# dylang/shortid

Short id generator. Url-friendly. Non-predictable. Cluster-compatible.

Repository: https://github.com/dylang/shortid
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/shortid
Homepage: https://www.npmjs.org/package/shortid
Language: JavaScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2025-01-23T19:16:09+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 34/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 3, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5371, "days_push": 587, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5712, forks 252 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:28.162351+00:00)

## What it is
shortid is a JavaScript library for generating short, non-sequential, URL-friendly unique IDs suitable for URL shorteners, MongoDB/Mongoose documents, and Redis keys. It is officially deprecated due to an unsafe architecture, with Nano ID recommended as the replacement.

## Use cases
- generate short url-friendly unique ids in node.js
- generate ids for mongoose documents
- create non-guessable ids for url shorteners
- generate unique ids across clustered node processes
- generate ids for game sessions that are hard to guess
- replace mongo objectids with shorter string ids

## When to choose
- maintaining a legacy codebase that already depends on shortid
- you need cluster-compatible, restart-safe short ids and accept the known architectural weaknesses

## When to avoid
- starting a new project - use Nano ID instead
- you need cryptographically secure or unguessable ids
- you need a maintained library with active support

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: abandoned
- function: developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, web-development, databases
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: id-generation, unique-ids, url-friendly, deprecated, javascript, npm, nodejs

## Member repositories
- dylang/shortid (main) score 34

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:28.162351+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:53:30.928598+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/dylang/shortid (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:28.162351+00:00, sha fcce15acd3bb)
  - homepage: https://www.npmjs.org/package/shortid (fetched 2026-08-29T08:49:30.400155+00:00, sha 9ebb230ae06e)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/shortid (fetched 2026-08-29T08:49:30.410281+00:00, sha b9eacd5750ca)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.