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Key Dates 

• Start: January 31, 2025, 15:00 UTC 
• Submission Deadline: February 3, 2025, 12:00 UTC 
• Winners Announced: February 21, 2025, 18:00 UTC

Your Mission 

Build a high-performance URL shortener in Rust in 72 hours! Show off your skills in modern Rust and system design.

Core Challenge + Feature Auction 

Build the core URL shortener PLUS choose ONE bonus feature:

1. Custom URL Aliases 

• Let users create custom short URLs 
• Focus on input handling and validation

2. Expiration Dates 

• Add URL expiry by date or usage count 
• Handle time-based functionality

3. QR Code Generation 

• Auto-generate QR codes for shortened URLs 
• Work with image generation

4. API Access 

• Create a RESTful API 
• Design clean HTTP endpoints

5. Data Encryption 

• Encrypt stored URLs 
• Implement secure coding practices

What to Build Core Requirements: 

• URL shortening functionality 
• Redirect handling 
• Data persistence 
• Error handling 
• Choose ONE interface: HTTP API, CLI, or simple web form

Technical Focus

1. Modern Rust Code: 

• Use Rust idioms and patterns 
• Implement robust error handling 
• Apply concurrency where it makes sense

2.  System Design: 

• Create clean, modular architecture 
• Manage resources efficiently 
• Keep the design scalable

Presentation (5-7 minutes) 

• Show architecture overview 
• Highlight Rust implementation 
• Explain technical decisions 
• Demo core functionality 
• Show your chosen bonus feature 
• Discuss performance

Judging Criteria 

• Quality of Rust implementation 
• Technical design decisions 
• Working demonstration 
• Feature integration 
• Practical performance 
• Creative approach

Don't Focus On: 

• Complex UI/UX 
• Extensive documentation 
• Perfect test coverage 
• Production deployment 
• Multiple interfaces

Ready to make URLs blazingly fast? Let's code!