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UUID Use Case

UUID Database ID

A database ID generated as a UUID keeps application code free of a central ID allocator and plays well with replication.

App-side or SQLStore as 128-bitIndex-friendly

Version

How many

Uppercase Hyphens Braces { }

Result

Generated locally with the Web Crypto API — nothing leaves your browser.

What Is UUID Database ID?

You can generate the ID in your application (so the row is fully formed before insert) or in SQL via a default.
Store it in the native UUID type (PostgreSQL) or BINARY(16) rather than a 36-character string to save space and speed comparisons.

How to generate

Generate with crypto.randomUUID() or uuid.uuid4().
Persist as UUID/BINARY(16), never CHAR(36) when you can avoid it.
Default the column so callers do not need to supply it.

Use Cases

JPA / Hibernate entities with @GeneratedValue UUID.
Django models using UUIDField.
Dapper / raw SQL inserts from application code.

Code Examples

Python

import uuid
id = uuid.uuid4()

PostgreSQL

SELECT gen_random_uuid();

Frequently Asked Questions

Should the DB or the app generate the ID?

Either works. App-side generation lets you reference the ID before the insert; SQL defaults are simpler but hide the value until after insert.

CHAR(36) or BINARY(16)?

BINARY(16) halves storage versus a 36-char string and compares faster; convert the hex to bytes on write.

Related tools

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