Changelog - 2026-08-18

OpaqueUidHelper

New Feature

In one line. @venizia/ignis-helpers gained a second ID generator, for IDs a person reads, types, or reads out loud.

What changed

• OpaqueUidHelper mints short IDs. Six characters by default, from Crockford's base32 - uppercase, without I, L, O and U.
• A prefix and a delimiter are independent toggles. { enable, value } each, so turning one off keeps its value for when you turn it back on. INV-7K2MQ9, INV7K2MQ9 and 7K2MQ9 are all configurations of the same helper.
• Four alphabets ship with it. CROCKFORD (32), BASE58 (58), NO_VOWEL (50, so no word can form), BASE62 (62).
• nextId() accepts an availability check. Return true to accept the drawn ID, false to draw another. A synchronous check keeps nextId() returning a string; an asynchronous one makes it a promise.
• It draws from crypto.getRandomValues. That works outside a secure context, unlike crypto.randomUUID, so the helper runs on a plain-http origin and inside a browser Worker.

Nothing changed for SnowflakeUidHelper. Pick between them on one question: may this ID reveal when it was created?

Helper	parseId() reads back	Pick it when
SnowflakeUidHelper	The exact millisecond, and the worker	The ID is a primary key and you want insert order for free
OpaqueUidHelper	Nothing	The ID leaves your system

Who is affected

• Existing applications. No action needed. This is additive, and SnowflakeUidHelper is untouched.
• Anyone printing an ID where a customer sees it. An invoice number built from a Snowflake ID tells the reader the millisecond you issued it. OpaqueUidHelper tells them nothing.

Read this before using the default length

Six Crockford characters is 2^30 combinations - an airline record locator. It works for airlines because a locator is scoped per carrier, recycled after the trip, and regenerated on conflict. Not because 2^30 is large.

WARNING

At six characters, a 1% chance of at least one collision arrives at roughly 4,600 IDs in one space, and 50% at roughly 38,000. This generator is probabilistic, and no length changes that.

A prefix partitions the space - INV-7K2MQ9 cannot collide with CUS-7K2MQ9 - so give each entity type its own. It does not make an ID unique inside that space. Put the column behind a unique index, and regenerate on the violation rather than checking first, which races.

See UID for the full options, the alphabets, and a worked retry example.