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nanoid

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A tiny (118 bytes), secure, URL-friendly, unique string ID generator for JavaScript

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# Nano ID

A tiny, secure, URL-friendly, unique string ID generator for JavaScript.

> “An amazing level of senseless perfectionism,
> which is simply impossible not to respect.”

- **Small.** 118 bytes (minified and brotlied). No dependencies.
  [Size Limit] controls the size.
- **Fast.** 50% faster than native `crypto.randomUUID()`.
- **Safe.** It uses hardware random generator. Can be used in clusters.
- **Short IDs.** It uses a larger alphabet than UUID (`A-Za-z0-9_-`).
  So ID size was reduced from 36 to 21 symbols.
- **Portable.** Nano ID was ported
  to over [20 programming languages](./README.md#other-programming-languages).

```js
import { nanoid } from 'nanoid'
model.id = nanoid() //=> "V1StGXR8_Z5jdHi6B-myT"
```

---

<img src="https://cdn.evilmartians.com/badges/logo-no-label.svg" alt="" width="22" height="16" />  Nano ID is built by <b><a href="https://evilmartians.com/">Evil Martians</a></b>, an American design and engineering consultancy for <b>developer tools, AI, and cybersecurity startups</b>.

---

[Size Limit]: https://github.com/ai/size-limit

## Table of Contents

- [Table of Contents](#table-of-contents)
- [Comparison with UUID](#comparison-with-uuid)
- [Benchmark](#benchmark)
- [Security](#security)
- [Install](#install)
  - [JSR](#jsr)
  - [CDN](#cdn)
- [API](#api)
  - [Custom Alphabet or Size](#custom-alphabet-or-size)
  - [Custom Random Bytes Generator](#custom-random-bytes-generator)
  - [Non-Secure](#non-secure)
- [Usage](#usage)
  - [React](#react)
  - [React Native](#react-native)
  - [PouchDB and CouchDB](#pouchdb-and-couchdb)
  - [CLI](#cli)
  - [TypeScript](#typescript)
  - [Other Programming Languages](#other-programming-languages)
- [Tools](#tools)

## Comparison with UUID

Nano ID is quite comparable to UUID v4 (random-based).
It has a similar number of random bits in the ID
(126 in Nano ID and 122 in UUID), so it has a similar collision probability:

> For there to be a one in a billion chance of duplication,
> 103 trillion version 4 IDs must be generated.

There are two main differences between Nano ID and UUID v4:

1. Nano ID uses a bigger alphabet, so a similar number of random bits
   are packed in just 21 symbols instead of 36.
2. Nano ID is faster than `crypto.randomUUID` and `uuid/v4`.

## Benchmark

```rust
$ node ./test/benchmark.js
nope-id                 20,386,830 ops/sec
nanoid                  20,434,827 ops/sec
customAlphabet          20,544,476 ops/sec
crypto.randomUUID       12,865,759 ops/sec
uuid v4                  7,930,104 ops/sec
@napi-rs/uuid            5,573,171 ops/sec
uid/secure               6,308,267 ops/sec
@lukeed/uuid             5,278,597 ops/sec
nanoid for browser         311,497 ops/sec
secure-random-string       301,667 ops/sec
uid-safe.sync              297,815 ops/sec

Non-secure:
uid                     20,286,757 ops/sec
nanoid/non-secure        2,397,594 ops/sec
rndm                     2,445,462 ops/sec
```

## Security

_See a good article about random generators theory:
[Secure random values (in Node.js)]_

- **Unpredictability.** Instead of using the unsafe `Math.random()`, Nano ID
  uses the `crypto` module in Node.js and the Web Crypto API in browsers.
  These modules use unpredictable hardware random generator.
- **Uniformity.** `random % alphabet` is a popular mistake to make when coding
  an ID generator. The distribution will not be even; there will be a lower
  chance for some symbols to appear compared to others. So, it will reduce
  the number of tries when brute-forcing. Nano ID uses a [better algorithm]
  and is tested for uniformity.

- **Well-documented:** all Nano ID hacks are documented. See comments
  in [the source].
- **Vulnerabilities:** to report a security vulnerability, please use
  the [Tidelift security contact](https://tidelift.com/security).
  Tidelift will coordinate the fix and disclosure.

[Secure random values (in Node.js)]: https://gist.github.com/joepie91/7105003c3b26e65efcea63f3db82dfba
[better algorithm]: https://github.com/ai/nanoid/blob/main/index.js
[the source]: https://github.com/ai/nanoid/blob/main/index.js

## Install

```bash
npm install nanoid
```

### JSR

[JSR](https://jsr.io) is a replacement for npm with open governance
and active development (in contrast to npm).

```bash
npx jsr add @sitnik/nanoid
```

You can use it in Node.js, Deno, Bun, etc.

```js
// Replace `nanoid` to `@sitnik/nanoid` in all imports
import { nanoid } from '@sitnik/nanoid'
```

For Deno install it by `deno add jsr:@sitnik/nanoid` or import
from `jsr:@sitnik/nanoid`.

### CDN

For quick hacks, you can load Nano ID from CDN. Though, it is not recommended
to be used in production because of the lower loading performance.

```js
import { nanoid } from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/nanoid/nanoid.js'
```

## API

By default, Nano ID uses URL-friendly symbols (`A-Za-z0-9_-`) and returns an ID
with 21 characters (to have a collision probability similar to UUID v4).

```js
import { nanoid } from 'nanoid'
model.id = nanoid() //=> "V1StGXR8_Z5jdHi6B-myT"
```

If you want to reduce the ID size (and increase collisions probability),
you can pass the size as an argument.

```js
nanoid(10) //=> "IRFa-VaY2b"
```

Don’t forget to check the safety of your ID size
in our [ID collision probability] calculator.

You can also use a [custom alphabet](#custom-alphabet-or-size)
or a [random generator](#custom-random-bytes-generator).

[ID collision probability]: https://zelark.github.io/nano-id-cc/

### Custom Alphabet or Size

`customAlphabet` returns a function that allows you to create `nanoid`
with your own alphabet and ID size.

```js
import { customAlphabet } from 'nanoid'
const nanoid = customAlphabet('1234567890abcdef', 10)
model.id = nanoid() //=> "4f90d13a42"
```

```js
import { customAlphabet } from 'nanoid/non-secure'
const nanoid = customAlphabet('1234567890abcdef', 10)
user.id = nanoid()
```

Check the safety of your custom alphabet and ID size in our
[ID collision probability] calculator. For more alphabets, check out the options
in [`nanoid-dictionary`].

Alphabet must contain 256 symbols or less.
Otherwise, the security of the internal generator algorithm is not guaranteed.

In addition to setting a default size, you can change the ID size when calling
the function:

```js
import { customAlphabet } from 'nanoid'
const nanoid = customAlphabet('1234567890abcdef', 10)
model.id = nanoid(5) //=> "f01a2"
```

[`nanoid-dictionary`]: https://github.com/CyberAP/nanoid-dictionary

### Custom Random Bytes Generator

`customRandom` allows you to create a `nanoid` and replace alphabet
and the default random bytes generator.

In this example, a seed-based generator is used:

```js
import { customRandom } from 'nanoid'

const rng = seedrandom(seed)
const nanoid = customRandom('abcdef', 10, size => {
  return new Uint8Array(size).map(() => 256 * rng())
})

nanoid() //=> "fbaefaadeb"
```

`random` callback must accept the array size and return an array
with random numbers.

If you want to use the same URL-friendly symbols with `customRandom`,
you can get the default alphabet using the `urlAlphabet`.

```js
import { customRandom, urlAlphabet } from 'nanoid'
const nanoid = customRandom(urlAlphabet, 10, random)
```

Note, that between Nano ID versions we may change random generator
call sequence. If you are using seed-based generators, we do not guarantee
the same result.

### Non-Secure

Nano ID uses hardware random bytes generation for security and low collision
probability. If you are not so concerned with security, you can use it
for environments without hardware random generators.

```js
import { nanoid } from 'nanoid/non-secure'
const id = nanoid() //=> "Uakgb_J5m9g-0JDMbcJqLJ"
```

Note, that non-secure version is _slower_ than secure.
Use it only if you have to.

## Usage

### React

There’s no correct way to use Nano ID for React `key` prop
since it should be consistent among renders.

```jsx
function Todos({ todos }) {
  return (
    <ul>
      {todos.map(todo => (
        <li key={nanoid()}>
          {' '}
          /* DON’T DO IT */
          {todo.text}
        </li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  )
}
```

You should rather try to reach for stable ID inside your list item.

```jsx
const todoItems = todos.map(todo => <li key={todo.id}>{todo.text}</li>)
```

In case you don’t have stable IDs you'd rather use index as `key`
instead of `nanoid()`:

```jsx
const todoItems = todos.map((text, index) => (
  <li key={index}>
    {' '}
    /* Still not recommended but preferred over nanoid(). Only do this if items
    have no stable IDs. */
    {text}
  </li>
))
```

In case you just need random IDs to link elements like labels
and input fields together, [`useId`] is recommended.
That hook was added in React 18.

[`useId`]: https://react.dev/reference/react/useId

### React Native

React Native does not have built-in random generator. The following polyfill
works for plain React Native and Expo starting with `39.x`.

1. Check [`react-native-get-random-values`] docs and install it.
2. Import it before Nano ID.

```js
import 'react-native-get-random-values'
import { nanoid } from 'nanoid'
```

[`react-native-get-random-values`]: https://github.com/LinusU/react-native-get-random-values

### PouchDB and CouchDB

In PouchDB and CouchDB, IDs can’t start with an underscore `_`.
A prefix is required to prevent this issue, as Nano ID might use a `_`
at the start of the ID by default.

Override the default ID with the following option:

```js
db.put({
  _id: 'id' + nanoid(),
  …
})
```

### CLI

You can get unique ID in terminal by calling `npx nanoid`. You need only
Node.js in the system. You do not need Nano ID to be installed anywhere.

```sh
$ npx nanoid
npx: installed 1 in 0.63s
LZfXLFzPPR4NNrgjlWDxn
```

Size of generated ID can be specified with `--size` (or `-s`) option:

```sh
$ npx nanoid --size 10
L3til0JS4z
```

Custom alphabet can be specified with `--alphabet` (or `-a`) option
(note that in this case `--size` is required):

```sh
$ npx nanoid --alphabet abc --size 15
bccbcabaabaccab
```

### TypeScript

Nano ID allows casting generated strings into opaque strings in TypeScript.
For example:

```ts
declare const userIdBrand: unique symbol
type UserId = string & { [userIdBrand]: true }

// Use explicit type parameter:
mockUser(nanoid<UserId>())

interface User {
  id: UserId
  name: string
}

const user: User = {
  // Automatically casts to UserId:
  id: nanoid(),
  name: 'Alice'
}
```

### Other Programming Languages

Nano ID was ported to many languages. You can use these ports to have
the same ID generator on the client and server side.

- [C](https://github.com/lukateras/nanoid.h)
- [C#](https://github.com/codeyu/nanoid-net)
- [C++](https://github.com/mcmikecreations/nanoid_cpp)
- [Clojure and ClojureScript](https://github.com/zelark/nano-id)
- [ColdFusion/CFML](https://github.com/JamoCA/cfml-nanoid)
- [Crystal](https://github.com/mamantoha/nanoid.cr)
- [Dart & Flutter](https://github.com/pd4d10/nanoid-dart)
- [Elixir](https://github.com/railsmechanic/nanoid)
- [Gleam](https://github.com/0xca551e/glanoid)
- [Go](https://github.com/matoous/go-nanoid)
- [Haskell](https://github.com/MichelBoucey/NanoID)
- [Haxe](https://github.com/flashultra/uuid)
- [Janet](https://sr.ht/~statianzo/janet-nanoid/)
- [Java](https://github.com/wosherco/jnanoid-enhanced)
- [Kotlin](https://github.com/viascom/nanoid-kotlin)
- [MySQL/MariaDB](https://github.com/viascom/nanoid-mysql-mariadb)
- [Nim](https://github.com/icyphox/nanoid.nim)
- [OCaml](https://github.com/routineco/ocaml-nanoid)
- [Perl](https://github.com/tkzwtks/Nanoid-perl)
- [PHP](https://github.com/hidehalo/nanoid-php)
- Python [native](https://github.com/puyuan/py-nanoid) implementation
  with [dictionaries](https://pypi.org/project/nanoid-dictionary)
  and [fast](https://github.com/oliverlambson/fastnanoid) implementation (written in Rust)
- Postgres [Extension](https://github.com/spa5k/uids-postgres)
  and [Native Function](https://github.com/viascom/nanoid-postgres)
- [R](https://github.com/hrbrmstr/nanoid) (with dictionaries)
- [Ruby](https://github.com/radeno/nanoid.rb)
- [Rust](https://github.com/nikolay-govorov/nanoid)
- [Swift](https://github.com/ShivaHuang/swift-nanoid)
- [Unison](https://share.unison-lang.org/latest/namespaces/hojberg/nanoid)
- [V](https://github.com/invipal/nanoid)
- [Zig](https://github.com/SasLuca/zig-nanoid)

For other environments, [CLI] is available to generate IDs from a command line.

[CLI]: #cli

## Tools

- [ID size calculator] shows collision probability when adjusting
  the ID alphabet or size.
- [`nanoid-dictionary`] with popular alphabets to use with [`customAlphabet`].
- [`nanoid-good`] to be sure that your ID doesn’t contain any obscene words.

[`nanoid-dictionary`]: https://github.com/CyberAP/nanoid-dictionary
[ID size calculator]: https://zelark.github.io/nano-id-cc/
[`customAlphabet`]: #custom-alphabet-or-size
[`nanoid-good`]: https://github.com/y-gagar1n/nanoid-good

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