uuid

For the creation of RFC9562 (formerly RFC4122) UUIDs

• Complete - Support for all RFC9562 UUID versions
• Cross-platform - Support for...
  • ESM & Common JS
  • Typescript
  • Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge
  • NodeJS
  • React Native / Expo
• Secure - Uses modern crypto API for random values
• Compact - Zero-dependency, tree-shakable
• CLI - uuid command line utility

[!NOTE] uuid@11 is now available: See the CHANGELOG for details. TL;DR:

• TypeScript support is now included (remove @types/uuid from your dependencies)
• Subtle changes to how the options arg is interpreted for v1(), v6(), and v7(). See details
• Binary UUIDs are now Uint8Arrays. (May impact callers of parse(), stringify(), or that pass an option#buf argument to v1()-v7().)

Quickstart

1. Install

1npm install uuid

2. Create a UUID

ESM-syntax (must use named exports):

1import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
2uuidv4(); // ⇨ '9b1deb4d-3b7d-4bad-9bdd-2b0d7b3dcb6d'

... CommonJS:

1const { v4: uuidv4 } = require('uuid');
2uuidv4(); // ⇨ '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.MAX	The max UUID string (all ones)	New in uuid@9.1
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.v1ToV6()	Create a version 6 UUID from a version 1 UUID	New in uuid@10
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.v6()	Create a version 6 (timestamp, reordered) UUID	New in uuid@10
uuid.v6ToV1()	Create a version 1 UUID from a version 6 UUID	New in uuid@10
uuid.v7()	Create a version 7 (Unix Epoch time-based) UUID	New in uuid@10
uuid.v8()	"Intentionally left blank"
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:

1import { NIL as NIL_UUID } from 'uuid';
2
3NIL_UUID; // ⇨ '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000'

uuid.MAX

The max UUID string (all ones).

Example:

1import { MAX as MAX_UUID } from 'uuid';
2
3MAX_UUID; // ⇨ 'ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff'

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:

1import { parse as uuidParse } from 'uuid';
2
3// Parse a UUID
4uuidParse('6ec0bd7f-11c0-43da-975e-2a8ad9ebae0b'); // ⇨
5// Uint8Array(16) [
6//   110, 192, 189, 127,  17,
7//   192,  67, 218, 151,  94,
8//    42, 138, 217, 235, 174,
9//    11
10// ]

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:

1import { stringify as uuidStringify } from 'uuid';
2
3const uuidBytes = Uint8Array.of(
4  0x6e,
5  0xc0,
6  0xbd,
7  0x7f,
8  0x11,
9  0xc0,
10  0x43,
11  0xda,
12  0x97,
13  0x5e,
14  0x2a,
15  0x8a,
16  0xd9,
17  0xeb,
18  0xae,
19  0x0b
20);
21
22uuidStringify(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 = (random) ]	RFC "node" field as an Array[6] of byte values (per 4.1.6)
[options.clockseq = (random)]	RFC "clock sequence" as a Number between 0 - 0x3fff
[options.msecs = (current time)]	RFC "timestamp" field (Number of milliseconds, unix epoch)
[options.nsecs = 0]	RFC "timestamp" field (Number of nanoseconds to add to msecs, should be 0-10,000)
[options.random = (random)]	Array of 16 random bytes (0-255) used to generate other fields, above
[options.rng]	Alternative to options.random, a Function that returns an Array of 16 random bytes (0-255)
[buffer]	Uint8Array or Uint8Array subtype (e.g. Node.js Buffer). If provided, binary UUID is written into the array, 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:

1import { v1 as uuidv1 } from 'uuid';
2
3uuidv1(); // ⇨ '2c5ea4c0-4067-11e9-9bdd-2b0d7b3dcb6d'

Example using options:

1import { v1 as uuidv1 } from 'uuid';
2
3const options = {
4  node: Uint8Array.of(0x01, 0x23, 0x45, 0x67, 0x89, 0xab),
5  clockseq: 0x1234,
6  msecs: new Date('2011-11-01').getTime(),
7  nsecs: 5678,
8};
9uuidv1(options); // ⇨ '710b962e-041c-11e1-9234-0123456789ab'

uuid.v1ToV6(uuid)

Convert a UUID from version 1 to version 6

1import { v1ToV6 } from 'uuid';
2
3v1ToV6('92f62d9e-22c4-11ef-97e9-325096b39f47'); // ⇨ '1ef22c49-2f62-6d9e-97e9-325096b39f47'

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

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

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

[!IMPORTANT] 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]	Uint8Array or Uint8Array subtype (e.g. Node.js Buffer). If provided, binary UUID is written into the array, 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:

1import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
2
3uuidv4(); // ⇨ '9b1deb4d-3b7d-4bad-9bdd-2b0d7b3dcb6d'

Example using predefined random values:

1import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
2
3const v4options = {
4  random: Uint8Array.of(
5    0x10,
6    0x91,
7    0x56,
8    0xbe,
9    0xc4,
10    0xfb,
11    0xc1,
12    0xea,
13    0x71,
14    0xb4,
15    0xef,
16    0xe1,
17    0x67,
18    0x1c,
19    0x58,
20    0x36
21  ),
22};
23uuidv4(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]	Uint8Array or Uint8Array subtype (e.g. Node.js Buffer). If provided, binary UUID is written into the array, 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:

1import { v5 as uuidv5 } from 'uuid';
2
3// Define a custom namespace.  Readers, create your own using something like
4// https://www.uuidgenerator.net/
5const MY_NAMESPACE = '1b671a64-40d5-491e-99b0-da01ff1f3341';
6
7uuidv5('Hello, World!', MY_NAMESPACE); // ⇨ '630eb68f-e0fa-5ecc-887a-7c7a62614681'

Example with RFC URL namespace:

1import { v5 as uuidv5 } from 'uuid';
2
3uuidv5('https://www.w3.org/', uuidv5.URL); // ⇨ 'c106a26a-21bb-5538-8bf2-57095d1976c1'

uuid.v6([options[, buffer[, offset]]])

Create an RFC version 6 (timestamp, reordered) UUID

This method takes the same arguments as uuid.v1().

1import { v6 as uuidv6 } from 'uuid';
2
3uuidv6(); // ⇨ '1e940672-c5ea-64c0-9b5d-ab8dfbbd4bed'

Example using options:

1import { v6 as uuidv6 } from 'uuid';
2
3const options = {
4  node: [0x01, 0x23, 0x45, 0x67, 0x89, 0xab],
5  clockseq: 0x1234,
6  msecs: new Date('2011-11-01').getTime(),
7  nsecs: 5678,
8};
9uuidv6(options); // ⇨ '1e1041c7-10b9-662e-9234-0123456789ab'

uuid.v6ToV1(uuid)

Convert a UUID from version 6 to version 1

1import { v6ToV1 } from 'uuid';
2
3v6ToV1('1ef22c49-2f62-6d9e-97e9-325096b39f47'); // ⇨ '92f62d9e-22c4-11ef-97e9-325096b39f47'

uuid.v7([options[, buffer[, offset]]])

Create an RFC version 7 (random) UUID

[options]	Object with one or more of the following properties:
[options.msecs = (current time)]	RFC "timestamp" field (Number of milliseconds, unix epoch)
[options.random = (random)]	Array of 16 random bytes (0-255) used to generate other fields, above
[options.rng]	Alternative to options.random, a Function that returns an Array of 16 random bytes (0-255)
[options.seq = (random)]	32-bit sequence Number between 0 - 0xffffffff. This may be provided to help ensure uniqueness for UUIDs generated within the same millisecond time interval. Default = random value.
[buffer]	Uint8Array or Uint8Array subtype (e.g. Node.js Buffer). If provided, binary UUID is written into the array, 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:

1import { v7 as uuidv7 } from 'uuid';
2
3uuidv7(); // ⇨ '01695553-c90c-705a-b56d-778dfbbd4bed'

uuid.v8()

"Intentionally left blank"

[!NOTE] Version 8 (experimental) UUIDs are "for experimental or vendor-specific use cases". The RFC does not define a creation algorithm for them, which is why this package does not offer a v8() method. The validate() and version() methods do work with such UUIDs, however.

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:

1import { validate as uuidValidate } from 'uuid';
2
3uuidValidate('not a UUID'); // ⇨ false
4uuidValidate('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.

1import { version as uuidVersion } from 'uuid';
2import { validate as uuidValidate } from 'uuid';
3
4function uuidValidateV4(uuid) {
5  return uuidValidate(uuid) && uuidVersion(uuid) === 4;
6}
7
8const v1Uuid = 'd9428888-122b-11e1-b85c-61cd3cbb3210';
9const v4Uuid = '109156be-c4fb-41ea-b1b4-efe1671c5836';
10
11uuidValidateV4(v4Uuid); // ⇨ true
12uuidValidateV4(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:

1import { version as uuidVersion } from 'uuid';
2
3uuidVersion('45637ec4-c85f-11ea-87d0-0242ac130003'); // ⇨ 1
4uuidVersion('6ec0bd7f-11c0-43da-975e-2a8ad9ebae0b'); // ⇨ 4

[!NOTE] This method returns 0 for the NIL UUID, and 15 for the MAX UUID.

Command Line

UUIDs can be generated from the command line using uuid.

1$ npx uuid
2ddeb27fb-d9a0-4624-be4d-4615062daed4

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

1$ npx uuid --help
2
3Usage:
4  uuid
5  uuid v1
6  uuid v3 <name> <namespace uuid>
7  uuid v4
8  uuid v5 <name> <namespace uuid>
9  uuid v7
10  uuid --help
11
12Note: <namespace uuid> may be "URL" or "DNS" to use the corresponding UUIDs
13defined by RFC9562

options Handling for Timestamp UUIDs

Prior to uuid@11, it was possible for options state to interfere with the internal state used to ensure uniqueness of timestamp-based UUIDs (the v1(), v6(), and v7() methods). Starting with uuid@11, this issue has been addressed by using the presence of the options argument as a flag to select between two possible behaviors:

• Without options: Internal state is utilized to improve UUID uniqueness.
• With options: Internal state is NOT used and, instead, appropriate defaults are applied as needed.

Support

Browsers: uuid builds are tested against the latest version of desktop Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. Mobile versions of these same browsers are expected to work but aren't currently tested.

Node: uuid builds are tested against node (LTS releases), plus one prior. E.g. node@18 is in maintainence mode, and node@22 is the current LTS release. So uuid supports node@16-node@22.

Typescript: TS versions released within the past two years are supported. source

Known issues

"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:

1import 'react-native-get-random-values';
2import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';

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