Language
TypeScriptgithub.com
Main language across the monorepo.
Full-stack framework
Next.jsdub.co
Runs the dashboard, the API routes and the link redirects through Middleware.
Hosting
Verceltinybird.co
Hosts and deploys the app, with redirect logic running at the edge.
Why: Edge Functions run redirects very close to users, which made a link shortener a natural fit.
Database
PlanetScaledub.co
MySQL database that stores users and link data.
Login
NextAuth.jsgithub.com
Handles user sign-in, with a Prisma adapter.
BoxyHQ SAML Jacksongithub.com
Adds SAML single sign-on for enterprise customers.
Payments
Stripegithub.com
Subscriptions and billing.
Resendgithub.com
Sends the product's emails.
Styling and UI kit
Tailwind CSSgithub.com
Styles the whole interface.
ORM
Prismagithub.com
ORM for the MySQL database, with the PlanetScale adapter.
Data fetching
Upstash Redisupstash.com
Caches every link's metadata so redirects never touch MySQL.
Why: Steven Tey says the JS SDK took minutes to set up and credits it for sub-200 ms redirects.
Upstash QStashdub.co
Runs background jobs like imports, exports, webhooks, payouts and crons.
Testing
Vitestgithub.com
Unit and integration tests, alongside Playwright.
AI model
Vercel AI SDKgithub.com
AI features in the app, with Anthropic as the model provider.
Analytics
Tinybirdtinybird.co
Stores click events and serves the analytics queries as API endpoints.
Why: They wanted ClickHouse performance without running a cluster, after Redis Sorted Sets got too slow.
Error monitoring
Axiomgithub.com
Logging for the Next.js app.
Founder Steven Tey said one reason he built Dub was to show what Edge Functions can do: they run server-side logic like redirects very close to the user, and a link shortener is the perfect use case.
The code is public on GitHub under an open core model. Most of it is open source, and a smaller part in the /ee folder has a commercial license.
Sources:tinybird.co github.com
Redirects run in Next.js Middleware. To handle heavy traffic, Dub caches every link's metadata in Redis the moment the link is created, so a redirect never has to hit the MySQL database.
MySQL, hosted on PlanetScale, holds users and link data. Steven Tey credits Upstash Redis for redirect times under 200 ms.
Sources:dub.co upstash.com
Click data first lived in Redis Sorted Sets. It was hard to filter by location or referrer, and some queries took more than 5 seconds as customers' links passed hundreds of thousands of clicks.
The team liked ClickHouse's speed but not the work of running a cluster, so they moved to Tinybird, a managed ClickHouse. The app sends each click to Tinybird's Events API and reads SQL queries published as endpoints. Steven Tey says analytics got about 100x faster, and the same click data now feeds usage-based billing.
Sources:tinybird.co tinybird.co
Long-running work like imports, exports, webhooks and partner payouts goes through Upstash QStash, which calls Dub's own cron routes.
The web app's package.json also pulls in the Vercel AI SDK with the Anthropic provider, Axiom for logging, and Vitest and Playwright for tests.
Sources:dub.co github.com
Found on the homepage with the open Wappalyzer rules (HTML, scripts and headers). It shows what runs in the browser, not the whole backend.
Checked on 2026-10-29. Every tool links to the public source that shows it.
