Generate Nano IDs in Python

Nano ID is a compact random identifier format commonly used when shorter URL-friendly IDs are preferable to canonical UUID strings. Use a cryptographically secure implementation rather than Math.random-style generators.

Quick Start#

The following example uses the standard Python API or a widely used package for this task.

Quick start#

1# pip install nanoid2from nanoid import generate34id_value = generate()5print(id_value)

Common Operations#

This second pattern covers a common production operation or a safer way to handle real input.

Custom alphabet#

1from nanoid import generate23alphabet = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"4order_id = generate(alphabet, )5print(order_id)

Important Notes#

Choose size based on your collision budget and expected number of generated IDs, not only visual preference.

Best Practices#

1. Treat external input as untrusted and handle parse/validation errors explicitly.
2. Keep encoding, units, formats, and library-specific mapping rules explicit at system boundaries.
3. Add test vectors that cover empty input, Unicode text, malformed input, and representative production data.

References#

• Nano ID project
• Python Documentation