UUID V7 for Ruby on Rails

uuid_v7 is a RubyGem specifically designed to provide UUID V7 support for Mysql and Sqlite databases in Ruby on Rails applications. This gem is particularly useful because these databases lack a native type for supporting UUIDs.

Note: PostgreSQL users do not require this gem as PostgreSQL supports UUID natively.

Mysql and SQLite

NOTE: Postgresql support natively UUID

• Converts UUID V7 CHAR(36) to a more efficient CHAR(32) and stores it in BINARY(16) for performance enhancement.
• Integrates seamlessly with ActiveRecord::Base, enabling UUID as the primary key for models.
• Migration helper for easy transition to UUIDs in existing Rails applications, specifically tailored for Mysql.

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'uuid_v7'

And then execute:

bundle install

Or install it yourself as:

gem install uuid_v7

Once installed, uuid_v7 extends ActiveRecord::Base to use UUID as the primary key.

Declare foreign key associations in your models as follows:

class Author < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :books
end

class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
  attribute :author_id, :uuid_v7
  belongs_to :author
end

If your primary key is not :id, run:

rails generate uuid_v7:install

And configure:

UuidV7.configure do |config|
  config.field_name = :uuid
end

By defaut the primary key type is overrided, if you want to prevent that behaviour toogle the strategy.

in `config/initializers/uuid_v7.rb``

UuidV7.configure do |config|
  config.implicit_inclusion_strategy = false
end

Then add manually to the model you want.

class Author < ActiveRecord::Base
  attribute :id, :uuid_v7, default: -> { SecureRandom.uuid_v7 }

  has_many :books
end

Recommendation: It's advised to use :id as the primary key with Rails for compatibility and convention.

UuidV7.configure do |config|
  config.throw_invalid_uuid = false
end

record_class.find_by(uuid: "invalid")
=> nil

UuidV7.configure do |config|
  config.throw_invalid_uuid = true
end

record_class.find_by(uuid: "invalid")
raise_error(UuidV7::Types::InvalidUUID, "invalid is not a valid UUID")

uuid_v7 provides a migration helper for Mysql. To add a UUID field to a model, run:

rails generate migration AddUuidToUser uuid:binary

Then use the helper in your migration file:

class AddUuidToUser < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.1]
  def change
    # Add the field :uuid
    populate_uuid_field(table_name: :users, column_name: :uuid)
  end
end

To override the default :id implementation in new migrations:

rails generate uuid_v7:migrations

A modified migration template will be available under lib/templates/active_record/migration/create_table_migration.rb.

Example of a generated model migration:

class AddAuthor < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.1]
  def change
    create_table :authors, id: false do |t|
      t.binary :id, limit: 16, null: false, index: { unique: true }, primary_key: true
      t.string :name
      t.timestamps
    end
  end
end

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at [https://github.com/joel/uuid_v7].

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies.

Then, run DEBUG=true bundle exec rake, this run the code against SQLite.

For Mysql, please setup the database as follow:

docker run --rm \
  --name mysql-uuid-v7-test \
  --publish 3308:3306 \
  --env MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD=yes \
  --detach mysql:latest

Create the databse:

docker exec mysql-uuid-v7-test bash -c "mysql -u root -e 'CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS uuid_v7_test;'"

and run

DEBUG=true MYSQL_HOST="0.0.0.0" MYSQL_PORT=3308 DATABASE=mysql bundle exec rake

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/joel/uuid_v7. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the code of conduct.

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.

Everyone interacting in the UuidV7 project's codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.