diff --git a/src/id.zig b/src/id.zig
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..04f16018
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/id.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+
+// Generates incrementing prefixed integers, i.e. CTX-1, CTX-2, CTX-3.
+// Wraps to 0 on overflow.
+// Many caveats for using this:
+// - Not thread-safe.
+// - Information leaking
+// - The slice returned by next() is only valid:
+//   - while incrementor is valid
+//   - until the next call to next()
+// On the positive, it's zero allocation
+fn Incrementing(comptime T: type, comptime prefix: []const u8) type {
+    // +1 for the '-' separator
+    const NUMERIC_START = prefix.len + 1;
+    const MAX_BYTES = NUMERIC_START + switch (T) {
+        u8 => 3,
+        u16 => 5,
+        u32 => 10,
+        u64 => 20,
+        else => @compileError("Incrementing must be given an unsigned int type, got: " ++ @typeName(T)),
+    };
+
+    const buffer = blk: {
+        var b = [_]u8{0} ** MAX_BYTES;
+        @memcpy(b[0..prefix.len], prefix);
+        b[prefix.len] = '-';
+        break :blk b;
+    };
+
+    const PrefixIntType = @Type(.{ .Int = .{
+        .bits = NUMERIC_START * 8,
+        .signedness = .unsigned,
+    } });
+
+    const PREFIX_INT_CODE: PrefixIntType = @bitCast(buffer[0..NUMERIC_START].*);
+
+    return struct {
+        current: T = 0,
+        buffer: [MAX_BYTES]u8 = buffer,
+
+        const Self = @This();
+
+        pub fn next(self: *Self) []const u8 {
+            const current = self.current;
+            const n = current +% 1;
+            defer self.current = n;
+
+            const size = std.fmt.formatIntBuf(self.buffer[NUMERIC_START..], n, 10, .lower, .{});
+            return self.buffer[0 .. NUMERIC_START + size];
+        }
+
+        // extracts the numeric portion from an ID
+        pub fn parse(str: []const u8) !T {
+            if (str.len <= NUMERIC_START) {
+                return error.InvalidId;
+            }
+
+            if (@as(PrefixIntType, @bitCast(str[0..NUMERIC_START].*)) != PREFIX_INT_CODE) {
+                return error.InvalidId;
+            }
+
+            return std.fmt.parseInt(T, str[NUMERIC_START..], 10) catch {
+                return error.InvalidId;
+            };
+        }
+    };
+}
+
+fn uuidv4(hex: []u8) void {
+    std.debug.assert(hex.len == 36);
+
+    var bin: [16]u8 = undefined;
+    std.crypto.random.bytes(&bin);
+    bin[6] = (bin[6] & 0x0f) | 0x40;
+    bin[8] = (bin[8] & 0x3f) | 0x80;
+
+    const alphabet = "0123456789abcdef";
+
+    hex[8] = '-';
+    hex[13] = '-';
+    hex[18] = '-';
+    hex[23] = '-';
+
+    const encoded_pos = [16]u8{ 0, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34 };
+    inline for (encoded_pos, 0..) |i, j| {
+        hex[i + 0] = alphabet[bin[j] >> 4];
+        hex[i + 1] = alphabet[bin[j] & 0x0f];
+    }
+}
+
+const hex_to_nibble = [_]u8{0xff} ** 48 ++ [_]u8{
+    0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07,
+    0x08, 0x09, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff,
+    0xff, 0x0a, 0x0b, 0x0c, 0x0d, 0x0e, 0x0f, 0xff,
+    0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff,
+    0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff,
+    0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff,
+    0xff, 0x0a, 0x0b, 0x0c, 0x0d, 0x0e, 0x0f, 0xff,
+} ++ [_]u8{0xff} ** 152;
+
+const testing = std.testing;
+test "id: Incrementing.next" {
+    var id = Incrementing(u16, "IDX"){};
+    try testing.expectEqualStrings("IDX-1", id.next());
+    try testing.expectEqualStrings("IDX-2", id.next());
+    try testing.expectEqualStrings("IDX-3", id.next());
+
+    // force a wrap
+    id.current = 65533;
+    try testing.expectEqualStrings("IDX-65534", id.next());
+    try testing.expectEqualStrings("IDX-65535", id.next());
+    try testing.expectEqualStrings("IDX-0", id.next());
+}
+
+test "id: Incrementing.parse" {
+    const ReqId = Incrementing(u32, "REQ");
+    try testing.expectError(error.InvalidId, ReqId.parse(""));
+    try testing.expectError(error.InvalidId, ReqId.parse("R"));
+    try testing.expectError(error.InvalidId, ReqId.parse("RE"));
+    try testing.expectError(error.InvalidId, ReqId.parse("REQ"));
+    try testing.expectError(error.InvalidId, ReqId.parse("REQ-"));
+    try testing.expectError(error.InvalidId, ReqId.parse("REQ--1"));
+    try testing.expectError(error.InvalidId, ReqId.parse("REQ--"));
+    try testing.expectError(error.InvalidId, ReqId.parse("REQ-Nope"));
+    try testing.expectError(error.InvalidId, ReqId.parse("REQ-4294967296"));
+
+    try testing.expectEqual(0, try ReqId.parse("REQ-0"));
+    try testing.expectEqual(99, try ReqId.parse("REQ-99"));
+    try testing.expectEqual(4294967295, try ReqId.parse("REQ-4294967295"));
+}
+
+test "id: uuiv4" {
+    const expectUUID = struct {
+        fn expect(uuid: [36]u8) !void {
+            for (uuid, 0..) |b, i| {
+                switch (b) {
+                    '0'...'9', 'a'...'z' => {},
+                    '-' => {
+                        if (i != 8 and i != 13 and i != 18 and i != 23) {
+                            return error.InvalidEncoding;
+                        }
+                    },
+                    else => return error.InvalidHexEncoding,
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }.expect;
+
+    var arena = std.heap.ArenaAllocator.init(testing.allocator);
+    defer arena.deinit();
+    const allocator = arena.allocator();
+
+    var seen = std.StringHashMapUnmanaged(void){};
+    for (0..100) |_| {
+        var hex: [36]u8 = undefined;
+        uuidv4(&hex);
+        try expectUUID(hex);
+        try seen.put(allocator, try allocator.dupe(u8, &hex), {});
+    }
+    try testing.expectEqual(100, seen.count());
+}