While tweeting something or sharing something over Linkedin requires a unique id to identify a particular post. On the daily basis, we need to store or retrieve data uniquely & generating random numbers is not a cool idea. So through the post, we will take a look at the most commonly used NPM packages which are used for generating unique Ids.

1️⃣ UUID - UUID is the most popular npm package used for generating unique Ids. The npm package supports node version 10, 12, 14, and 16 & also provides support for React Native & browsers. It also supports version 1, 3, 4, and 5.
The Package can be installed by the npm install uuid command. It provides support for both ES6 and CommonJS syntax.

Using the ES6 module syntax -

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';

const userId=uuidv4();
console.log(userId); // ⇨ '9b1deb4d-3b7d-4bad-9bdd-2b0d7b3dcb6d'

Using the CommonJS syntax -

const { v4: uuidv4 } = require('uuid');

const userId=uuidv4();
console.log(userId); // ⇨ '9b1deb4d-3b7d-4bad-9bdd-2b0d7b3dcb6d'

• The Module also provides a bunch of methods & methods for versions, check out all of them here 👉 Github

2️⃣ Nano ID - Nano ID is very popular, tiny, URL-friendly & 2 times faster than uuid.

The package can be installed by npm install --save nanoid command. Like uuid, it also provides support for both ES6 and CommonJS syntax.

Let's see an example through ES6 syntax -

import { nanoid } from 'nanoid'

const userId=nanoid();
console.log(userId); // => "V1StGXR8_Z5jdHi6B-myT"

• Suppose, if we need to reduce the id size to 10, then we can pass size as an argument like this -

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

3️⃣ Cuid -

• Install using the command npm i cuid

• Provides support for both ES6 and CommonJS syntax.

• Example(using ES module syntax) -

import cuid from 'cuid';

console.log( cuid() );

// cjld2cjxh0000qzrmn831i7rn

4️⃣ crypto-random-string - It generates cryptographically strong random string.

• Works in Node.js and browsers.
• Install using the command npm install crypto-random-string
• Example -

import cryptoRandomString from 'crypto-random-string';

cryptoRandomString({length: 10});
//=> '2cf05d94db'

• It also supports a second argument type(optional) along with length. The Default value for the type is hex.

5️⃣ uniqid -

• Install using the command npm install uniqid.
• Unique Hexatridecimal ID generator.
• Creates unique IDs based on the current time, process, and machine name.
• Works in Node.js and browsers.

import uniqid from 'uniqid';

console.log(uniqid()); // -> 4n5pxq24kpiob12og9

🏁 We have discussed the npm packages which are used for generating unique IDs. If you use a different package feel free to mention it in the comments.