# Canister name limit of 24 characters is too restrictive **URL:** \ **Category:** Developers\ **Tags:** nns\ **Created:** [August 7, 2026, 11:20pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/canister-name-limit-of-24-characters-is-too-restrictive/74982 "2026-08-07T23:20:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jdelforge](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.dfinity.org/jdelforge/32/34821_2.png) [@jdelforge](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/jdelforge)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 11:20pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/canister-name-limit-of-24-characters-is-too-restrictive/74982/1 "2026-08-07T23:20:50Z")
@yhabib On the NNS dapp Canisters management page, a canister name is limited to a maximum of 24 characters. This is often too short in practice. It’s also well below the 64-character limit allowed for contact names. Raising it to 32 would already be a significant improvement. Not sure what the implications of such a change would be on your side. Best regards. ---
**Author:** ![yhabib](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.dfinity.org/yhabib/32/21660_2.png) [@yhabib](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/yhabib)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/canister-name-limit-of-24-characters-is-too-restrictive/74982/2 "2026-08-28T17:38:34Z")
Hi @jdelforge I wonder, do you have so many canisters that those eight characters make a difference? I’ll take a look at the implications of increasing it and let you know. ---
**Author:** ![jdelforge](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.dfinity.org/jdelforge/32/34821_2.png) [@jdelforge](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/jdelforge)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 6:50pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/canister-name-limit-of-24-characters-is-too-restrictive/74982/3 "2026-08-28T18:50:39Z")
@yhabib I have about 50 canisters running… In order to match the architecture of my projects, which are split across already-large repos containing about close to 10 canisters each, I ideally have to name the canisters as such: `Project` `Repo` `Canister` `Env` `Subnet` Example with short names, already a total of 26 characters: `Waffle` `Admin` `Core` `Prod` `GLO` Example with realistic names, total, 31 characters: `Pancake` `Settle` `Execute` `Prod` `FID` So the limit of 24 is often a pain, and I end up with names that are hard to decode at a glance. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Lorimer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.dfinity.org/lorimer/32/17601_2.png) [@Lorimer](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/Lorimer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/canister-name-limit-of-24-characters-is-too-restrictive/74982/4 "2026-08-30T16:11:19Z")
I wonder if it might be better to instead be able to group canisters under a group name (so canisters that relate to different projects can be grouped together). What do you think @jdelforge? ---
**Author:** ![jdelforge](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.dfinity.org/jdelforge/32/34821_2.png) [@jdelforge](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/jdelforge)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2026, 6:15pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/canister-name-limit-of-24-characters-is-too-restrictive/74982/5 "2026-08-30T18:15:58Z")
@Lorimer Sure, that could help to remove `Project` from the line. But it sounds more like a workaround than the actual fix, and it’s probably more work for DFINITY than extending a max length. And even with grouping, the limit would still bite. CycleOps allows much longer canister names, so I end up having the full names in CycleOps, and a shorter version of them in the NNS. Not fantastic. There may also be a layout angle here. I proposed [a toggleable list view](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/proposal-add-a-list-view-option-to-the-nns-canisters-page/62189) back in January (mockup in the thread), and the 24-char cap reads like a card-layout constraint that ended up in the data model. That said, for a canister management page, a list view would be far more readable on desktop. And in small-width mobile view, 32 characters would still hold in one line with no ellipsis. ---
**Author:** ![yhabib](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.dfinity.org/yhabib/32/21660_2.png) [@yhabib](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/yhabib)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 6:14am UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/canister-name-limit-of-24-characters-is-too-restrictive/74982/6 "2026-08-31T06:14:03Z")
Hi @jdelforge Thanks for your answer. I’ll look into it this week. I’ll keep you posted. Cheers ---
**Author:** ![yhabib](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.dfinity.org/yhabib/32/21660_2.png) [@yhabib](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/yhabib)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2026, 10:34pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/canister-name-limit-of-24-characters-is-too-restrictive/74982/7 "2026-09-05T22:34:58Z")
Hi @jdelforge This is part of this week’s proposal: [https://forum.dfinity.org/t/proposal-143823-to-upgrade-the-nns-dapp-2026-09-05/75543](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/proposal-143823-to-upgrade-the-nns-dapp-2026-09-05/75543)