django-puid

A Django field that generates human-friendly prefixed unique IDs — a readable alternative to UUIDs.

acct_lrjk8xr7z91mk     # Stripe-style IDs
cus_lrjk8xq2a3b9f      # instantly self-describing
post_4kp2mzn8q1vx      # readable in logs, URLs, and support tickets

IDs are time-sortable (timestamp in base36) with a cryptographically random suffix, so they're both friendly and collision-resistant.

Installation

pip install django-puid

Quick Start

from django_puid.fields import PrefixedUIDField

class Customer(models.Model):
    uid = PrefixedUIDField(prefix="cus")

The uid field auto-generates on save. It sits alongside Django's default integer primary key — it doesn't replace it.

Why Not UUID?

UUIDs are collision-resistant but opaque. f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479 tells you nothing at a glance. Prefixed IDs are just as safe — and immediately meaningful.

# UUID
customer_id = "f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479"

# django-puid
customer_id = "cus_lrjk8xq2a3b9f"

Options

Django Admin

The field is non-editable by default. To display it in the admin as read-only:

from django.contrib import admin

@admin.register(Customer)
class CustomerAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    readonly_fields = ["uid"]

License

MIT