YOURLS n8n INTEGRATION: AUTOMATE YOURLS WITH N8N

The Shorten URL action is the core functionality of the Yourls n8n integration, allowing you to programmatically generate short links from any long URL within your workflows. This action takes a standard URL and returns a compact, trackable link hosted on your Yourls server.

Key parameters for this action:

• Credential to connect with: A required dropdown field where you select your configured Yourls account credentials. This authenticates your request against your Yourls server.
• Resource: A required dropdown set to "URL", indicating you're working with URL objects.
• Operation: A required dropdown configured to "Shorten" to generate shortened links.
• URL: A required text input field where you enter the long URL to be shortened. This field accepts both fixed values (manually typed URLs) and expressions (dynamic URLs from previous workflow nodes).
• Additional Fields: An optional section where you can add parameters like custom keywords (to create memorable short URLs like yourls.com/summer-sale), titles for better organization in your Yourls dashboard, or other customization options.

When to use this action: Perfect for social media automation (shortening blog links before posting), email campaign preparation (generating trackable links for newsletters), or any workflow where you need clean, manageable URLs. Combine it with the URL Stats action to create complete link management automations. You can also integrate with Bitly for additional URL shortening options.

The Expand URL action reverses the shortening process, revealing the original destination URL behind any short link created in your Yourls instance. This is essential for auditing, verification, and data integrity workflows.

Key parameters for this action:

• Credential to connect with: A required dropdown to select your Yourls account credentials for authentication.
• Resource: A required dropdown set to "URL" to specify you're working with URL resources.
• Operation: A required dropdown set to "Expand" to retrieve the original long URL.
• Short URL: A required text input field where you provide the abbreviated URL to be expanded. Supports both fixed values and expressions for dynamic input from previous nodes.

Typical use cases include:

• Link auditing: Automatically verify that all short links in a spreadsheet or database point to the correct destinations
• Security checks: Validate that short URLs haven't been modified or hijacked before including them in communications
• Data migration: When moving link data between systems, expand all short URLs to preserve the original references
• Debugging workflows: Quickly check what destination a particular short link resolves to during workflow development

This action is particularly valuable for teams managing large numbers of short links who need to periodically audit their link inventory for accuracy and security.

The URL Stats action retrieves performance metrics for any short URL in your Yourls database, providing click counts and other statistical data essential for measuring link engagement and campaign effectiveness.

Key parameters for this action:

• Credential to connect with: A required dropdown field for selecting your Yourls account credentials to authenticate the statistics request.
• Resource: A required dropdown set to "URL", defining that you're querying URL-related data.
• Operation: A required dropdown configured to "Stats" to fetch statistical information rather than performing other URL operations.
• Short URL: A required text input field where you specify the short URL for which you want to retrieve statistics. This parameter accepts fixed values or expressions for dynamic stat retrieval.

Powerful use cases for URL Stats:

• Automated reporting: Pull stats for all campaign links daily and compile them into a Google Sheet or send a summary via email
• Performance alerts: Trigger notifications when a link exceeds a certain click threshold, indicating viral content or successful campaigns
• A/B testing analysis: Compare click performance between different short URLs to determine which messaging or channels perform best
• Dashboard building: Feed link statistics into visualization tools or databases to create real-time performance dashboards

Pro tip: Combine URL Stats with n8n's scheduling capabilities to build automated daily or weekly link performance reports. You can loop through multiple short URLs, aggregate their statistics, and output comprehensive reports without any manual data gathering.