CodeIgniter 4 UUID

UUID and ULID support for CodeIgniter 4 with seamless Model integration.

Installation

composer require michalsn/codeigniter4-uuid:^2.0

Configuration

Publish the configuration file:

php spark uuid:publish

This creates app/Config/Uuid.php where you can customize the defaults:

<?php

namespace Config;

use Michalsn\CodeIgniterUuid\Config\Uuid as BaseUuid;
use Michalsn\CodeIgniterUuid\Enums\UuidType;
use Michalsn\CodeIgniterUuid\Enums\UuidVersion;
use Symfony\Component\Uid\Uuid as SymfonyUuid;

class Uuid extends BaseUuid
{
    // Default UUID version for generation
    public UuidVersion $defaultVersion = UuidVersion::V7;

    // Default storage type: STRING (36 chars) or BYTES (16 bytes binary)
    public UuidType $defaultType = UuidType::STRING;

    // ...
}

Usage

Model Integration

Use the HasUuid trait to add UUID support to your models:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use CodeIgniter\Model;
use Michalsn\CodeIgniterUuid\Traits\HasUuid;

class ProjectModel extends Model
{
    use HasUuid;

    protected $table            = 'projects';
    protected $primaryKey       = 'id';
    protected $useAutoIncrement = false; // Required for UUID primary keys
    protected $returnType       = 'array';
    protected $allowedFields    = ['name', 'description'];

    // Define UUID fields using casts
    protected array $casts = [
        'id' => 'uuid',
    ];
}

The trait automatically:

• Generates UUIDs for the primary key on insert
• Handles UUID conversion for find(), update(), and delete() operations
• Supports both single and batch inserts

Note

If you already use initialize() method in your model, then you have to add $this->initUuid() call inside this method to make the UUID package work.

Cast Syntax

The uuid cast accepts optional parameters for version and storage type:

protected array $casts = [
    // Use defaults from config
    'id' => 'uuid',

    // Specify version only
    'id' => 'uuid[v4]',

    // Specify version and storage type
    'id' => 'uuid[v7,bytes]',

    // Use default version with specific storage type
    'id' => 'uuid[,bytes]',
];

UUID on Non-Primary Key Fields

You can use UUIDs on any field, not just primary keys:

class OrderModel extends Model
{
    use HasUuid;

    protected $table            = 'orders';
    protected $primaryKey       = 'id';
    protected $useAutoIncrement = true; // Regular auto-increment primary key
    protected $allowedFields    = ['tracking_id', 'customer_id', 'total'];

    protected array $casts = [
        'tracking_id' => 'uuid[v4]',
    ];
}

UUIDs are only auto-generated for the primary key field. For other fields, you must provide the value:

$order = [
    'tracking_id' => service('uuid')->uuid4()->toRfc4122(),
    'customer_id' => 123,
    'total'       => 99.99,
];

$model->insert($order);

Storage Types

String Storage (default)

Stores UUIDs as 36-character strings (e.g., 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000).

CREATE TABLE projects (
    id CHAR(36) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL
);

Binary Storage

Stores UUIDs as 16-byte binary for better performance and smaller storage footprint, but at the cost of readability.

protected array $casts = [
    'id' => 'uuid[v7,bytes]',
];

-- MySQL
CREATE TABLE projects (
    id BINARY(16) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL
);

-- PostgreSQL
CREATE TABLE projects (
    id BYTEA NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL
);

With binary storage:

• The model returns UUIDs as RFC4122 strings (human-readable)
• Internally converts to binary for database operations
• Supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite3, Oracle, and SQL Server

UUID Service

Generate UUIDs using the service:

// Convenience methods (recommended)
$uuid = service('uuid')->uuid4();
$uuid = service('uuid')->uuid7();
$ulid = service('uuid')->ulid();

// Or use generate() with string parameter
$uuid = service('uuid')->generate('v4');
$uuid = service('uuid')->generate('v7');

// Or use generate() with enum for type safety
use Michalsn\CodeIgniterUuid\Enums\UuidVersion;

$uuid = service('uuid')->generate(UuidVersion::V4);
$uuid = service('uuid')->generate(UuidVersion::ULID);

// Generate using default version from config
$uuid = service('uuid')->generate();

Working with UUIDs:

$uuid = service('uuid')->generate('v7');

// Convert to different formats
$uuid->toRfc4122();  // "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000"
$uuid->toBinary();   // 16-byte binary string
$uuid->toBase32();   // Crockford Base32 encoding
$uuid->toBase58();   // Base58 encoding

Parse existing UUIDs:

// From string (with or without hyphens)
$uuid = service('uuid')->fromString('550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000');
$uuid = service('uuid')->fromString('550e8400e29b41d4a716446655440000');

// From ULID string
$ulid = service('uuid')->fromString('01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV');

// From unknown format (string or binary)
$uuid = service('uuid')->fromValue($unknownValue);

Validate UUIDs:

// Check if a string is a valid UUID or ULID
service('uuid')->isValid('550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000'); // true
service('uuid')->isValid('01ARZ3NDEKTSV4RRFFQ69G5FAV');           // true (ULID)
service('uuid')->isValid('not-a-uuid');                           // false

Supported UUID Versions

Version	Description	Use Case
v1	Timestamp + MAC address	Legacy systems
v3	Namespace + name (MD5)	Deterministic UUIDs
v4	Random	General purpose
v5	Namespace + name (SHA1)	Deterministic UUIDs
v6	Timestamp-ordered (reordered v1)	Time-sortable
v7	Timestamp-ordered (Unix epoch)	Recommended - Time-sortable, database-friendly
ulid	Universally Unique Lexicographically Sortable Identifier	Time-sortable, shorter string representation

Recommendation: Use UUID v7 for new projects. It provides:

• Chronological ordering (great for database indexes)
• Better performance than v4 for sorted queries
• Standard UUID format compatibility

Migration from v1

Breaking Changes

1. Dependency Change: Switched from ramsey/uuid to symfony/uid
2. UUID v2 Removed: UUID v2 (DCE Security) is no longer supported
3. Removed Classes: UuidModel, UuidEntity, UuidCast (old location) removed
4. New Trait-Based Approach: Use HasUuid trait instead of extending UuidModel
5. Type-Safe Versions: Use UuidVersion and UuidType enum instead of string constants

Migration Steps

1. Update composer.json

{
    "require": {
        "michalsn/codeigniter4-uuid": "^2.0"
    }
}

Run composer update.

2. Update Model Classes

Before (v1):

use Michalsn\Uuid\UuidModel;

class ProjectModel extends UuidModel
{
    protected $uuidVersion = 'uuid7';
    protected $uuidFields  = ['id', 'tracking_id'];
}

After (v2):

use CodeIgniter\Model;
use Michalsn\CodeIgniterUuid\Traits\HasUuid;

class ProjectModel extends Model
{
    use HasUuid;

    protected $useAutoIncrement = false;

    protected array $casts = [
        'id'          => 'uuid[v7]',
        'tracking_id' => 'uuid[v4]',
    ];
}

3. Update Entity Classes

Before (v1):

use Michalsn\Uuid\UuidEntity;

class ProjectEntity extends UuidEntity
{
    protected $uuids = ['id', 'category_id'];
}

After (v2):

Entities no longer need special handling. Use standard CodeIgniter entities - the model's cast handles UUID conversion automatically.

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class ProjectEntity extends Entity
{
    // No special UUID configuration needed
}

4. Update Configuration

Before (v1):

// In model file
public $uuidVersion = 'uuid7';

After (v2):

// In config file
use Michalsn\CodeIgniterUuid\Enums\UuidVersion;

public UuidVersion $defaultVersion = UuidVersion::V7;

5. Update UUID String Conversion (Optional)

The old Ramsey UUID method names still work for backward compatibility:

// These work (backward compatible)
$uuid->toString();   // alias for toRfc4122()
$uuid->getBytes();   // alias for toBinary()
$uuid->getHex();     // alias for toHex()

// New Symfony UID methods (preferred)
$uuid->toRfc4122();
$uuid->toBinary();
$uuid->toHex();
$uuid->toBase32();
$uuid->toBase58();

6. Remove v2 Usage

If you were using UUID v2, you'll need to migrate to a different version (v4 or v7 recommended).

7. Accessing the Underlying Symfony UID (Optional)

If you need direct access to the underlying Symfony UID object:

$uuid        = service('uuid')->uuid7();
$symfonyUuid = $uuid->unwrap(); // Returns Symfony\Component\Uid\UuidV7

New Features in v2

• ULID Support: Generate and parse ULIDs alongside UUIDs
• SQLite Support: Binary UUID storage now works with SQLite3
• Backward Compatible API: Old Ramsey method names (toString(), getBytes()) still work

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.