Shoulda Started

How to find your Sleeper username and league ID

Most Sleeper tools, this one included, need one of two things from you: your username or your league ID. Neither is a secret, and neither needs your password. Here is where to find each.

Shoulda Started starts from your username: type it on the home page and you get a list of your NFL leagues for this season and last. Pick one, and the report opens at an address that contains the league ID. So in practice you only need the username. The league ID matters when you want to share a league directly, open it on another device, or report a number that looks wrong.

Username or display name?

Sleeper keeps two names for every account. The username is unique across Sleeper and is how other tools look you up. The display name is what your leaguemates see next to your team. For many people they are the same word, perhaps with different capital letters. For others they are quite different, and only the username works for a lookup.

Sleeper usernames use only letters, numbers and underscores: no spaces, dots or dashes. Capital letters do not matter, so BearsFan85 and bearsfan85 find the same account. If what you are typing has a space in it, it is probably your display name or your team name, not your username.

Finding your username

  1. Open the Sleeper app, or sign in at sleeper.com.
  2. Open your profile or your account settings. Your username is listed there.
  3. Sleeper moves menus around between versions, so the exact place can differ. The username is the account name with no spaces in it, not the team name.

If you sign in to Sleeper with a phone number or email, you may never have typed your username at all. It still exists: every Sleeper account has one from the day it was created. You can also type it with an @ in front on this site; the @ is ignored.

Finding your league ID

A Sleeper league ID is a long number, often 18 or 19 digits. There are three easy ways to get it.

  • From this site. Enter your username, pick the league, and look at the address bar. The number after /l/ is the league ID.
  • From sleeper.com. Open the league in a web browser. The address looks like sleeper.com/leagues/ followed by a long number and a page name. That number is the league ID.
  • From the app. The league's settings screen shows the league ID in many versions of the app, often near the bottom, with an option to copy it.

An invite link to join a league is not the same thing as the league ID. It uses its own short code. If what you have does not look like a long number made only of digits, it is not the ID.

Why the ID changes every season

When a league renews for a new season, Sleeper gives it a new league ID. The name, the managers and, in a dynasty league, the rosters carry over, but the number is new, and Sleeper links it back to the previous season's league. So the ID you saved last year opens last year's league. That is useful for looking back at a finished season, and it is also why this site shows this season and last season separately when you enter your username.

If you want to look back at an older season, you can still open it directly by its ID, as long as Sleeper still serves that league's data.

Is it safe to share?

Yes. Sleeper publishes league data through a public, read-only interface. Anyone who has a league ID can read that league's teams, lineups, scores and transactions, but nobody can change anything with it: no lineup moves, no trades, no messages. The same is true of your username. Neither one gives access to your account.

That is also why Shoulda Started never asks for your password or a Sleeper login. If any site asks for your Sleeper password to show you stats, treat it with suspicion. The FAQ and the privacy page say exactly what this site reads and keeps.

When a lookup says "not found"

  • Check the spelling, and make sure it is the username, not the display name or team name.
  • No leagues listed? The site shows NFL leagues for the current and previous season. A league from further back, or one on a different Sleeper account, will not appear. Try the other account's username, or open the league by its ID.
  • A league ID that does not work is often copied with something extra, such as part of the web address. The ID is digits only.
  • Sleeper is not answering. If the error says the site cannot reach Sleeper, that is a connection problem, and trying again in a minute usually works.

What it cannot tell you

  • Sleeper changes its app and website from time to time, so the exact menu where the username or league ID appears may differ from what is described here.
  • A username or league ID only works for Sleeper. Leagues on other platforms have their own IDs, and this site cannot read them.
  • Having the ID does not mean every week has data. A season that has not started has no scores yet, and very old leagues may no longer be available from Sleeper.

Once you have your username, see what a finished report looks like in the sample report, or read how its numbers work in lineup efficiency and bench tax and the fantasy football glossary. If a number in your report looks wrong, the contact page explains how to report it with your league ID and the week.