TNID

UUID-compatible IDs with names and compile-time type safety.

TNIDs are UUIDv8-compatible identifiers that include a human-readable name and can be strictly typed at compile time.

use tnid::{Case, NameStr, Tnid, TnidName};

struct User;
impl TnidName for User {
    const ID_NAME: NameStr<'static> = NameStr::new_const("user");
}

// Create a time-ordered ID (like UUIDv7)
let user_id = Tnid::<User>::new_time_ordered();
println!("{}", user_id);  // user.Br2flcNDfF6LYICnT

// Or a high-entropy ID (like UUIDv4)
let session_id = Tnid::<User>::new_high_entropy();

Why TNIDs?

• Type-safe: Tnid<User> and Tnid<Post> are different types. Accidentally passing a post ID to a user function? Compile error!
• Named: IDs include a human-readable name prefix. See user.Br2flcNDfF6LYICnT in your logs and instantly know what it is.
• UUID-compatible: TNIDs are valid UUIDv8s that work directly with Postgres UUID columns and UUID-expecting APIs.
• Compile-time validated: Try to create a TNID with name "INVALID"? Your code won't even compile.
• Sortable strings: Unlike UUID hex (case-insensitive mess), TNID strings sort correctly and have exactly one representation.

Status

⚠️ Beta: The TNID spec is still being finalized and shouldn't be relied on for production use yet. This implementation tracks the evolving spec.

A full specification site will be available at tnid.info.

Installation

cargo add tnid

Examples

Creating TNIDs

use tnid::{NameStr, Tnid, TnidName};
use tnid::{NameStr, Tnid, TnidName};

struct Post;
impl TnidName for Post {
    const ID_NAME: NameStr<'static> = NameStr::new_const("post");
}

// Time-ordered (v0) - sorts by creation time
let id = Tnid::<Post>::new_v0();

// High-entropy (v1) - maximum randomness
let id = Tnid::<Post>::new_v1();

String Representations

// TNID string format - human-readable, sortable, unambiguous
let tnid_str = id.to_tnid_string();
// "post.Br2flcNDfF6LYICnT" - you can SEE it's a post ID!

// UUID hex format - for databases and APIs that expect UUIDs
let uuid_str = id.to_uuid_string(Case::Lower);
// "cab1952a-f09d-86d9-928e-96ea03dc6af3" - works in Postgres, MySQL, etc.

// Time-ordered IDs sort correctly in BOTH representations!
let id1 = Tnid::<Post>::new_v0();
std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(10));
let id2 = Tnid::<Post>::new_v0();
assert!(id1.to_tnid_string() < id2.to_tnid_string());  // Sorts correctly!
assert!(id1.as_u128() < id2.as_u128());                // In all representations!

Parsing

// Parse from TNID string
let id = Tnid::<Post>::parse_tnid_string("post.Br2flcNDfF6LYICnT").unwrap();

// Parse from UUID string
let id = Tnid::<Post>::parse_uuid_string("cab1952a-f09d-86d9-928e-96ea03dc6af3").unwrap();

// From raw u128
let id = Tnid::<Post>::from_u128(0xCAB1952A_F09D_86D9_928E_96EA03DC6AF3).unwrap();

Type Safety in Action

struct User;
impl TnidName for User {
    const ID_NAME: NameStr<'static> = NameStr::new_const("user");
}

struct Post;
impl TnidName for Post {
    const ID_NAME: NameStr<'static> = NameStr::new_const("post");
}

fn delete_user(user_id: Tnid<User>) { /* ... */ }
fn delete_post(post_id: Tnid<Post>) { /* ... */ }

let user_id = Tnid::<User>::new_v0();
let post_id = Tnid::<Post>::new_v0();

delete_user(user_id);  // Works!
delete_post(post_id);  // Works!

// delete_user(post_id);  // Compile error! Can't pass a Post ID to a User function
// delete_post(user_id);  // Compile error! Type mismatch caught at compile time

Features

Feature	Default	Ready	Description
time	✓	stable	Time-based v0 TNID generation (like UUIDv7)
rand	✓	stable	Random v1 TNID generation (like UUIDv4)
encryption		beta	Encrypt v0 to v1 to hide timestamps from clients, decrypt on the backend
uuid		stable	Convert to/from the uuid crate's Uuid type
serde		alpha	serde::Serialize / serde::Deserialize for Tnid<Name>, DynamicTnid, UuidLike
sqlx-postgres		alpha	SQLx Type/Encode/Decode for Postgres UUID columns
sqlx-mysql		alpha	SQLx Type/Encode/Decode for MySQL/MariaDB (BINARY/BLOB/TEXT)
sqlx-sqlite		alpha	SQLx Type/Encode/Decode for SQLite (BLOB/TEXT)

Documentation

See the API documentation for complete details.

License

MIT