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

Every entity in Warden 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:

```text
role_01h455vb4pex5vsknk084sn02q
```

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

> **Auto-assigned by default.** Every store's `Create*` method generates a TypeID for you when the input's `ID` field is nil — see the auto-ID note in [Roles & Permissions](/docs/warden/authorization/roles-permissions). The DSL goes further: `.warden` source never references TypeIDs at all. Roles cite each other by slug (`role editor : viewer`), permissions by name (`grants = ["doc:read"]`), namespaces by path (`/eng/admin`). TypeIDs are an implementation detail you only see when you're calling the store directly or inspecting the database.

## 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/warden/id"

roleID       := id.New(id.PrefixRole)         // role_01h455vb...
permissionID := id.New(id.PrefixPermission)   // perm_01h455vb...
assignmentID := id.New(id.PrefixAssignment)   // asgn_01h455vb...
policyID     := id.New(id.PrefixPolicy)       // wpol_01h455vb...
```

Convenience constructors: `id.NewRoleID()`, `id.NewPermissionID()`, `id.NewAssignmentID()`, `id.NewPolicyID()`, `id.NewRelationID()`, `id.NewCheckLogID()`, `id.NewResourceTypeID()`, `id.NewConditionID()`.

### Parsing IDs

```go
parsed, err := id.Parse("role_01h455vb4pex5vsknk084sn02q")
parsed, err := id.ParseWithPrefix("role_01h455vb...", id.PrefixRole)  // validates prefix
parsed, err := id.ParseRoleID("role_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.PrefixRole` | `role` | Role |
| `id.PrefixPermission` | `perm` | Permission |
| `id.PrefixAssignment` | `asgn` | Assignment |
| `id.PrefixPolicy` | `wpol` | Policy |
| `id.PrefixRelation` | `rel` | Relation |
| `id.PrefixCheckLog` | `chklog` | Check log |
| `id.PrefixResourceType` | `rtype` | Resource type |
| `id.PrefixCondition` | `cond` | Condition |