Snowflake ID

lastmod 2025-05-23created 2024-05-181 edits

Snowflake IDs, or snowflakes, are a form of unique identifier used in distributed computing. The format was created by Twitter (now X) and is used for the IDs of tweets. It is popularly believed that every snowflake has a unique structure, so they took the name "snowflake ID". The format has been adopted by other companies, including Discord and Instagram. The Mastodon social network uses a modified version.

A way to create useful identifiers in large-scale distributed processing systems

See also

• GUID
• Serial number
• Disk UUID
• Product key
• Uniform Resource Name (URN)
• Universally Unique Lexicographically Sortable Identifier (ULID)
• Universally unique identifier (UUID

Favorite site

• Snowflake ID - Wikipedia
• What should I make IDs with - YouTube - sequence/auto-increment/UUID/UUIDv7/Snowflake ID
• How to create unique identifiers in distributed processing systems (twitter snowflake)