Glossary
The glossary defines the terms and abbreviations used on the web site.
Terms
- Access application
- A Cloudflare Zero Trust application that protects selected paths, such as localized stats paths like
/en/_stats/and/fr/_stats/, plus/_tests/*, before the Worker serves those pages. - Access policy
- A Cloudflare Zero Trust rule that decides which identities can reach a protected Access application.
- Alias
- The short path or keyword used to reach a configured destination.
- Badge
- A compact visual link that advertises, previews, or shares an alias.
- Block policy
- The instance-owned rules in
custom/v8s-policies.jsonthat block unsafe domains, keywords, scanner paths, or unwanted traffic before redirect lookup. - Build artifact
- A generated file under
build/orsrc/. Edit source files incustom/ordefaults/, then rebuild instead of editing artifacts directly. - Custom overlay
- The instance-owned layer under
custom/. It overrides or extends product defaults without editing upstream files. - Default target
- The fallback destination used by a scheduled link when no time-based rule is currently active.
- Destination
- The long URL a short link redirects to. In the link format, it is stored in the
targetcolumn. - Generated registry
- The runtime redirect registry written to
build/v8s.jsonduring build from links, inline schedules, policies, and configuration. - Generated page
- A page emitted by the redirector for expansion, fallback, link status, legal, privacy, or other public runtime surfaces.
- Hardening
- Reducing the available attack surface by disabling unused features, tightening browser policies, and keeping security controls owned by one clear source of truth.
- Identity provider
- A login source used by Cloudflare Access, such as GitHub, Google, or one-time PIN, to confirm who is trying to reach a protected page.
- Idempotent
- A command or operation that can be run repeatedly with the same inputs without creating duplicate state or requiring a fresh setup. In vanityURLs,
npm run setuprereads existing answers and updates the same generated files. - IDNA
- Internationalized Domain Names in Applications, the standard that lets software represent non-ASCII domain names in DNS-compatible ASCII form.
- Link registry
- The set of short-link records used by vanityURLs. Humans edit
custom/v8s-links.txt; the build produces the generated registry consumed by the Worker. - Operator
- The person, team, or organization responsible for the vanityURLs instance, public pages, trust contacts, and legal-page configuration.
- Owner label
- A short internal value in
v8s-links.txtthat identifies the person or team accountable for a link. - Punycode
- The ASCII encoding used by IDNA for internationalized domain labels, usually visible with the
xn--prefix. - Random slug
- A slug generated by
lnkwhen you provide a destination but do not choose the short path yourself. - Redirect
- A short-link request that resolves to a configured destination.
- Route
- The Cloudflare Workers mapping that sends requests for your short domain to the vanityURLs Worker.
- Runtime
- The Cloudflare Worker and static assets that serve redirects and pages after build and deployment.
- Scheduled link
- A short link whose destination can change by day, time window, and timezone using inline
@schedulerules inv8s-links.txt. - Short domain
- The domain used for redirects, such as
v8s.linkorgo.example.com. - Slug
- The path after your short domain. In
https://v8s.link/docs, the slug isdocs. - Splat link
- A link stored as
slug/*that forwards the remaining path into a destination containing:splat. - Tag
- A comma-separated label on a link row used to group links, describe purpose, or select tag-specific random slug lengths.
- Worker
- The Cloudflare Workers application that runs the vanityURLs redirector.
Abbreviations
- ADR ← Architecture Decision Record
- A short document that records an implementation decision and the reason behind it.
- API ← Application Programming Interface
- A documented interface that software can call, such as an analytics or provider endpoint.
- CLI ← Command Line Interface
- A terminal command interface, such as the
lnkhelper used to manage links. - CI ← Continuous Integration
- Automated checks that run before code is merged or deployed.
- CSP ← Content Security Policy
- Browser security rules that limit which scripts, styles, images, and connections a page may use.
- DNS ← Domain Name System
- The system that maps hostnames to network destinations and lets Cloudflare route your short domain.
- GDPR ← General Data Protection Regulation
- European Union privacy regulation that may affect operators handling personal data from EU visitors.
- HTML ← HyperText Markup Language
- The markup language used for web pages.
- HTTP ← Hypertext Transfer Protocol
- The protocol used by browsers, clients, and Workers to request and return web resources.
- IP ← Internet Protocol
- Network addressing used to route traffic; analytics and logs may include visitor IP addresses.
- JSON ← JavaScript Object Notation
- A structured data format used by vanityURLs for generated registries and configuration files.
- OTP ← One-Time PIN
- A temporary login code that Cloudflare Access can send directly to an approved email address.
- QR ← Quick Response
- A scannable barcode format often used to share short links in print or slides.
- RFC ← Request for Comments
- A standards-track or informational publication, such as RFC 9116 for
security.txt. - SLA ← Service-Level Agreement
- A formal service commitment; vanityURLs docs warn operators not to promise one casually.
- SRI ← Subresource Integrity
- A browser integrity check that lets HTML pin the expected hash of a loaded script or stylesheet.
- TLS ← Transport Layer Security
- The encryption protocol behind HTTPS.
- URL ← Uniform Resource Locator
- The address of a web resource, including the protocol, host, path, and optional query string.
- UTM ← Urchin Tracking Module
- Campaign query parameters used by analytics tools.
- VDP ← Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
- A policy that explains how security researchers should report vulnerabilities.
- WAF ← Web Application Firewall
- Cloudflare edge rules that block suspicious or abusive traffic before it reaches the Worker.
- YAML ← YAML Ain't Markup Language
- A human-readable structured data format used by the documentation site for data and configuration.