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The slug is the part of a Link’s address that identifies it: the x5fgd in qrtub.com/r/x5fgd, the exc203 in qrtub.com/exc203. Everything else in the URL is fixed. When QRtub asks how you want a Link created, it is really asking how you want its slug chosen.

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The slug is not the whole address

There are two address shapes, and which one you get depends on the Link’s type: Random Links sit under /r/ and the other two sit at the root. That separation is deliberate: qrtub.com/r/abc12 and qrtub.com/abc12 are two different addresses resolved by two different routes, so the automatic slugs never collide at scan time with the ones you choose yourself. The domain is always lowercase qrtub.com. When you print a Link as readable text under a QR code, print the whole address — including /r/ if it is a random Link — because the slug alone will not get anyone anywhere.

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Case matters for random slugs, and not for the others

This is the one slug rule that catches people out:
  • Random slugs are matched case-sensitively. They are stored in lowercase, so the address you see and print is lowercase, and it has to be typed that way. qrtub.com/r/X5FGD will not resolve to qrtub.com/r/x5fgd.
  • Numbered and custom slugs are matched case-insensitively. A numbered Link keeps whatever case you typed when you claimed the pattern, so it can print as qrtub.com/CRA0042TL, and someone typing cra0042tl still lands in the right place. Custom slugs are stored lowercase and resolve either way.
If your crews type addresses by hand — and on a muddy site with a cracked screen, some will — a numbered or custom slug is more forgiving than a random one.

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Slugs are unique across all of QRtub, not just your team

Slugs are checked against every Link in QRtub, not just your team’s. If another team already holds boardroom, you cannot have it, and QRtub tells you it is in use rather than quietly giving you something else. The check ignores case, so Boardroom is not available either. Random slugs go through the same check when they are minted, which is why you never have to think about it — QRtub keeps drawing new ones until it finds a free slug. A slug is fixed once the Link exists. There is no rename: the point of the whole system is that a printed code keeps resolving, and renaming a slug would break every code already in the field. If you need a different address, create a new Link and, if the old one is no longer wanted, delete it.

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What varies by type

Each type has its own rules about what characters a slug may contain and how long it can be — a random slug is always five characters, a custom slug is validated against a fixed charset and a reserved-word list, and a numbered slug is built from a prefix, a zero-padded number and a suffix. Those rules live with each type rather than here.