and caching.
EngineeringURL Shortener API: Rate Limits, Retries, Idempotency
How to call a URL shortener API in production: token-bucket rate limits, which status codes to retry with backoff, and idempotency keys that stop duplicates.
EngineeringSlack URL shortener bot: shorten links and route alerts
A Slack URL shortener in one install: the Elido Slack app adds a /shorten slash command and routes threshold alerts to any channel, no webhook handlers.
IntegrationsShort Link Monitoring with Sentry and Datadog: Who Does What
Short link monitoring with Sentry and Datadog: which Elido events become Sentry issues, what Datadog receives, and how to watch redirect latency yourself.
EngineeringLinear URL shortener integration: auto-file broken links
How Elido's Linear integration files an issue when a short URL breaks: connecting a Linear API key, what the issue holds, limits and what isn't built.
IntegrationsDiscord URL Shortener Alerts: Telegram Setup and Payloads
Send URL shortener alerts (broken link, click threshold, scan failure) to Discord webhooks or a Telegram bot. Setup, payload shape, common pitfalls.
IntegrationsWordPress URL Shortener: Shorten and Track Links on Publish
Is there an Elido WordPress URL shortener plugin? Not yet. Here is a tested publish hook for the REST API, the no-code options and why redirects stay off PHP
IntegrationsPassword Protected Short Links: What Works and What Doesn't
How password protected short links work, where the security ends, which vendors offer them, and what Elido ships today.
FeaturesLink Expiration and Self-Destructing Links Explained
What link expiration and self-destructing links do, when to use date, click-count, and one-time rules, and what the edge returns the moment a link expires
FeaturesHow Do URL Shorteners Work? The Mechanics Explained
How do URL shorteners work? Store a slug-to-destination mapping, look up the key on each click, return an HTTP redirect. The mechanics, end to end
EngineeringSocial Login for URL Shorteners: Sign In Without a Password
Sign in to Elido with Google, GitHub, Slack, and five more providers. How social login works for a link tool, and what it means for EU data residency.
FeaturesWebhooks for Link Events: Payloads, Signatures, Retries
URL shortener webhooks for link events: the real payload envelope, X-Elido-Signature HMAC checks in Node and Python, the retry policy and dedup keys.
FeaturesURL Shortener API: Shorten a URL in Python, JS and Go
Shorten a URL with one API call in Python, JavaScript, Go, Java, C#, PHP, Ruby or PowerShell, then add the idempotent retries and bulk limits it needs.
FeaturesShort.io Migration: Export, Import, Cutover Checklist
Plan a Short.io migration: export options, what carries over, how domains, folders and tags map, the Elido importer, DNS cutover and verification steps.
MigrationDub.co Migration to Elido: What the Importer Really Does
A Dub.co migration at code level: the API calls Elido's importer makes, which fields it carries over, what it skips (folders, archived links) and its limits.
EngineeringFire-and-Forget Click Ingestion: Analytics Off the Hot Path
How fire-and-forget click ingestion keeps a URL shortener's redirect fast: async emit at the edge, batched writes, offsets committed after the insert, trade-offs.
EngineeringEdge POPs vs DNS-only routing: which fits a URL shortener
DNS picks where a request goes; an edge POP cache decides whether it has to go there at all. When each fits a shortener, with distance math and cache TTLs.
EngineeringURL Redirect Cache: How Our Two-Tier Cache Works Today
How a URL redirect cache works end to end: in-process L1, shared Redis L2, the origin, real TTLs, how edits go stale, and what browsers cache.
EngineeringMigrate from Firebase Dynamic Links to Elido: what works
Firebase Dynamic Links are gone and every link returns 404. What carries over to Elido (app links, platform routing) and what does not: deferred deep links.
ComparisonsElido vs Dub: SSO, conversion tracking, EU residency
Dub.co is the modern URL shortener darling - but SSO, conversion tracking, and EU residency stay locked above the Business tier. Where Elido covers the gap.
ComparisonsSentry/GlitchTip across 12 Go services on the hot path
How Elido shipped a shared sentryinit package giving every Go service the same panic + 5xx auto-capture, staying zero-alloc on edge-redirect's hot path.
EngineeringCornerstoneWhy we use ClickHouse for click analytics (and not Postgres)
Click data is append-only, write-heavy and analytical-query-shaped. Why columnar wins, the schema we ship, and what we hit at 90 days of Postgres
EngineeringRedirect Latency Budget: How Elido Targets p95 Under 15ms
The real edge-redirect architecture behind a 15ms p95 cache-hit target: LRU, a shared cache, gRPC origin and async clicks, plus what we have not measured.
EngineeringDeep Links Without an SDK: Universal Links and App Links
Open your app from a link with two JSON files and no SDK. How iOS Universal Links and Android App Links work with a short-link domain.
FeaturesElido on k3s: What the Helm Chart Deploys and Doesn't
A concrete walkthrough of the Elido Helm chart on one k3s node: secrets, ingress, install, first user, upgrades, plus the licence and what the chart leaves out
EngineeringElido MCP Server for Claude Desktop, Cursor and Claude Code
Run the Elido MCP server from the monorepo, wire it into Claude Desktop, Cursor and Claude Code, and see which of its five tools actually work today.
FeaturesCustom Domain TLS for Short Links: Setup in 5 Minutes
Custom domain TLS on Elido: add one TXT and one CNAME record, and the certificate is issued on first use. What each step does and what breaks if it fails.
FeaturesDynamic QR Code vs Static: How to Choose Between Them
Dynamic QR code or static? A decision framework with real trade-offs: editing, scan analytics, redirect speed, cost over time, and what happens if you leave.
FeaturesCustom domain short links: DNS, TLS, and the edge
How custom domain short links work: DNS verification, ACME on-demand TLS issuance, edge latency budgets, and three failure modes seen in production
FeaturesManage Short Links as Terraform with terraform-provider-elido
terraform-provider-elido is the only Terraform provider in the URL-shortener space. How the link lifecycle and drift detection work, plus v0.1.0 trade-offs.
EngineeringCornerstoneSmart links explained: edge routing without an extra service
What smart links are, where they run, and the routing dimensions Elido supports: cache propagation timing, first-match semantics, and when not to use one.
FeaturesCornerstone