Backend Certification – URL Shortener & File Metadata Tests Failing Despite Correct Functionality

freeCodeCamp Support
1

Body:

Hi FreeCodeCamp team,

I’m currently working on the Backend Development and APIs certification and am encountering persistent test failures on two projects, even though both applications function correctly when deployed.

:one: URL Shortener Microservice

Failing Test:

“When you visit /api/shorturl/<short_url>, you will be redirected to the original URL.”

What I’ve Verified

  • POST /api/shorturl works correctly and returns:
{ "original_url": "https://freecodecamp.org", "short_url": 1 }

  • Visiting /api/shorturl/1 properly redirects.

  • Using curl on the deployed Render app:

curl -I https://fcc-url-shortener-microservice-i0q2.onrender.com/api/shorturl/1

Returns:

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: https://freecodecamp.org

So the server is clearly returning a valid 302 redirect with the correct Location header.

Render Deployment:

https://fcc-url-shortener-microservice-i0q2.onrender.com

Despite this correct behavior, Test #3 continues to fail.

:two: File Metadata Microservice

Failing Test:

File upload test (Test #4).

What I’ve Verified

  • The endpoint /api/fileanalyse accepts multipart/form-data.

  • Uploading a file returns JSON in the exact expected format:

{
  "name": "example.txt",
  "type": "text/plain",
  "size": 123
}
  • The project works locally and when deployed.

At this point, both applications appear to meet the project specifications and behave exactly as required, but the FCC tests are still failing.

I’ve tested locally, in other environments, and on Render. The behavior is consistent and correct, which makes me suspect a possible issue with the automated test runner or deployment environment compatibility.

Since this is blocking certification completion, I’d really appreciate clarification on whether this is a known issue or if there’s something specific the test runner requires that may not be documented.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

2

I have the same problem with the URL Shortener Microservice project.
When running the tests, test #3 fails with the following message:

Error: redirected is not implemented yet
    at dom-test-evaluator.js:2

image
image691×416 25.1 KB

My GET request to /api/shorturl/<short_url> does redirect correctly in the browser, but freeCodeCamp still fails the test.

How can we resolve this issue in order to finish the course and receive the certificate?
Is this an expected issue in the FCC testing environment?

Thank you!

3

this will maybe fix it feat: remove methods from passed objects by a2937 · Pull Request #569 · freeCodeCamp/curriculum-helpers · GitHub

but it’s not an immediate fix