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ai/nanoid

📈 Trending★ 26,786JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5ActiveLicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

Tiny JavaScript library that generates short, unique random IDs (like "V1StGXR8_Z5j") for identifying records, users, or anything in your app. Smaller and faster than UUID.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Nano ID))
    What it does
      Generates unique IDs
      URL-safe strings
      Cryptographically secure
    Why use it
      21 chars vs UUID 36
      118 bytes tiny
      No encoding needed
    Use cases
      Database records
      Session tokens
      Short links
    Tech stack
      JavaScript
      Cryptographic RNG
      Multi-language ports

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Generate unique IDs for database records, user accounts, or items in your app.

USE CASE 2

Create short, shareable links or tokens that are URL-safe without encoding.

USE CASE 3

Replace UUID in projects where you need smaller, faster unique identifiers.

USE CASE 4

Build session tokens or order numbers that are cryptographically unpredictable.

Tech stack

JavaScriptNode.jsTypeScript

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

In plain English

Nano ID is a tiny JavaScript tool that generates unique random IDs, short strings of letters and numbers used to tell things apart in software. Think of it like a digital fingerprint generator: every time you call it, you get a unique code like "V1StGXR8_Z5jdHi6B-myT" that you can use to identify a record, a user, an item, or anything else in your app. It's essentially a modern, leaner alternative to UUID, a format developers have used for decades to create unique identifiers. Nano IDs are 21 characters long compared to UUID's 36, which means shorter URLs and less storage space, while still being statistically unique enough that you'd need to generate 103 trillion of them before the odds of a duplicate reached even one in a billion. The key selling points for developers using it in their projects: it's extremely small (118 bytes, practically no impact on app load time), it uses cryptographically secure randomness (meaning the IDs can't be predicted or guessed), and the generated IDs use only URL-safe characters so they work cleanly in web addresses without needing encoding. For someone building an app with Lovable, Bolt, or Cursor, anywhere you need to give things unique IDs, like database records, order numbers, session tokens, or short shareable links, Nano ID is a popular, battle-tested choice that many major JavaScript projects depend on. It has been ported to over 20 programming languages, so you're not locked into JavaScript if your project grows.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to use Nano ID to generate unique user IDs in a Node.js app and store them in a database.
Prompt 2
How do I integrate Nano ID into a React app to create unique keys for list items and form submissions?
Prompt 3
Generate a Nano ID and explain why it's better than UUID for building short shareable links.
Prompt 4
Write a function using Nano ID to create unique session tokens for user authentication.
Prompt 5
How do I customize the alphabet or length of Nano IDs for my specific use case?
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Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.