uuid — generate random UUIDs
SYNOPSIS
uuid [count]
DESCRIPTION
Generates one or more version-4 (random) UUIDs using the browser's cryptographically secure random source. The optional count defaults to 1 and is capped at 64.
HOW IT WORKS
A version-4 UUID is 128 bits: 122 random bits plus 6 fixed bits that mark the version (4) and the variant (RFC 9562). This command uses crypto.randomUUID(), backed by the browser's cryptographically secure random generator; on older browsers it falls back to crypto.getRandomValues(). Nothing is generated or logged on a server.
USE CASES
- unique identifiers for database rows, API resources or test fixtures;
- idempotency keys and correlation / request IDs;
- random, unguessable file or session names.
NOTES
With 122 random bits, the chance of a collision is negligible for any realistic number of UUIDs. Pipe them onward: uuid 10 > ids.txt saves ten of them in the shell's filesystem.
EXAMPLES
uuid uuid 5