Team generator — split a name list into random teams
Paste a list of names, choose how many teams you want, and tap Split. The names are shuffled and dealt out so every team has the same size, give or take one. The result lives in the link — copy it into the group chat and everyone sees the same teams, not a fresh shuffle. Reshuffle if the first draw pairs the two people who always end up together. Fourteen people on the Monday standup need to become a frontend and a backend team. Paste all fourteen names, set Teams to 2, tap Split — two cards of seven appear, nobody hand-picked by a manager, no spreadsheet. Paste the URL into Slack and the same two cards open on every laptop. For a class of 28 into project groups, set Teams to 7 and you have four per group before the chairs stop scraping. Teams are numbered rather than named, so nobody argues about who is "Team A". Copy teams gives you a plain-text list to paste anywhere. The same widget still picks a single name — switch to Single pick — and it works for anything from three names up to a few thousand.
Frequently asked questions
How does it decide who goes in which team?
The list is shuffled with a random seed, then dealt round-robin into the number of teams you chose: first name to Team 1, second to Team 2, and so on. That guarantees sizes differ by at most one — 14 names into 3 teams gives 5, 5 and 4. Every arrangement is equally likely, and the seed comes from the browser's cryptographic random source, so there is no pattern to game.
Will my teammates see the same teams if I share the link?
Yes. The link carries the names, the team count and the shuffle seed, so anyone who opens it sees exactly the teams you saw — not a new random draw. That is the point of the link: paste it into Slack or a class chat and it becomes the record. Tap Reshuffle and a new seed replaces the old one in the URL.
Can I ask for teams of a fixed size instead of a fixed number of teams?
Not directly yet — you set the number of teams, from 2 to 9. Divide your headcount by the size you want and round: 20 people in groups of about 4 means 5 teams. Because the deal is even, you get teams of exactly 4 when the numbers divide, and sizes off by one when they do not.
Does it work for picking a random sports team, like a random NFL team?
No. This splits a list of people into groups; it does not know any franchise names. If you paste 32 NFL teams into it and set Teams to 2, you get two lists of 16 franchises, which is probably not what you wanted. For picking one entry from a list, switch to Single pick.