npmUtilsupdated 04 Aug 2026

uuid

Item: uuid
Rating: 4.3
Author: Keyoor

uuid generates and validates RFC 9562 UUIDs in JavaScript. It covers every UUID version the spec defines: random v4, timestamp-based v1, name-hashed v3/v5, and the newer sortable v6/v7. It runs in Node, browsers, and React Native with the same import, ships zero dependencies, is tree-shakable, and includes helpers to parse, stringify, and validate UUIDs plus a small CLI. It sits at the bottom of dependency trees across most of the npm registry.

uuid · v14.0.1 · 277.5M/wk · 3.7 kB min+gz · ★ 15,311 · pushed 07 Jul 2026 · uuidjs/uuid · docs · reviewed by Keyoor

Verdict

The default when you actually need spec-compliant UUIDs, especially v5 and v7. If all you ever call is v4, use the platform's crypto.randomUUID() and skip the dependency entirely.

API stability4/5Fourteen majors looks alarming, but recent bumps were support-matrix and packaging changes; the v1-v7 function signatures have been stable for years. The real break was v12 dropping CommonJS.

Docs4/5A single README documents every function with runnable examples, an options reference, and a known-issues section. No docs site, but this API surface does not need one.

Maintenance4/5Active through 2026 with releases tracking the Node LTS support window. Maintained by a small group under the uuidjs org rather than a company.

Ecosystem5/5Roughly 277 million weekly downloads and a transitive dependency of a huge share of the registry. Every tool and tutorial assumes it exists.

Use it if

You need time-sortable v7 UUIDs for database keys or name-based deterministic v5 UUIDs for idempotency, which crypto.randomUUID() does not cover
You want validation, version detection, and byte-level parse/stringify helpers alongside generation, with one API across Node and browsers
You are on an older Node or browser target where crypto.randomUUID() is not available but crypto.getRandomValues() is

Skip it if

You only need random v4 IDs: crypto.randomUUID() is built into Node and every modern browser, so the dependency buys you nothing
Your codebase still uses require(): uuid dropped CommonJS support in v12, so you either pin uuid@11 forever or migrate to ESM
You want short, dense, URL-friendly IDs: a 36-character UUID is the wrong shape and nanoid produces smaller IDs with less overhead

Setup reality

npm install uuid and you are done on Node and modern bundlers, with zero config and zero dependencies. The catches: since v12 the package is ESM-only, so require('uuid') in a CommonJS project fails and you must pin uuid@11 or switch to import. React Native and Expo lack crypto.getRandomValues(), so you must install react-native-get-random-values and import it before uuid or every call throws. Fourteen major versions also means old Stack Overflow answers reference APIs that moved.

Patterns

Generate a random v4 UUIDgenerate-random-uuid

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';

const id = uuidv4();
// 'b18794e8-5d0d-417c-b361-ba38e78411b4'

If v4 is all you use, crypto.randomUUID() does the same thing with no dependency.

Generate a time-sortable v7 UUIDgenerate-sortable-uuid

import { v7 as uuidv7 } from 'uuid';

const id = uuidv7();
// '01941f29-7c00-73e4-a310-744d2167fc5b'

v7 IDs sort by creation time, which makes them better database primary keys than random v4.

Derive a deterministic v5 UUID from a namedeterministic-uuid

import { v5 as uuidv5 } from 'uuid';

const MY_NAMESPACE = '1b671a64-40d5-491e-99b0-da01ff1f3341';
uuidv5('Hello, World!', MY_NAMESPACE);
// always '630eb68f-e0fa-5ecc-887a-7c7a62614681'

// RFC namespaces are built in:
uuidv5('https://www.w3.org/', uuidv5.URL);

Same name plus namespace always yields the same UUID; the RFC recommends v5 over v3 unless you need MD5 compatibility.

Validate a UUID and check its versionvalidate-uuid

import { validate, version } from 'uuid';

function isV4(id) {
  return validate(id) && version(id) === 4;
}

validate('not a UUID'); // false

validate() returns true for the NIL and MAX UUIDs too, so check version() when you need a specific one.

Convert between UUID strings and bytesuuid-to-bytes

import { parse, stringify } from 'uuid';

const bytes = parse('6ec0bd7f-11c0-43da-975e-2a8ad9ebae0b');
// Uint8Array(16)
const str = stringify(bytes);
// '6ec0bd7f-11c0-43da-975e-2a8ad9ebae0b'

Byte order follows the left-to-right hex pairs of the string form; both functions throw TypeError on invalid input.

Produce predictable UUIDs in testsdeterministic-test-ids

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';

const id = uuidv4({
  random: Uint8Array.of(
    0x10, 0x91, 0x56, 0xbe, 0xc4, 0xfb, 0xc1, 0xea,
    0x71, 0xb4, 0xef, 0xe1, 0x67, 0x1c, 0x58, 0x36
  ),
});
// '109156be-c4fb-41ea-b1b4-efe1671c5836'

Passing options to v1/v6/v7 disables the internal uniqueness state, so keep this trick inside tests.

Make uuid work in React Native / Exporeact-native-setup

// index.js: this import MUST come first
import 'react-native-get-random-values';
import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';

uuidv4();

Without the polyfill imported before uuid (including via transitive deps), every call throws 'getRandomValues() not supported'.

Generate UUIDs from the command linecli-generate

npx uuid        # v4 by default
npx uuid v7     # time-sortable
npx uuid v5 example.com DNS

The v5/v3 forms accept the literal strings URL or DNS as the namespace argument.

Convert between v1 and v6 UUIDsconvert-v1-v6

import { v1ToV6, v6ToV1 } from 'uuid';

v1ToV6('92f62d9e-22c4-11ef-97e9-325096b39f47');
// '1ef22c49-2f62-6d9e-97e9-325096b39f47'

v6 is a reordered v1 that sorts chronologically; the conversion is lossless in both directions.

Use the NIL and MAX sentinel UUIDsnil-max-constants

import { NIL, MAX } from 'uuid';

NIL; // '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000'
MAX; // 'ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff'

version() returns 0 for NIL and 15 for MAX, not a normal 1-7 value.

Alternatives

Package	Registry	Pick it when
nanoid	npm	You want shorter URL-safe random IDs and do not need RFC-compliant UUIDs
ulid	npm	You want 26-character lexicographically sortable IDs and the ULID format specifically over UUIDv7