# IDs

Which ids to use in a DB?

Recommended:

* CUID2, if being hardcore smarts
* if you don't need cross-host unique ids or security, use whatever is easiest in your language/framework not autoincrementing
* try to add Stripe 1-2 letters underscore for readability

## Options

* Autoincrementing Ids
  * easy to guess ids
  * cant generate the id before you write the data, ie distributed systems or clientside generated ids need full round trip to update local id
* UUID
  * 36 chars, 32 hexadecimal and 4 hyphens
  * don't use uuidv1-v5, uuidv8 is for custom uuids, v6 has MAC address privacy concerns but useable
  * **UUIDv7**
    * Starts with timestamp, so timesortable and good for db indexing,
* CUID2 (Security focus)
  * 25 chars, consisting of a mix of timestamp, counter, client fingerprint, and random values
    * contains only lowercase letters and the numbers
  * Shorter, more collision resistant, and more secure/leaks less info then uuid, infeasible to guess next id
* Nanoid (small focus)
  * 21 chars, use more letters than uuid
  * url safe, 2x as fast as uuid generation, not time ordered, as collision resistant as uuid
* ULID (Universally Unique Lexicographically Sortable Identifie)
  * Lexicographically sortable.
  * 26 characters