diff --git a/src/store/graph_store_sqlite.go b/src/store/graph_store_sqlite.go
index 36c0bd7..b3c43e1 100644
--- a/src/store/graph_store_sqlite.go
+++ b/src/store/graph_store_sqlite.go
@@ -265,8 +265,8 @@ func (s *txStore) NodeExists(id string) (bool, error) { return nodeExists(s.db,
 
 // --- ID generation ---
 
-func genID() string {
-	b := make([]byte, 5)
+func genID(length int) string {
+	b := make([]byte, length)
 	for i := range b {
 		b[i] = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"[rand.Intn(26)]
 	}
@@ -274,14 +274,21 @@ func genID() string {
 }
 
 func generateID(q querier) (string, error) {
-	for {
-		id := genID()
-		exists, err := nodeExists(q, id)
-		if err != nil {
-			return "", err
+	for length := 3; ; length++ {
+		// Try up to 10*capacity attempts at this length before growing.
+		capacity := 1
+		for i := 0; i < length; i++ {
+			capacity *= 26
 		}
-		if !exists {
-			return id, nil
+		for attempt := 0; attempt < 10*capacity; attempt++ {
+			id := genID(length)
+			exists, err := nodeExists(q, id)
+			if err != nil {
+				return "", err
+			}
+			if !exists {
+				return id, nil
+			}
 		}
 	}
 }