UUID v7 Explained: Time-Ordered UUIDs

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Introduction

UUID v7 is a newer UUID version that combines time-ordering with randomness, offering the best of both worlds.

What Makes UUID v7 Special?

UUID v7 includes a Unix timestamp in milliseconds, making it time-ordered while maintaining randomness for uniqueness.

Advantages

  • Time-ordered: Can be sorted chronologically
  • Better privacy than v1: No MAC address exposure
  • Database-friendly: Improves index performance
  • Modern standard: Designed for current applications

Use Cases

  • Database primary keys needing time-ordering
  • Logging systems
  • Event tracking
  • Distributed systems requiring temporal ordering

Conclusion

UUID v7 is ideal when you need time-ordering without the privacy concerns of UUID v1.