diff --git a/src/lake/Lake/Build/Trace.lean b/src/lake/Lake/Build/Trace.lean
index 891ee54d85..43a0052d4d 100644
--- a/src/lake/Lake/Build/Trace.lean
+++ b/src/lake/Lake/Build/Trace.lean
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ prelude
 public import Lean.Data.Json
 import Init.Data.Nat.Fold
 meta import Init.Data.Nat.Fold
-import Lake.Util.String
+public import Lake.Util.String
 public import Init.Data.String.Search
 public import Init.Data.String.Extra
 import Init.Data.Option.Coe
@@ -141,8 +141,8 @@ public def ofHex? (s : String) : Option Hash :=
   if s.utf8ByteSize = 16 && isHex s then ofHex s else none
 
 /-- Returns the hash as 16-digit lowercase hex string. -/
-public def hex (self : Hash) : String :=
-  lpad (String.ofList <| Nat.toDigits 16 self.val.toNat) '0' 16
+@[inline] public def hex (self : Hash) : String :=
+  lowerHexUInt64 self.val
 
 /-- Parse a hash from a string of decimal digits. -/
 public def ofDecimal? (s : String) : Option Hash :=
diff --git a/src/lake/Lake/Util/String.lean b/src/lake/Lake/Util/String.lean
index c0e6e7bff2..5fc925216f 100644
--- a/src/lake/Lake/Util/String.lean
+++ b/src/lake/Lake/Util/String.lean
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ module
 
 prelude
 public import Init.Data.ToString.Basic
+import Init.Data.UInt.Lemmas
 import Init.Data.String.Basic
 import Init.Data.Nat.Fold
 
@@ -33,3 +34,38 @@ public def isHex (s : String) : Bool :=
       65 ≤ c -- 'A'
     else
       false
+
+def lowerHexByte (n : UInt8) : UInt8 :=
+  if n ≤ 9 then
+    n + 48 -- + '0'
+  else
+    n + 87 -- + ('a' - 10)
+
+theorem isValidChar_of_lt_256 (h : n < 256) : isValidChar n :=
+  Or.inl <| Nat.lt_trans h (by decide)
+
+def lowerHexChar (n : UInt8) : Char :=
+  ⟨lowerHexByte n |>.toUInt32, isValidChar_of_lt_256 <|
+     UInt32.lt_iff_toNat_lt.mpr <| (lowerHexByte n).toNat_lt⟩
+
+public def lowerHexUInt64 (n : UInt64) : String :=
+  String.ofByteArray (ByteArray.emptyWithCapacity 16) ByteArray.isValidUTF8_empty
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 60 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 56 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 52 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 48 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 44 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 40 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 36 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 32 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 28 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 24 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 20 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 16 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 12 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 8 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n >>> 4 &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+  |>.push (lowerHexChar (n &&& 0xf).toUInt8)
+
+-- sanity check
+example : "0123456789abcdef" = lowerHexUInt64 0x0123456789abcdef := by decide