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+# lonk
+
+...is a simple, hackable link shortener with good enough performance
+
+[python >= 3.8] [django >= 4.0]
+
+How the fuck do I deploy this??
+---
+
+**Development:**
+
+- clone the repo
+- set up python environment
+  - ```bash
+    python3 -m venv env
+    source env/bin/activate
+    pip install -r requirements.txt
+    ```
+- `./manage.py migrate`
+- `./manage.py createsuperuser`
+- `./manage.py runserver`
+
+**Production:**
+
+- clone the repo
+- take a look through the settings.py file
+  - follow the [official documentation](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/howto/deployment/checklist/)
+    - `ALLOWED_HOSTS` differs for this project. either:
+      - set it to `["*"]` and run behind a http reverse proxy that matches by host header
+      - set it to a list of all domains that should be served.
+    - I personally have had a good experience with running [gunicorn](https://gunicorn.org/) behind nginx.
+  - or at the very least, turn off debug mode and generate a proper secret (e.g. `$ openssl rand -base64 64`)
+
+(speculative) FAQ
+---
+
+Q: performance? in a django project?\
+A: yes! it does 1400 requests per second on the redirect endpoints in a basic deployment[^1].
+
+Q: my other domains aren't showing up? how do I tell lonk that they exist?\
+A: simply access lonk on those domains! it'll pick them up by http host headers[^2]
+
+Q: how do I remove domains?\
+A: currently, through the backend shell. Front end domain management will be added in a future release.
+
+[^1]: `gunicorn -w 2 lonk.wsgi:application`, no proxy 
+[^2]: specifically, it uses `request.get_host()`, see [the documentation](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/ref/request-response/#django.http.HttpRequest.get_host) for details