uuid

What is uuid?

The uuid npm package is used to generate universally unique identifiers (UUIDs), which are 128-bit numbers used to uniquely identify information in computer systems. The package supports multiple versions of UUIDs, each with different methods of generation based on requirements such as randomness, time-based generation, and name-based generation using namespaces.

What are uuid's main functionalities?

Generate UUID v1

Generates a version 1 UUID based on timestamp and MAC address of the host machine, ensuring temporal uniqueness.

const { v1: uuidv1 } = require('uuid');
console.log(uuidv1());

Generate UUID v4

Generates a version 4 UUID using random or pseudo-random numbers, providing a higher degree of randomness.

const { v4: uuidv4 } = require('uuid');
console.log(uuidv4());

Generate UUID v3

Generates a version 3 UUID using MD5 hashing of a namespace identifier and a name.

const { v3: uuidv3 } = require('uuid');
const MY_NAMESPACE = '1b671a64-40d5-491e-99b0-da01ff1f3341';
console.log(uuidv3('Hello, World!', MY_NAMESPACE));

Generate UUID v5

Generates a version 5 UUID using SHA-1 hashing of a namespace identifier and a name, providing better uniqueness and lower collision probability than v3.

const { v5: uuidv5 } = require('uuid');
const MY_NAMESPACE = '1b671a64-40d5-491e-99b0-da01ff1f3341';
console.log(uuidv5('Hello, World!', MY_NAMESPACE));

Other packages similar to uuid

shortid

ShortId generates short, non-sequential, URL-friendly unique ids. Unlike uuid, which generates 128-bit long UUIDs, ShortId creates shorter ids, which can be easier to use in URLs or when space is limited. However, ShortId is not recommended for security-critical applications due to the shorter identifier length and lower entropy.

nanoid

NanoId is a tiny, secure, URL-friendly, unique string ID generator for JavaScript. It is similar to uuid v4 in that it provides a way to generate random IDs, but it offers a customizable alphabet and length, allowing for a wider range of possible IDs. NanoId claims to be faster and more compact than UUID, making it a good alternative for many applications.

cuid

CUID (Collision-resistant Unique Identifier) is another alternative for generating unique identifiers. It is designed to be more collision-resistant than uuid and is optimized for horizontal scaling and sequential lookup performance. CUIDs are longer than UUIDs and contain a timestamp, which can be useful for sorting records in a database.

README

uuid

For the creation of RFC4122 UUIDs

• Complete - Support for RFC4122 version 1, 3, 4, and 5 UUIDs
• Cross-platform - Support for ...
  • CommonJS, ECMAScript Modules and CDN builds
  • Node 8, 10, 12, 14
  • Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, IE 11 browsers
  • Webpack and rollup.js module bundlers
  • React Native / Expo
• Secure - Cryptographically-strong random values
• Small - Zero-dependency, small footprint, plays nice with "tree shaking" packagers
• CLI - Includes the uuid command line utility

Upgrading from uuid@3.x? Your code is probably okay, but check out Upgrading From uuid@3.x for details.

Quickstart

To create a random UUID...

1. Install

npm install uuid

2. Create a UUID (ES6 module syntax)

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
uuidv4(); // ⇨ '9b1deb4d-3b7d-4bad-9bdd-2b0d7b3dcb6d'

... or using CommonJS syntax:

const { v4: uuidv4 } = require('uuid');
uuidv4(); // ⇨ '1b9d6bcd-bbfd-4b2d-9b5d-ab8dfbbd4bed'

For timestamp UUIDs, namespace UUIDs, and other options read on ...

API Summary

uuid.NIL	The nil UUID string (all zeros)	New in uuid@8.3
uuid.parse()	Convert UUID string to array of bytes	New in uuid@8.3
uuid.stringify()	Convert array of bytes to UUID string	New in uuid@8.3
uuid.v1()	Create a version 1 (timestamp) UUID
uuid.v3()	Create a version 3 (namespace w/ MD5) UUID
uuid.v4()	Create a version 4 (random) UUID
uuid.v5()	Create a version 5 (namespace w/ SHA-1) UUID
uuid.validate()	Test a string to see if it is a valid UUID	New in uuid@8.3
uuid.version()	Detect RFC version of a UUID	New in uuid@8.3

API

uuid.NIL

The nil UUID string (all zeros).

Example:

import { NIL as NIL_UUID } from 'uuid';

NIL_UUID; // ⇨ '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000'

uuid.parse(str)

Convert UUID string to array of bytes

str	A valid UUID String
returns	Uint8Array[16]
throws	TypeError if str is not a valid UUID

Note: Ordering of values in the byte arrays used by parse() and stringify() follows the left ↠ right order of hex-pairs in UUID strings. As shown in the example below.

Example:

import { parse as uuidParse } from 'uuid';

// Parse a UUID
const bytes = uuidParse('6ec0bd7f-11c0-43da-975e-2a8ad9ebae0b');

// Convert to hex strings to show byte order (for documentation purposes)
[...bytes].map((v) => v.toString(16).padStart(2, '0')); // ⇨ 
  // [
  //   '6e', 'c0', 'bd', '7f',
  //   '11', 'c0', '43', 'da',
  //   '97', '5e', '2a', '8a',
  //   'd9', 'eb', 'ae', '0b'
  // ]

uuid.stringify(arr[, offset])

Convert array of bytes to UUID string

arr	Array-like collection of 16 values (starting from offset) between 0-255.
[offset = 0]	Number Starting index in the Array
returns	String
throws	TypeError if a valid UUID string cannot be generated

Note: Ordering of values in the byte arrays used by parse() and stringify() follows the left ↠ right order of hex-pairs in UUID strings. As shown in the example below.

Example:

import { stringify as uuidStringify } from 'uuid';

const uuidBytes = [
  0x6e,
  0xc0,
  0xbd,
  0x7f,
  0x11,
  0xc0,
  0x43,
  0xda,
  0x97,
  0x5e,
  0x2a,
  0x8a,
  0xd9,
  0xeb,
  0xae,
  0x0b,
];

uuidStringify(uuidBytes); // ⇨ '6ec0bd7f-11c0-43da-975e-2a8ad9ebae0b'

uuid.v1([options[, buffer[, offset]]])

Create an RFC version 1 (timestamp) UUID

[options]	Object with one or more of the following properties:
[options.node ]	RFC "node" field as an Array[6] of byte values (per 4.1.6)
[options.clockseq]	RFC "clock sequence" as a Number between 0 - 0x3fff
[options.msecs]	RFC "timestamp" field (Number of milliseconds, unix epoch)
[options.nsecs]	RFC "timestamp" field (Number of nanseconds to add to msecs, should be 0-10,000)
[options.random]	Array of 16 random bytes (0-255)
[options.rng]	Alternative to options.random, a Function that returns an Array of 16 random bytes (0-255)
[buffer]	Array | Buffer If specified, uuid will be written here in byte-form, starting at offset
[offset = 0]	Number Index to start writing UUID bytes in buffer
returns	UUID String if no buffer is specified, otherwise returns buffer
throws	Error if more than 10M UUIDs/sec are requested

Note: The default node id (the last 12 digits in the UUID) is generated once, randomly, on process startup, and then remains unchanged for the duration of the process.

Note: options.random and options.rng are only meaningful on the very first call to v1(), where they may be passed to initialize the internal node and clockseq fields.

Example:

import { v1 as uuidv1 } from 'uuid';

uuidv1(); // ⇨ '2c5ea4c0-4067-11e9-8bad-9b1deb4d3b7d'

Example using options:

import { v1 as uuidv1 } from 'uuid';

const v1options = {
  node: [0x01, 0x23, 0x45, 0x67, 0x89, 0xab],
  clockseq: 0x1234,
  msecs: new Date('2011-11-01').getTime(),
  nsecs: 5678,
};
uuidv1(v1options); // ⇨ '710b962e-041c-11e1-9234-0123456789ab'

uuid.v3(name, namespace[, buffer[, offset]])

Create an RFC version 3 (namespace w/ MD5) UUID

API is identical to v5(), but uses "v3" instead.

⚠️ Note: Per the RFC, "If backward compatibility is not an issue, SHA-1 [Version 5] is preferred."

uuid.v4([options[, buffer[, offset]]])

Create an RFC version 4 (random) UUID

[options]	Object with one or more of the following properties:
[options.random]	Array of 16 random bytes (0-255)
[options.rng]	Alternative to options.random, a Function that returns an Array of 16 random bytes (0-255)
[buffer]	Array | Buffer If specified, uuid will be written here in byte-form, starting at offset
[offset = 0]	Number Index to start writing UUID bytes in buffer
returns	UUID String if no buffer is specified, otherwise returns buffer

Example:

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';

uuidv4(); // ⇨ '1b9d6bcd-bbfd-4b2d-9b5d-ab8dfbbd4bed'

Example using predefined random values:

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';

const v4options = {
  random: [
    0x10,
    0x91,
    0x56,
    0xbe,
    0xc4,
    0xfb,
    0xc1,
    0xea,
    0x71,
    0xb4,
    0xef,
    0xe1,
    0x67,
    0x1c,
    0x58,
    0x36,
  ],
};
uuidv4(v4options); // ⇨ '109156be-c4fb-41ea-b1b4-efe1671c5836'

uuid.v5(name, namespace[, buffer[, offset]])

Create an RFC version 5 (namespace w/ SHA-1) UUID

name	String | Array
namespace	String | Array[16] Namespace UUID
[buffer]	Array | Buffer If specified, uuid will be written here in byte-form, starting at offset
[offset = 0]	Number Index to start writing UUID bytes in buffer
returns	UUID String if no buffer is specified, otherwise returns buffer

Note: The RFC DNS and URL namespaces are available as v5.DNS and v5.URL.

Example with custom namespace:

import { v5 as uuidv5 } from 'uuid';

// Define a custom namespace.  Readers, create your own using something like
// https://www.uuidgenerator.net/
const MY_NAMESPACE = '1b671a64-40d5-491e-99b0-da01ff1f3341';

uuidv5('Hello, World!', MY_NAMESPACE); // ⇨ '630eb68f-e0fa-5ecc-887a-7c7a62614681'

Example with RFC URL namespace:

import { v5 as uuidv5 } from 'uuid';

uuidv5('https://www.w3.org/', uuidv5.URL); // ⇨ 'c106a26a-21bb-5538-8bf2-57095d1976c1'

uuid.validate(str)

Test a string to see if it is a valid UUID

str	String to validate
returns	true if string is a valid UUID, false otherwise

Example:

import { validate as uuidValidate } from 'uuid';

uuidValidate('not a UUID'); // ⇨ false
uuidValidate('6ec0bd7f-11c0-43da-975e-2a8ad9ebae0b'); // ⇨ true

Using validate and version together it is possible to do per-version validation, e.g. validate for only v4 UUIds.

import { version as uuidVersion } from 'uuid';
import { validate as uuidValidate } from 'uuid';

function uuidValidateV4(uuid) {
  return uuidValidate(uuid) && uuidVersion(uuid) === 4;
}

const v1Uuid = 'd9428888-122b-11e1-b85c-61cd3cbb3210';
const v4Uuid = '109156be-c4fb-41ea-b1b4-efe1671c5836';

uuidValidateV4(v4Uuid); // ⇨ true
uuidValidateV4(v1Uuid); // ⇨ false

uuid.version(str)

Detect RFC version of a UUID

str	A valid UUID String
returns	Number The RFC version of the UUID
throws	TypeError if str is not a valid UUID

Example:

import { version as uuidVersion } from 'uuid';

uuidVersion('45637ec4-c85f-11ea-87d0-0242ac130003'); // ⇨ 1
uuidVersion('6ec0bd7f-11c0-43da-975e-2a8ad9ebae0b'); // ⇨ 4

Command Line

UUIDs can be generated from the command line using uuid.

$ uuid
ddeb27fb-d9a0-4624-be4d-4615062daed4

The default is to generate version 4 UUIDS, however the other versions are supported. Type uuid --help for details:

$ uuid --help

Usage:
  uuid
  uuid v1
  uuid v3 <name> <namespace uuid>
  uuid v4
  uuid v5 <name> <namespace uuid>
  uuid --help

Note: <namespace uuid> may be "URL" or "DNS" to use the corresponding UUIDs
defined by RFC4122

ECMAScript Modules

This library comes with ECMAScript Modules (ESM) support for Node.js versions that support it (example) as well as bundlers like rollup.js (example) and webpack (example) (targeting both, Node.js and browser environments).

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
uuidv4(); // ⇨ '1b9d6bcd-bbfd-4b2d-9b5d-ab8dfbbd4bed'

To run the examples you must first create a dist build of this library in the module root:

npm run build

CDN Builds

ECMAScript Modules

To load this module directly into modern browsers that support loading ECMAScript Modules you can make use of jspm:

<script type="module">
  import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'https://jspm.dev/uuid';
  console.log(uuidv4()); // ⇨ '1b9d6bcd-bbfd-4b2d-9b5d-ab8dfbbd4bed'
</script>

UMD

To load this module directly into older browsers you can use the UMD (Universal Module Definition) builds from any of the following CDNs:

Using UNPKG:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/uuid@latest/dist/umd/uuidv4.min.js"></script>

Using jsDelivr:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/uuid@latest/dist/umd/uuidv4.min.js"></script>

Using cdnjs:

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/uuid/8.1.0/uuidv4.min.js"></script>

These CDNs all provide the same uuidv4() method:

<script>
  uuidv4(); // ⇨ '55af1e37-0734-46d8-b070-a1e42e4fc392'
</script>

Methods for the other algorithms (uuidv1(), uuidv3() and uuidv5()) are available from the files uuidv1.min.js, uuidv3.min.js and uuidv5.min.js respectively.

"getRandomValues() not supported"

This error occurs in environments where the standard crypto.getRandomValues() API is not supported. This issue can be resolved by adding an appropriate polyfill:

React Native / Expo

1. Install react-native-get-random-values
2. Import it before uuid. Since uuid might also appear as a transitive dependency of some other imports it's safest to just import react-native-get-random-values as the very first thing in your entry point:

import 'react-native-get-random-values';
import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';

Note: If you are using Expo, you must be using at least react-native-get-random-values@1.5.0 and expo@39.0.0.

Web Workers / Service Workers (Edge <= 18)

In Edge <= 18, Web Crypto is not supported in Web Workers or Service Workers and we are not aware of a polyfill (let us know if you find one, please).

Upgrading From uuid@7.x

Only Named Exports Supported When Using with Node.js ESM

uuid@7.x did not come with native ECMAScript Module (ESM) support for Node.js. Importing it in Node.js ESM consequently imported the CommonJS source with a default export. This library now comes with true Node.js ESM support and only provides named exports.

Instead of doing:

import uuid from 'uuid';
uuid.v4();

you will now have to use the named exports:

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
uuidv4();

Deep Requires No Longer Supported

Deep requires like require('uuid/v4') which have been deprecated in uuid@7.x are no longer supported.

Upgrading From uuid@3.x

"Wait... what happened to uuid@4.x - uuid@6.x?!?"

In order to avoid confusion with RFC version 4 and version 5 UUIDs, and a possible version 6, releases 4 thru 6 of this module have been skipped.

Deep Requires Now Deprecated

uuid@3.x encouraged the use of deep requires to minimize the bundle size of browser builds:

const uuidv4 = require('uuid/v4'); // <== NOW DEPRECATED!
uuidv4();

As of uuid@7.x this library now provides ECMAScript modules builds, which allow packagers like Webpack and Rollup to do "tree-shaking" to remove dead code. Instead, use the import syntax:

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
uuidv4();

... or for CommonJS:

const { v4: uuidv4 } = require('uuid');
uuidv4();

Default Export Removed

uuid@3.x was exporting the Version 4 UUID method as a default export:

const uuid = require('uuid'); // <== REMOVED!

This usage pattern was already discouraged in uuid@3.x and has been removed in uuid@7.x.

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Changelog

8.3.2 (2020-12-08)

Bug Fixes

• lazy load getRandomValues (#537) (16c8f6d), closes #536