[[url-shortening-api]]
=== Shorten URL API
++++
<titleabbrev>Shorten URL</titleabbrev>
++++

experimental[] Convert a {kib} URL into a token. {kib} URLs contain the state of the application, which makes them long and cumbersome.
Internet Explorer has URL length restrictions, and some wiki and markup parsers don't do well with the full-length version of the {kib} URL.

Short URLs are designed to make sharing {kib} URLs easier.

[[url-shortening-api-request]]
==== Request

`POST /api/shorten_url`

[[url-shortening-api-request-body]]
==== Request body

`url`::
  (Required, string) The {kib} URL that you want to shorten, Relative to `/app/kibana`.

[[url-shortening-api-response-body]]
==== Response body

urlId:: A top level property that contains the shortened URL token for the provided request body.

[[url-shortening-api-codes]]
==== Response code

`200`::
  Indicates a successful call.

[[url-shortening-api-example]]  
==== Example

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST api/shorten_url
{
  "url": "/app/kibana#/dashboard?_g=()&_a=(description:'',filters:!(),fullScreenMode:!f,options:(hidePanelTitles:!f,useMargins:!t),panels:!((embeddableConfig:(),gridData:(h:15,i:'1',w:24,x:0,y:0),id:'8f4d0c00-4c86-11e8-b3d7-01146121b73d',panelIndex:'1',type:visualization,version:'7.0.0-alpha1')),query:(language:lucene,query:''),timeRestore:!f,title:'New%20Dashboard',viewMode:edit)"
}
--------------------------------------------------
// KIBANA

The API returns the following result:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "urlId": "f73b295ff92718b26bc94edac766d8e3"
}
--------------------------------------------------

For easy sharing, construct the shortened {kib} URL:

`http://localhost:5601/goto/f73b295ff92718b26bc94edac766d8e3`