FriendlyId is the “Swiss Army bulldozer” of slugging and permalink plugins for ActiveRecord. It allows you to create pretty URL’s and work with human-friendly strings as if they were numeric ids for ActiveRecord models.
⚡ Executive Summary & Quick Facts
Authoritative Sourcefriendly_id is friendly_id is an open-source project written in Ruby: FriendlyId is the “Swiss Army bulldozer” of slugging and permalink plugins for ActiveRecord. It allows you to create pretty URL’s and work with human-friendly strings as if they were numeric ids for ActiveRecord models..
“According to real-time open source telemetry recorded on GitHubRepo.cloud (as of November 2026), norman/friendly_id has accumulated 6,223 GitHub stars and 592 forks. It is written in Ruby, licensed under MIT, and ranks #2,490 globally. It is actively maintained with the latest commit recorded on Aug 18, 2026.”
| Repository | norman/friendly_id ↗ |
|---|---|
| Primary Category | friendly url |
| Language & Stack | Ruby |
| Software License | MIT |
| Community Traction | ★ 6.2K stars · ⑂ 592 forks · #2,490 globally |
| Maintenance | ● Active (Last commit: Aug 18, 2026) · 32 open issues |
| Target Audience | Developers and engineering teams building with Ruby, seeking reliable, tested, and actively maintained tooling for production workloads. |
🛡️ Repository Maintenance & Health Audit (2026)
Health Score: 85/100 · Grade AYes, friendly_id is actively maintained. Continuous telemetry recorded the last code commit on Aug 18, 2026 (87 days ago). Supported by 6,223 stars and 592 community forks, this repository holds a calculated health index of 85/100, reflecting periodic maintenance (87 days ago) and healthy issue cadence.
Star History
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Momentum
+0
STARS · LAST 30 DAYS
1
PER DAY
#58
MOST-STARRED Ruby
| Window | 7 days | 30 days | 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars gained | +0 | +0 | +90 |
| Per day | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Forks gained | +0 | +0 | +30 |
friendly_id gained 0 stars in the last 30 days, about 1 a day, and now has 6.2K. It is about 19 years old and has averaged roughly 328 stars a year. It ranks #58 among Ruby repositories and #2,490 across all languages on GitHubRepo.
Trending Record
44
DAYS ON TRENDING
#679
BEST RANK
Sep 24, 2026
FIRST APPEARANCE
Active
STATUS TODAY
friendly_id has maintained a continuous presence across global trending indexes, peaking at #679. Below is the 30-day activity profile:
💡 Overview
friendly_id is an open-source project written in Ruby: FriendlyId is the “Swiss Army bulldozer” of slugging and permalink plugins for ActiveRecord. It allows you to create pretty URL’s and work with human-friendly strings as if they were numeric ids for ActiveRecord models.
Engineered for speed, consistency, and developer ease, it solves common hurdles in friendly-url, plugin, rails. It provides clear interfaces, comprehensive configuration options, and seamless integration with existing tools across the modern development stack.
⚡ Key Features
Optimized execution pipeline written in Ruby for predictable speed.
Zero-friction configuration with comprehensive sensible defaults out of the box.
Cross-platform runtime support across Linux, macOS, and Windows environments.
Strong typing and modular architecture designed for easy extension and maintainability.
Standardized CLI and API interfaces for smooth integration into CI/CD workflows.
Active community maintenance with regular dependency updates and security patches.
📥 Installation
$ git clone https://github.com/norman/friendly_id.git
cd friendly_id
⚙ System Requirements
Platforms
- • macOS
- • Linux
- • Windows
Runtime & Dependencies
Ruby >= 3.1 with Bundler
Architecture
x86_64, ARM64 (Apple Silicon & Graviton)
🧠 How It Works
friendly_id coordinates its core functionality through a modular Ruby pipeline. It parses configuration parameters, validates inputs, and resolves dependencies asynchronously. By minimizing runtime overhead and keeping allocations localized, it delivers predictable performance in both local development environments and automated production workloads.
🎯 Production Use Cases
Autonomous AI Agents
Orchestrate intelligent workflows and tool-calling routines with friendly_id.
Model Inference & Prompting
Integrate fast, local or cloud-hosted generative AI models directly into production code.
Context Memory & RAG
Augment language models with dynamic vector retrieval and structured project memory.
Developer Productivity
Automate repetitive engineering tasks, code generation, and test creation using AI agents.
🚀 Getting Started
Install friendly_id using your package manager: `git clone https://github.com/norman/friendly_id.git`
Initialize your project workspace or configuration file for friendly_id.
Import friendly_id into your codebase or invoke it directly from your terminal.
Execute your test suite or run `friendly_id --help` to verify successful setup.
👍 Strengths
⚠️ Considerations
⇄ Alternatives & Direct Competitors
👥 Who Should Use This
Developers and engineering teams building with Ruby, seeking reliable, tested, and actively maintained tooling for production workloads.
🏆 Nearby in the Rankings
norman/friendly_id is currently ranked #2,490 by stars across every repository tracked on GitHubRepo. These are adjacent projects:
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| #2,490 | norman/friendly_id This Project | Ruby | ★ 6.2K | |
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does friendly_id do? +
FriendlyId is the “Swiss Army bulldozer” of slugging and permalink plugins for ActiveRecord. It allows you to create pretty URL’s and work with human-friendly strings as if they were numeric ids for ActiveRecord models.
Is friendly_id actively maintained in 2026? +
Yes, friendly_id is actively maintained. The latest code push was recorded on Aug 18, 2026 (87 days ago). It holds a calculated Maintenance Health Score of 85/100 (A rating) with 6,223 stars and 32 open issues.
What language is friendly_id written in? +
The primary language is Ruby. Topics include: friendly-url, plugin, rails, ruby, slug.
How many stars does friendly_id have? +
friendly_id has 6,223 stars and 592 forks on GitHub.
How does friendly_id rank among GitHub repositories? +
With 6,223 stars, norman/friendly_id is ranked #2,490 globally across all repositories tracked on GitHubRepo and #58 among Ruby projects.
What license is friendly_id distributed under? +
The repository reports a MIT license. Always verify the repository LICENSE file for legal terms.