What is Sqids?

Sqids (pronounced "squids") is an open-source library that lets you generate YouTube-looking IDs from numbers. These IDs are short, can be generated from a custom alphabet and are guaranteed to be collision-free. Read more .

This is what they look like:

https://example.com/Lqj8a0

.NET

.NET code is located at https://github.com/sqids/sqids-dotnet

To encode & decode:

var sqids = new SqidsEncoder<int>();
var id = sqids.Encode(1, 2, 3); // "86Rf07"
var numbers = sqids.Decode(id); // [1, 2, 3]

Randomize IDs by providing a custom alphabet:

var sqids = new SqidsEncoder<int>(new()
{
  Alphabet = "FxnXM1kBN6cuhsAvjW3Co7l2RePyY8DwaU04Tzt9fHQrqSVKdpimLGIJOgb5ZE",
});
var id = sqids.Encode(1, 2, 3); // "B4aajs"
var numbers = sqids.Decode(id); // [1, 2, 3]

Enforce a minimum length for IDs:

var sqids = new SqidsEncoder<int>(new()
{
  MinLength = 10,
});
var id = sqids.Encode(1, 2, 3); // "86Rf07xd4z"
var numbers = sqids.Decode(id); // [1, 2, 3]

Read more at https://github.com/sqids/sqids-dotnet

If you're looking for the original Hashids .NET, you can find it here .

Why use them?

The main use of Sqids is purely visual. If you'd like to use IDs instead of numbers in your webapp, Sqids could be a good choice:

Use Cases

  • Link shortening Safe to use in URLs
  • Event IDs Fast collision-free ID generation
  • Quick lookups Decoding back into numbers

Not Good For

  • Sensitive data This is not an encryption library
  • User IDs Can be decoded, revealing user count

Features

  • 🆔 Generate short IDs from non-negative numbers
  • 🧰 Easy encoding & decoding
  • 🤬 Auto-generated IDs do not contain common profanity
  • 🔤 Support for custom IDs through shuffled alphabet
  • 🎲 Randomized IDs when encoding incremental numbers
  • 👩‍💻 40 programming languages (10 using new design)
  • 👯‍♀️ Every version produces the same IDs
  • 🍻 Small library with a permissive license

Example / Playground