diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c0a9489..ae9dfa4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -294,4 +294,4 @@ Scratchbox storage is designed for a single process instance per `storage.data_d
 - Do not run multiple scratchbox processes against the same data directory.
 - Metadata/index writes are process-local and are not coordinated with cross-process locking.
 - Scratch payload files and metadata index are encrypted at rest.
-- Scratch IDs are derived from the SHA-256 of the stored blob (encrypted+gzip payload on disk).
+- Public scratch IDs are short random aliases; stored blobs still use SHA-256-derived internal blob IDs on disk.
diff --git a/internal/storage/filesystem.go b/internal/storage/filesystem.go
index 1f53bb9..4c74cdd 100644
--- a/internal/storage/filesystem.go
+++ b/internal/storage/filesystem.go
@@ -21,9 +21,12 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	indexFilename      = "metadata"
-	filesDirName       = "scratches"
-	encryptedChunkSize = 64 * 1024
+	indexFilename        = "metadata"
+	filesDirName         = "scratches"
+	encryptedChunkSize   = 64 * 1024
+	publicIDLength       = 12
+	publicIDAlphabet     = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
+	publicIDMaxAttempts  = 8
 )
 
 var ErrNotFound = errors.New("scratch not found")
@@ -33,6 +36,7 @@ var encryptedIndexMagic = [4]byte{'S', 'M', 'D', '1'}
 
 type Metadata struct {
 	ID           string    `json:"id"`
+	BlobID       string    `json:"blob_id,omitempty"`
 	FilePath     string    `json:"file_path"`
 	CreatedAt    time.Time `json:"created_at"`
 	ExpiresAt    time.Time `json:"expires_at"`
@@ -146,8 +150,8 @@ func (s *FilesystemStore) CreateWithOriginalName(ctx context.Context, body io.Re
 		return Metadata{}, fmt.Errorf("close temp file: %w", closeErr)
 	}
 
-	id := hex.EncodeToString(blobHash.Sum(nil))
-	finalPath := filepath.Join(s.filesDir, id)
+	blobID := hex.EncodeToString(blobHash.Sum(nil))
+	finalPath := filepath.Join(s.filesDir, blobID)
 	if _, statErr := os.Stat(finalPath); statErr == nil {
 		_ = os.Remove(tempFile.Name())
 		return Metadata{}, errors.New("scratch id collision for content hash")
@@ -161,8 +165,17 @@ func (s *FilesystemStore) CreateWithOriginalName(ctx context.Context, body io.Re
 	}
 
 	now := time.Now().UTC()
+
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	publicID, err := reservePublicID(s.metadata)
+	if err != nil {
+		s.mu.Unlock()
+		_ = os.Remove(finalPath)
+		return Metadata{}, err
+	}
 	meta := Metadata{
-		ID:           id,
+		ID:           publicID,
+		BlobID:       blobID,
 		FilePath:     finalPath,
 		CreatedAt:    now,
 		ExpiresAt:    now.Add(ttl),
@@ -170,16 +183,9 @@ func (s *FilesystemStore) CreateWithOriginalName(ctx context.Context, body io.Re
 		OriginalName: normalizeOriginalName(originalName),
 		Size:         size,
 	}
-
-	s.mu.Lock()
-	if _, exists := s.metadata[id]; exists {
-		s.mu.Unlock()
-		_ = os.Remove(finalPath)
-		return Metadata{}, errors.New("scratch id collision in metadata index")
-	}
-	s.metadata[id] = meta
+	s.metadata[publicID] = meta
 	if err := s.persistLocked(); err != nil {
-		delete(s.metadata, id)
+		delete(s.metadata, publicID)
 		s.mu.Unlock()
 		_ = os.Remove(finalPath)
 		return Metadata{}, err
@@ -314,6 +320,15 @@ func (s *FilesystemStore) loadIndex() error {
 	if doc.Scratches == nil {
 		doc.Scratches = map[string]Metadata{}
 	}
+	for key, meta := range doc.Scratches {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(meta.ID) == "" {
+			meta.ID = key
+		}
+		if strings.TrimSpace(meta.BlobID) == "" {
+			meta.BlobID = filepath.Base(meta.FilePath)
+		}
+		doc.Scratches[key] = meta
+	}
 	s.metadata = doc.Scratches
 	if ttlRaw := strings.TrimSpace(doc.DefaultTTL); ttlRaw != "" {
 		ttl, parseErr := time.ParseDuration(ttlRaw)
@@ -582,6 +597,31 @@ func equalBytes(a, b []byte) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
+func reservePublicID(existing map[string]Metadata) (string, error) {
+	for i := 0; i < publicIDMaxAttempts; i++ {
+		id, err := generatePublicID()
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+		if _, exists := existing[id]; !exists {
+			return id, nil
+		}
+	}
+	return "", errors.New("unable to reserve unique public id")
+}
+
+func generatePublicID() (string, error) {
+	buf := make([]byte, publicIDLength)
+	if _, err := rand.Read(buf); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("generate public id bytes: %w", err)
+	}
+	alphabetLen := byte(len(publicIDAlphabet))
+	for i := range buf {
+		buf[i] = publicIDAlphabet[int(buf[i]%alphabetLen)]
+	}
+	return string(buf), nil
+}
+
 func encryptIndexPayload(plaintext []byte, aead cipher.AEAD) ([]byte, error) {
 	nonce := make([]byte, aead.NonceSize())
 	if _, err := rand.Read(nonce); err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/storage/filesystem_test.go b/internal/storage/filesystem_test.go
index 2ad6ffc..c152feb 100644
--- a/internal/storage/filesystem_test.go
+++ b/internal/storage/filesystem_test.go
@@ -123,9 +123,12 @@ func TestCreateEncryptedStoreDoesNotExposeGzipHeaderOnDisk(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("ReadFile(encrypted) error = %v", err)
 	}
 	sum := sha256.Sum256(filePayload)
-	wantID := hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
-	if meta.ID != wantID {
-		t.Fatalf("meta.ID = %q, want SHA-256 of encrypted blob %q", meta.ID, wantID)
+	wantBlobID := hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+	if meta.BlobID != wantBlobID {
+		t.Fatalf("meta.BlobID = %q, want SHA-256 of encrypted blob %q", meta.BlobID, wantBlobID)
+	}
+	if meta.ID == wantBlobID {
+		t.Fatalf("meta.ID should be a short public id, got blob hash id %q", meta.ID)
 	}
 }