shortunique.id

What it is

short-unique-id is a short unique ID generation library for the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem. The page currently lists version v5.3.2. Its main selling points are being “short, lightweight, and dependency-free.” It can generate random or sequential UUIDs, while letting developers control the length and character dictionary. The official site also provides an online short UUID generator, making it easy to quickly test different configurations.

Core features

Functionally, it is more than a simple random string utility. The library supports random UUIDs, sequential UUIDs, timestamped stamp IDs and parseStamp parsing, custom formattedUUID formats, dictionary validation via validate, as well as probability-related functions such as availableUUIDs, approxMaxBeforeCollision, collisionProbability, and uniqueness. Built-in dictionaries include number, alpha, alpha_lower, alpha_upper, alphanum, hex, and more. Custom character arrays can also be provided, making it suitable for use cases such as short links, invitation codes, record IDs, temporary frontend IDs, and even random colors.

Language, integration, and documentation

The page states that the library has been rewritten in TypeScript and is compatible with Node.js, Deno, and major browsers. Developers can install it via npm; Deno can import it from esm.sh; and browsers can use the jsDelivr CDN. It also provides a global CLI command, suid, with options for length, timestamps, formatting, parsing, and custom dictionary JSON. The documentation quality is good, with plenty of code examples, CLI usage, v5 migration notes, collision probability explanations, and contribution guidance, making it friendly for developers to get started.

Pricing and open source

The project is open source under the Apache License 2.0 and does not mention any paid commercial version. The author provides sponsorship options such as Buy me a coffee and Patreon. Since it is a library rather than a SaaS product, there is no traditional self-hosted backend; however, you can clone the GitHub repository to test, build, and integrate it yourself.

Pros, cons, and who it is for

Its strengths are that it is small, dependency-free, cross-runtime, and has a comprehensive API. It also provides probability tools to help assess the risk of ID collisions at different lengths. The limitation is that uniqueness is not absolute: the collision probability of short IDs depends on the dictionary and length. In v5, the functional uid() call was removed, so older projects need to migrate to uid.rnd(). In addition, the page does not indicate any enterprise support or SLA. It is best suited for developers working on JS/TS projects that need short IDs, readable IDs, timestamped IDs, or IDs with a controlled character set.

Access from China

The page does not provide information about access from mainland China. npm, GitHub, jsDelivr, and esm.sh may perform differently depending on region and ISP within China. For production use, it is recommended to configure an npm mirror or include the dependency in your build artifacts. Alternatives include uuid, nanoid, cuid, shortid, and others.