---
id: shortuuid
version: "1.0.13"
license: BSD-3-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# shortuuid — A generator library for concise, unambiguous and URL-safe UUIDs.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Popularity: top 1,000 on PyPI

## Install

pip install shortuuid
uv add shortuuid
poetry add shortuuid

## Description

Description
===========

`shortuuid` is a simple python library that generates concise, unambiguous, URL-safe
UUIDs.

Often, one needs to use non-sequential IDs in places where users will see them, but the
IDs must be as concise and easy to use as possible.  `shortuuid` solves this problem by
generating uuids using Python's built-in `uuid` module and then translating them to
base57 using lowercase and uppercase letters and digits, and removing similar-looking
characters such as l, 1, I, O and 0.

[![image](https://travis-ci.org/skorokithakis/shortuuid.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/skorokithakis/shortuuid)


Installation
------------

To install `shortuuid` you need:

-   Python 3.6+

If you have the dependencies, you have multiple options of installation:

-   With pip (preferred), do `pip install shortuuid`.
-   With setuptools, do `easy_install shortuuid`.
-   To install the source, download it from
    https://github.com/stochastic-technologies/shortuuid and run `python setup.py
    install`.


Usage
-----

To use `shortuuid`, just import it in your project like so:

```python
>>> import shortuuid
```

You can then generate a short UUID:

```python
>>>...

## AI interpretation — verify before relying

shortuuid generates concise, URL-safe unique identifiers by encoding Python UUIDs into base57, with optional cryptographically secure random strings and Django field support.

Verdict: shortuuid is a lightweight, zero-dependency library with active maintenance, no known vulnerabilities, and permissive licensing. It is well-suited for projects needing compact, human-friendly unique identifiers or Django model fields.

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/shortuuid) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/shortuuid/)