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 UMD builds
  • Node 8, 10, 12
  • Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, IE 11 browsers
  • Webpack and rollup.js module bundlers
• 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? Your code is probably okay, but check out Upgrading From uuid@3 for details.

Quickstart - Node.js/CommonJS

npm install uuid

Once installed, decide which type of UUID you need. RFC4122 provides for four versions, all of which are supported here. In order of popularity, they are:

• Version 4 (random) - Created from cryptographically-strong random values
• Version 1 (timestamp) - Created from the system clock (plus random values)
• Version 5 (namespace, SHA-1) - Created from user-supplied name and namespace strings
• Version 3 (namespace, MD5) - Like version 5, above, but with a poorer hash algorithm

Unsure which one to use? Use version 4 (random) unless you have a specific need for one of the other versions. See also this FAQ.

Create Version 4 (Random) UUIDs

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

Create Version 1 (Timestamp) UUIDs

import { v1 as uuidv1 } from 'uuid';
uuidv1(); // ⇨ '2c5ea4c0-4067-11e9-8b2d-1b9d6bcdbbfd'

Create Version 3 or Version 5 (Namespace) UUIDs

⚠️ Version 3 and Version 5 UUIDs are basically the same, differing only in the underlying hash algorithm. Note that per the RFC, "If backward compatibility is not an issue, SHA-1 [Version 5] is preferred."

⚠️ If using a custom namespace be sure to generate your own namespace UUID. You can grab one here.

import { v5 as uuidv5 } from 'uuid'; // For version 5
import { v3 as uuidv3 } from 'uuid'; // For version 3

// Using predefined DNS namespace (for domain names)
uuidv5('hello.example.com', uuidv5.DNS); // ⇨ 'fdda765f-fc57-5604-a269-52a7df8164ec'
uuidv3('hello.example.com', uuidv3.DNS); // ⇨ '9125a8dc-52ee-365b-a5aa-81b0b3681cf6'

// Using predefined URL namespace (for URLs)
uuidv5('http://example.com/hello', uuidv5.URL); // ⇨ '3bbcee75-cecc-5b56-8031-b6641c1ed1f1'
uuidv3('http://example.com/hello', uuidv3.URL); // ⇨ 'c6235813-3ba4-3801-ae84-e0a6ebb7d138'

// Using a custom namespace (See note, above, about generating your own
// namespace UUID)
const MY_NAMESPACE = '1b671a64-40d5-491e-99b0-da01ff1f3341';
uuidv5('Hello, World!', MY_NAMESPACE); // ⇨ '630eb68f-e0fa-5ecc-887a-7c7a62614681'
uuidv3('Hello, World!', MY_NAMESPACE); // ⇨ 'e8b5a51d-11c8-3310-a6ab-367563f20686'

API

Version 4 (Random)

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';

// Incantations
uuidv4();
uuidv4(options);
uuidv4(options, buffer, offset);

Generate and return a RFC4122 version 4 UUID.

• options - (Object) Optional uuid state to apply. Properties may include:
  • random - (Number[16]) Array of 16 numbers (0-255) to use in place of randomly generated values. Takes precedence over options.rng.
  • rng - (Function) Random # generator function that returns an Array[16] of byte values (0-255). Alternative to options.random.
• buffer - (Array | Buffer) Array or buffer where UUID bytes are to be written.
• offset - (Number) Starting index in buffer at which to begin writing.

Returns buffer, if specified, otherwise the string form of the UUID

Example: Generate string UUID with predefined random values

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'

Example: Generate two IDs in a single buffer

const buffer = new Array();
uuidv4(null, buffer, 0); // ⇨ 
  // [
  //   155, 29, 235,  77,  59,
  //   125, 75, 173, 155, 221,
  //    43, 13, 123,  61, 203,
  //   109
  // ]
uuidv4(null, buffer, 16); // ⇨ 
  // [
  //   155,  29, 235,  77,  59, 125,  75, 173,
  //   155, 221,  43,  13, 123,  61, 203, 109,
  //    27, 157, 107, 205, 187, 253,  75,  45,
  //   155,  93, 171, 141, 251, 189,  75, 237
  // ]

Version 1 (Timestamp)

import { v1 as uuidv1 } from 'uuid';

// Incantations
uuidv1();
uuidv1(options);
uuidv1(options, buffer, offset);

Generate and return a RFC4122 version 1 (timestamp) UUID.

• options - (Object) Optional uuid state to apply. Properties may include:
  • node - (Array) Node id as Array of 6 bytes (per 4.1.6). Default: Randomly generated ID. See note 1.
  • clockseq - (Number between 0 - 0x3fff) RFC clock sequence. Default: An internally maintained clockseq is used.
  • msecs - (Number) Time in milliseconds since unix Epoch. Default: The current time is used.
  • nsecs - (Number between 0-9999) additional time, in 100-nanosecond units. Ignored if msecs is unspecified. Default: internal uuid counter is used, as per 4.2.1.2.
  • random - (Number[16]) Array of 16 numbers (0-255) to use for initialization of node and clockseq as described above. Takes precedence over options.rng.
  • rng - (Function) Random # generator function that returns an Array[16] of byte values (0-255). Alternative to options.random.
• buffer - (Array | Buffer) Array or buffer where UUID bytes are to be written.
• offset - (Number) Starting index in buffer at which to begin writing.

Returns buffer, if specified, otherwise the string form of the UUID

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.

Example: Generate string UUID with fully-specified options

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'

Example: In-place generation of two binary IDs

// Generate two ids in an array
const arr = new Array();
uuidv1(null, arr, 0); // ⇨ 
  // [
  //    44,  94, 164, 192,  64,
  //   103,  17, 233, 146,  52,
  //    27, 157, 107, 205, 187,
  //   253
  // ]
uuidv1(null, arr, 16); // ⇨ 
  // [
  //    44, 94, 164, 192,  64, 103,  17, 233,
  //   146, 52,  27, 157, 107, 205, 187, 253,
  //    44, 94, 164, 193,  64, 103,  17, 233,
  //   146, 52,  27, 157, 107, 205, 187, 253
  // ]

Version 5 (Namespace)

import { v5 as uuidv5 } from 'uuid';

// Incantations
uuidv5(name, namespace);
uuidv5(name, namespace, buffer);
uuidv5(name, namespace, buffer, offset);

Generate and return a RFC4122 version 5 UUID.

• name - (String | Array[]) "name" to create UUID with
• namespace - (String | Array[]) "namespace" UUID either as a String or Array[16] of byte values
• buffer - (Array | Buffer) Array or buffer where UUID bytes are to be written.
• offset - (Number) Starting index in buffer at which to begin writing. Default = 0

Returns buffer, if specified, otherwise the string form of the UUID

Example:

uuidv5('hello world', MY_NAMESPACE); // ⇨ '9f282611-e0fd-5650-8953-89c8e342da0b'

Version 3 (Namespace)

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

import { v3 as uuidv3 } from 'uuid';

// Incantations
uuidv3(name, namespace);
uuidv3(name, namespace, buffer);
uuidv3(name, namespace, buffer, offset);

Generate and return a RFC4122 version 3 UUID.

• name - (String | Array[]) "name" to create UUID with
• namespace - (String | Array[]) "namespace" UUID either as a String or Array[16] of byte values
• buffer - (Array | Buffer) Array or buffer where UUID bytes are to be written.
• offset - (Number) Starting index in buffer at which to begin writing. Default = 0

Returns buffer, if specified, otherwise the string form of the UUID

Example:

uuidv3('hello world', MY_NAMESPACE); // ⇨ '042ffd34-d989-321c-ad06-f60826172424'

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

For usage in the browser uuid provides support for ECMAScript Modules (ESM) that enable tree-shaking for bundlers, like rollup.js (example) and webpack (example).

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

There is experimental native ESM support for the browser but it should not be considered ready for production use and may change or disappear in future releases.

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

npm run build

UMD Builds

If you want to load a minified UMD build directly in the browser you can use one of the popular npm CDNs:

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

or

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

Available bundles:

• https://unpkg.com/uuid@latest/dist/umd/
• https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/uuid@latest/dist/umd/

Upgrading From uuid@3

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

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. Hence, how we're now at uuid@7.

Deep Requires Now Deprecated

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

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

As of uuid@7 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

The Version 4 UUID method, v4() is no longer available as the default export. This usage pattern was deprecated in uuid@3.1 and has been removed in uuid@7.

Instead, require/import the exported v4 property, as noted above.

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