EncodedId and EncodedId::Rails

encoded_id lets you encode numerical or hex IDs into obfuscated strings that can be used in URLs.

encoded_id-rails is a Rails integration that provides additional features for using encoded_id with ActiveRecord models.

👉 Full documentation available at encoded-id.onrender.com

Quick Example

coder = ::EncodedId::ReversibleId.new(salt: "my-salt")
coder.encode(123)
# => "p5w9-z27j"

# The encoded strings are reversible
coder.decode("p5w9-z27j")
# => [123]

# Supports encoding multiple IDs at once
coder.encode([78, 45])
# => "z2j7-0dmw"

# Can also be used with ActiveRecord models
class User < ApplicationRecord
  include EncodedId::Rails::Model
  
  # Optional slug for the encoded ID
  def name_for_encoded_id_slug
    full_name
  end
end

# Find by encoded ID
user = User.find_by_encoded_id("p5w9-z27j") # => #<User id: 78>
user.encoded_id                             # => "user_p5w9-z27j"
user.slugged_encoded_id                     # => "bob-smith--user_p5w9-z27j"

Key Features

• 🔄 Reversible - Encoded IDs can be decoded back to the original values
• 👥 Multiple IDs - Encode multiple numeric IDs in one string
• 🚀 Choose your encoding - Supports Hashids and Sqids out of the box, or use your own custom encoder
• 👓 Human-readable - Character grouping & character mappings of easily confused characters for better readability
• 🔡 Custom alphabets - Use your preferred character set, or a provided default
• 🚗 Performance - Uses an optimized Hashids encoder (compared to hashids gem) for better performance and less memory usage, and have pushed performance improvements to Sqids as well
• 🤬 Profanity blocking - Built-in word blocklist support and optional default lists

Rails Integration Features

• 🏷️ ActiveRecord integration - Use with ActiveRecord models
• 🔑 Per-model salt - Use a custom salt for encoding per model
• 💅 Slugged IDs - URL-friendly slugs like my-product--p5w9-z27j
• 🔖 Annotated IDs - Model type indicators like user_p5w9-z27j
• 🔍 Finder methods - Find records using encoded IDs
• 🛣️ URL params - to_param with encoded IDs
• 🔒 Safe defaults: Limits on encoded ID lengths to prevent CPU and memory-intensive encode/decodes eg when used in URLs
• 💾 Persistence - Optional database persistence for efficient lookups

Standalone Gem

# Add to Gemfile
bundle add encoded_id

# Or install directly
gem install encoded_id

See the EncodedId API documentation for more details.

Rails Integration Gem

# Add to Gemfile
bundle add encoded_id-rails

# Then run the generator
rails g encoded_id:rails:install

See the Rails Integration documentation for more details.

Security Note

Encoded IDs are not secure. They are meant to provide obfuscation, not encryption. Do not use them as a security mechanism.

Compare to Alternate Gems

• prefixed_ids
• obfuscate_id
• friendly_id
• with_uid
• bullet_train-obfuscates_id

For a detailed comparison, see the Compared to Other Gems documentation page.

Documentation

Visit encoded-id.onrender.com for comprehensive documentation including:

• EncodedId Core API
• Rails Integration API
• Configuration Options
• Examples
• Advanced Topics

Development

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Run bundle exec rake test to run the tests.

Run benchmarks with bin/benchmark <type> where type is one of: ips, memory, comparison, profile, flamegraph, or stress_decode.

Documentation

Run bundle exec rake website:build to build or bundle exec rake website:serve to preview locally.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/stevegeek/encoded_id.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.