Pikaid Specifications v1.0.0

Small · Sortable · Secure IDs

Introduction

Pikaid (pronounced “Pika ID”) is a 26-character, lowercase Base36 identifier designed to be:

• Small: same length as ULID (26 chars) but more entropy-packed.
• Sortable: lexicographically ordered by creation timestamp without extra fields.
• Secure: 96 bits of cryptographic randomness to make collisions practically impossible.

Use pikaid when you need a modern alternative to UUID or ULID that is equally compact, more entropy-rich, and uses a standard, familiar alphabet.

1. Identifier Structure

• Timestamp (7 chars): seconds since 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z (UTC), Base36-encoded and left-padded to 7 chars.
• Randomness (19 chars): 96 bits from a cryptographically secure generator, Base36-encoded and left-padded to 19 chars.

2. Why Each Design Decision?

2.1 Alphabet: Standard Base36, Lowercase

• Decision: use 0–9 and a–z, all lowercase.
• Rationale: every developer knows Base36; no custom lookup tables; consistent with hex defaults.
• Benefit: Pikaid values sort correctly in any database (MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, etc.) using native lexicographical ordering—no casting or extra functions needed.

2.2 Timestamp Length: 7 Characters

• Decision: 7 Base36 chars representing seconds since epoch UTC, left padded.
• Rationale: seconds precision for accurate sort order; 7 chars covers up to year ~4463, far beyond any foreseeable need. Left padded to keep proper sorting.

2.3 Randomness: 96 Bits

• Decision: 12 bytes → exactly 96 bits of entropy, encoded in 19 Base36 chars.
• Rationale: 2⁹⁶ ≈ 7.9×10²⁸ possibilities; collision birthday bound ≈2⁴⁸ (~2.8×10¹⁴ IDs) is far beyond realistic generation rates.

2.4 No Separators or Checksum

• Decision: a continuous 26-char string without dashes or extra checks.
• Rationale: minimal overhead; 96-bit entropy makes accidental valid-typo collisions virtually zero.

2.5 Implicit Versioning by Length

• Decision: rely on total length (26) to identify v1. Eventual future versions with different bit budgets will simply differ in length.
• Rationale: avoids in-band flags; parser distinguishes by known lengths.

3. Parsing & Validation

To parse a pikaid string:

1. Length check: must be exactly 26 chars.
2. Character check: match /^[0-9a-z]{26}$/.
3. Split: first 7 chars = timestamp, next 19 chars = randomness.
4. Decode timestamp: Base36 → integer ms → timestamp object.
5. Error: throw or reject on any invalid input.

4. Why Choose pikaid Over Others?

• Compactness: 26 chars vs 36 for UUID, equal to ULID.
• Entropy: 96 bits vs 80 bits for ULID, 122 bits for UUIDv4 (but UUIDv4 is not sortable).
• Alphabet: standard Base36 vs custom/Base32 (ULID) or hex+dashes (UUID).
• Sortability: built-in timestamp prefix vs UUIDv1’s interleaved timestamp or UUIDv7.
• URL Safety & Universal Compatibility: only lowercase alphanumeric ensures natural safety in URLs, filenames, QR codes, and JSON, with pure implementations possible in any language (PHP, JS, Python, Go, etc.) without external dependencies.
• Implementation Simplicity: minimal spec, no separators or checksums, easy to implement and maintain across different environments.

5. Comparison Table

Format	Length	Sortable	Random Bits	Alphabet	Valid Until (ms)	Notes
pikaid	26	Yes	96	Base36 (lowercase)	~year 4463	Compact, high entropy, standard alphabet
UUIDv1	36	Yes	14	hex + dashes	N/A	low randomness, MAC-based
UUIDv4	36	No	122	hex + dashes	N/A	high entropy, not time-sortable
UUIDv6	36	Yes	62	hex + dashes	N/A	reordered-v1, moderate entropy
UUIDv7	36	Yes	74	hex + dashes	N/A	timestamp + random, standardizing trend
ULID	26	Yes	80	Crockford Base32	~year 10889	sortable, less randomness, custom set
NanoID	21	No	~128	custom 64-char set	N/A	very high entropy, not sorted by time

Please refer to individual specs for exact entropy calculations and alphabet details.

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With these clear rules and rationale, any implementation, regardless of language, can generate and consume pikaid values that interoperate seamlessly.

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Extra

Benchmark

PHP 100 000 iteration

Library	Implementation	Total ms	µs/op	Ratio
Pikaid	pikaid/pikaid-php	78.75	0.787	1.00
UUIDv1	ramsey/uuid	641.41	6.414	8.15
UUIDv4	ramsey/uuid	129.63	1.296	1.65
UUIDv6	ramsey/uuid	670.78	6.708	8.52
UUIDv7	ramsey/uuid	260.71	2.607	3.31
ULID	robinvdvleuten/ulid	192.79	1.928	2.45
NanoID	hidehalo/nanoid-php	192.79	1.928	2.45