# Links & URLs

## Shorten without an account

Open [href.nz](https://href.nz) or [href.nz/new](https://href.nz/new), paste any URL starting with `https://`, hit Shorten. You get back an 8-character link on the spot.

Guest rules, plainly stated:

- Slugs are always auto-generated — picking your own needs an account.
- Fair use is 50 links a day.
- If you paste the same destination twice, you'll be pointed at the existing short link instead of making a duplicate.
- Forgot the `https://`? The form offers it back in one click.

## Shorten as a member

Sign in and the training wheels come off:

- **Custom slugs** — pick your own, within your plan's minimum length. Taken slugs are rejected on the spot.
- **Shorter auto slugs** — generated links use your plan's length range.
- **Expiry dates** — links can stop resolving automatically.
- **Descriptions and tags** — keep large collections searchable.
- **QR codes** — every short link has one: via the dashboard, or directly as `href.nz/qr/<url>` (PNG), `href.nz/qr/<url>/svg`, or `href.nz/<slug>.png` for an existing short link.
- **Click stats** — opens over time, referrers, browsers, regions, CSV export.

Manage everything from [dash.ternis.link/links](https://dash.ternis.link/links), where you can also deactivate a link (stops resolving, keeps stats) or let it expire on its own.

## How a URL is handled

Paste a full URL and the app decides what you meant:

- Contains `.`, `:`, or `/`? It's treated as a **direct URL** and redirects without any slug lookup.
- Otherwise it must be a slug (`letters, numbers, _ -`) and gets looked up on that domain.
- Slugs starting with `v` + number (like `v1`) are reserved so API paths are never mistaken for links.

The explicit forms always work: `href.nz/url/<url>` (preferred) and `href.nz/go/<url>`. On `href.nz` you can also use the bare form `href.nz/https://example.com/…`.

## If a link stops working

A short link stops resolving when it is deactivated by its owner, expires, or is removed by an admin (usually abuse). Removed links stay in the owner's dashboard history with their stats; permanently deleted ones keep contributing to network totals as anonymized counts, as described in [How it works](./architecture).