---
title: Identity (TypeID)
description: How Vault uses prefix-qualified, globally unique identifiers for every entity.
---

Every entity in Vault has a TypeID. TypeIDs are globally unique, sortable, URL-safe identifiers built on UUIDv7 with a human-readable prefix that tells you what kind of entity you're looking at.

A TypeID looks like this:

```
sec_01h455vb4pex5vsknk084sn02q
```

The `sec` prefix identifies this as a secret. The suffix is a base32-encoded UUIDv7 that encodes creation time, so IDs sort chronologically.

## The `id` package

The `id` package wraps the [TypeID Go library](https://github.com/jetify-com/typeid-go) (v2) with a single `ID` struct. All entity types share the same struct -- the prefix distinguishes them.

### Creating IDs

```go
import "github.com/xraph/vault/id"

secretID := id.New(id.PrefixSecret)    // sec_01h455vb...
flagID   := id.New(id.PrefixFlag)      // flag_01h455vb...
configID := id.New(id.PrefixConfig)    // cfg_01h455vb...
```

Convenience constructors: `id.NewSecretID()`, `id.NewFlagID()`, `id.NewRuleID()`, `id.NewConfigID()`, `id.NewOverrideID()`, `id.NewRotationID()`, `id.NewVersionID()`, `id.NewAuditID()`.

### Parsing IDs

```go
parsed, err := id.Parse("sec_01h455vb4pex5vsknk084sn02q")
parsed, err := id.ParseWithPrefix("sec_01h455vb...", id.PrefixSecret)  // validates prefix
parsed, err := id.ParseSecretID("sec_01h455vb...")                     // convenience
```

### Nil ID

```go
var empty id.ID
empty.IsNil()  // true
empty.String() // ""
id.Nil.IsNil() // true
```

### Database storage

`id.ID` implements `Scanner` and `driver.Valuer`. Stores as a string, returns `NULL` for nil IDs.

### JSON serialization

`id.ID` implements `TextMarshaler` and `TextUnmarshaler`. Nil IDs serialize as empty strings.

## Prefix reference

| Constant | Prefix | Entity |
|----------|--------|--------|
| `id.PrefixSecret` | `sec` | Secret |
| `id.PrefixFlag` | `flag` | Flag definition |
| `id.PrefixRule` | `rule` | Targeting rule |
| `id.PrefixConfig` | `cfg` | Config entry |
| `id.PrefixOverride` | `ovr` | Override |
| `id.PrefixRotation` | `rot` | Rotation policy |
| `id.PrefixVersion` | `ver` | Version record |
| `id.PrefixAudit` | `vaudit` | Audit entry |