🚀 Stop Guessing Your IDs: Generate Smart, Human-Friendly Sequence Numbers in Laravel

Raju Koyilandy — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 09:18:43 +0000

Auto-increment IDs work for databases, but not for business-facing numbers like invoices, orders, or tickets. When you need readable formats, yearly resets, or branch-wise counters, naive solutions break fast under concurrency. hatchyu/laravel-sequence (GitHub repository) gives Laravel a transaction-safe way to generate smart, customizable sequence numbers.

Here’s what the package supports:

concurrency-safe increments
prefixes and zero padding
custom format templates
callback-based formatting
grouped counters by tenant, branch, year, day, or parent model
bounded ranges and cycling sequences
automatic assignment on Eloquent models
event dispatching when a number is reserved

If your app creates invoices, orders, tickets, admissions, customer codes, receipt numbers, or any other human-readable running number, this package is designed for that problem.

😵 Why Sequence Numbers Break in Real Laravel Apps

A lot of projects start with something like this:

$next = Invoice::max('number') + 1;

or:

$next = Invoice::count() + 1;

That works in development. It even works in production for a while.

Then traffic increases.

Two requests arrive at nearly the same moment.
Both read the same current value.
Both generate the same next number.
Now you have duplicate invoice numbers.

This gets even worse when you need:

separate numbering per tenant
yearly resets
date-based invoice formats
zero-padded output
multiple app servers
queue workers writing records in parallel

What sounds like “just increment a number” quickly becomes a data integrity problem.

🛡️ How `laravel-sequence` Solves It

By default, this package stores sequence state in a dedicated sequences table and uses:

a unique key on (name, group_by)
row-level locking with SELECT ... FOR UPDATE
database transactions

That means the package does not “guess” the next number. It reserves it safely inside the database transaction.

That is the difference between:

“probably fine”
and “safe under concurrency”

📦 Installation

Install the package:

composer require hatchyu/laravel-sequence

Run migrations:

php artisan migrate

Optionally publish the config:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=config --provider="Hatchyu\\Sequence\\SequenceServiceProvider"

Optionally publish the migration:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=sequence-migrations --provider="Hatchyu\\Sequence\\SequenceServiceProvider"

✅ Supported Stack

PHP ^8.3
Laravel ^10 || ^11 || ^12 || ^13

⚠️ The Most Important Rule

Always generate sequence numbers inside a DB transaction.

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

$number = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('invoice')->next();
});

If you call it outside a transaction, the package throws an exception on purpose. That guardrail prevents subtle concurrency bugs.

1️⃣ Generate Your First Sequence

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

$value = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('orders')->next();
});

// 1, 2, 3, ...

The sequence('orders') call identifies the counter by name. Every time you call ->next() inside a transaction, the package reserves the next number for that sequence.

2️⃣ Add Prefixes and Zero Padding

$value = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('customer_code')
        ->prefix('CU')
        ->padLength(4)
        ->next();
});

// CU0001, CU0002, CU0003...

This is perfect for:

customer codes
admission numbers
product references
batch IDs

3️⃣ Add Dynamic Output Without Resetting the Counter

Sometimes you want the current year in the visible output:

$value = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('batch_code')
        ->prefix(date('Y'))
        ->padLength(3)
        ->next();
});

// 2026001, 2026002, ...

Important detail:

prefix() changes display only.
It does not create a separate counter for each year.

If you want the counter to reset per year, you must group the sequence as well.

4️⃣ Reset the Counter by Year, Month, Day, Tenant, or Branch

This is where the package gets really useful.

Reset every year

$value = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('invoice')
        ->prefix(date('Y'))
        ->padLength(4)
        ->groupByYear()
        ->next();
});

Now you get:

20260001
20260002
next year: 20270001

Reset every day

$value = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('daily_invoice')
        ->groupByDay()
        ->format('INV/' . date('Ymd') . '/?')
        ->padLength(4)
        ->next();
});

// INV/20260322/0001, INV/20260322/0002, ...

Separate numbering per tenant or branch

$value = DB::transaction(function () use ($tenantId, $branchId) {
    return sequence('receipt_number')
        ->groupBy($tenantId, $branchId)
        ->padLength(5)
        ->next();
});

Each (tenantId, branchId) pair gets its own isolated counter.

Group by models

If the grouping context is already represented by persisted Eloquent models:

$value = DB::transaction(function () use ($tenant, $branch) {
    return sequence('branch_invoice')
        ->belongsTo($tenant, $branch)
        ->padLength(4)
        ->next();
});

belongsTo() is just an expressive alias for groupBy() when grouping by related models.

5️⃣ Format the Output with Templates

You can define a format string with a ? placeholder:

$value = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('invoice')
        ->format('INV/' . date('Ymd') . '/?')
        ->padLength(4)
        ->next();
});

// INV/20260322/0001

This is a great fit when you want:

INV/20260322/0001
PO/2026/0012
ORD-ONLINE-000045

Again, formatting controls the final string only. It does not change the underlying counter scope unless you also use groupBy().

6️⃣ Format the Output with a Callback

Template strings are useful, but sometimes you need more control.

This package also supports callback-based formatting:

use Illuminate\Support\Str;

$value = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('tickets')
        ->padLength(4)
        ->format(fn (string $number): string => "TIC-{$number}-" . Str::random(3))
        ->next();
});

That makes it possible to build custom outputs like:

TIC-0001-XYZ
SUP-0042-ABC
BOOK-0008-WEB

The callback receives the already padded numeric part, which means you can focus entirely on assembling the final display string.

7️⃣ Use Custom Increment Steps

The default step is 1, but sometimes you want a different increment:

$first = DB::transaction(fn () => sequence('batch')->step(5)->next());
$second = DB::transaction(fn () => sequence('batch')->step(5)->next());
$third = DB::transaction(fn () => sequence('batch')->step(5)->next());

// 1, 6, 11

This can be useful in specialized numbering systems where increments are intentionally spaced.

8️⃣ Configure Ranges, Overflow, and Cycling

The package supports minimum and maximum bounds.

Bounded range

use Hatchyu\Sequence\Support\SequenceConfig;

$value = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('coupon')
        ->config(fn (SequenceConfig $config) => $config->bounded(1000, 1999))
        ->next();
});

Once the sequence reaches the maximum, it throws a SequenceOverflowException.

Cycle when max is reached

$value = DB::transaction(function () {
    return sequence('session_code')
        ->config(fn (SequenceConfig $config) => $config->cyclingRange(1, 10))
        ->next();
});

This gives:

1, 2, 3 ... 10, 1, 2 ...

Full range control

You can also use:

range(int $min, ?int $max = null)
bounded(int $min, int $max)
cyclingRange(int $min, int $max)
cycle()
throwOnOverflow()

9️⃣ Auto-Assign Sequence Numbers on Eloquent Models

One of my favorite parts of the package is the HasSequence trait.

Instead of manually assigning numbers everywhere, you can define sequence columns directly on the model.

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Hatchyu\Sequence\Traits\HasSequence;
use Hatchyu\Sequence\Support\SequenceConfig;
use Hatchyu\Sequence\Support\SequenceColumnCollection;

class CustomerProfile extends Model
{
    use HasSequence;

    protected function sequenceColumns(): SequenceColumnCollection
    {
        return SequenceColumnCollection::collection()
            ->column(
                'customer_code',
                SequenceConfig::create()
                    ->prefix('CU')
                    ->padLength(4)
                    ->groupBy($this->branch_id)
            );
    }
}

Now when a record is created inside a transaction, the package assigns the sequence automatically during the creating event.

If the target column already has a non-empty value, the trait leaves it untouched instead of overwriting it.

Model example with formatted invoice numbers

protected function sequenceColumns(): SequenceColumnCollection
{
    return SequenceColumnCollection::collection()
        ->column(
            'invoice_number',
            SequenceConfig::create()
                ->groupByDay()
                ->format('INV/' . date('Ymd') . '/?')
                ->padLength(4)
        );
}

Multiple sequence columns on the same model

protected function sequenceColumns(): SequenceColumnCollection
{
    return SequenceColumnCollection::collection()
        ->column(
            'admission_number',
            SequenceConfig::create()
                ->prefix('ADM')
                ->padLength(3)
        )
        ->column(
            'attendance_number',
            SequenceConfig::create()
                ->groupBy($this->tenant_id, $this->academic_year, $this->class_id)
        );
}

⚙️ Configuration Options

After publishing the config file, you can customize:

return [
    'table' => env('SEQUENCE_TABLE', 'sequences'),
    'connection' => env('SEQUENCE_CONNECTION', null),
    'model' => Hatchyu\Sequence\Models\Sequence::class,
    'strict_mode' => env('SEQUENCE_STRICT_MODE', true),
];

Here is what each option controls:

`table`

The database table that stores counters.

Default:

'table' => 'sequences'

`connection`

The database connection used by the sequence model.

Default:

'connection' => null

If you set this, make sure the surrounding transaction uses the same connection.

`model`

The Eloquent model class used for sequence storage.

Default:

'model' => Hatchyu\Sequence\Models\Sequence::class

If you replace it, your model must:

extend Eloquent Model
point to a table with name, group_by, and last_number
preserve the unique behavior required for safe concurrency

`strict_mode`

When enabled, the package validates:

sequence name length
group token length
configured model validity

This helps fail early with clear exceptions instead of vague database errors.

🧩 Complete API Overview

Direct sequence builder methods

sequence(string $name)
groupBy(int|string|Model ...$groups)
belongsTo(Model ...$models)
groupByYear()
groupByMonth()
groupByDay()
prefix(string $prefix)
padLength(int $length)
step(int $step)
format(string|Closure $format)
config(Closure $callback)
next(): string

`SequenceConfig` methods

SequenceConfig::create()
prefix(string $prefix)
format(string|Closure $format)
padLength(int $length)
step(int $step)
groupBy(int|string|Model ...$groups)
belongsTo(Model ...$models)
groupByYear()
groupByMonth()
groupByDay()
range(int $min, ?int $max = null)
bounded(int $min, int $max)
cyclingRange(int $min, int $max)
cycle()
throwOnOverflow()

📣 Event Support

Whenever a sequence number is reserved, the package dispatches:

Hatchyu\Sequence\Events\SequenceAssigned

You can listen for it like this:

use Hatchyu\Sequence\Events\SequenceAssigned;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Event;

Event::listen(SequenceAssigned::class, function (SequenceAssigned $event) {
    logger()->info('Sequence assigned', [
        'name' => $event->name,
        'rawNumber' => $event->rawNumber,
        'sequenceNumber' => $event->sequenceNumber,
        'groupByKey' => $event->groupByKey,
    ]);
});

This is useful for:

audit logs
business activity tracking
debugging sequence behavior
emitting domain events or notifications

🤔 Why Not Just Use `COUNT()` or `MAX()`?

The real advantage is simple: it solves the edge cases that usually appear later in production, when fixing them is much more painful.

1. It is transaction-safe

This package is designed around database transactions and row-level locking. That is the core feature.

2. It supports grouped counters cleanly

Many apps need:

yearly invoice resets
branch-wise receipt numbers
tenant-specific order sequences
class-wise attendance numbers

This package handles those use cases without custom ad hoc logic.

3. It separates counter scope from display format

That sounds subtle, but it matters a lot.

You can:

show the year in the output
reset by day
group by tenant
pad numbers for readability

without mixing display concerns with storage concerns.

4. It supports model-level automation

HasSequence reduces repetitive boilerplate and keeps numbering logic close to the model that owns it.

5. It has flexible formatting

You are not limited to one rigid pattern.

You can use:

prefix + padding
format templates
full callback formatting

6. It handles overflow scenarios

You can choose whether a sequence should:

throw on overflow
cycle back to the minimum

That is especially useful for coupon ranges, batch windows, seat ranges, or limited code spaces.

7. It is package-friendly for real business apps

This package fits common business needs:

invoices
admissions
patient IDs
receipts
order references
internal tracking codes

🌟 Why Use This Package Over Simpler Alternatives

Different approaches solve different problems. Some tools focus only on:

auto-incrementing IDs
slug generation
simple prefixes
per-model counters without real concurrency guarantees

What makes hatchyu/laravel-sequence on GitHub stand out is the combination of:

transaction-first design
explicit transaction enforcement
row-level locking
grouped counters
formatting templates
callback formatting
sequence ranges and cycling
Eloquent trait integration
event dispatching
clean, focused API

In short, this package is built not just for “increment a number,” but for business-safe numbering in Laravel.

🏷️ Real-World Laravel Use Cases

Invoices

DB::transaction(fn () => sequence('invoice')
    ->groupByYear()
    ->format('INV/' . date('Y') . '/?')
    ->padLength(5)
    ->next()
);

Support tickets

DB::transaction(fn () => sequence('tickets')
    ->padLength(5)
    ->format(fn (string $number): string => "TIC-{$number}")
    ->next()
);

School admission numbers

DB::transaction(fn () => sequence('admission')
    ->groupBy(date('Y'))
    ->prefix('ADM' . date('Y'))
    ->padLength(4)
    ->next()
);

Branch-wise receipt numbers

DB::transaction(fn () => sequence('receipts')
    ->groupBy($branchId)
    ->prefix('RCPT-')
    ->padLength(6)
    ->next()
);

Daily token numbers

DB::transaction(fn () => sequence('daily_tokens')
    ->groupByDay()
    ->padLength(3)
    ->next()
);

🧠 Best Practices

Always wrap generation inside DB::transaction().
Keep transactions short to reduce lock contention.
Use groupBy() whenever numbering should reset by context.
Use prefix() and format() for display only.
Match the transaction connection with sequence.connection if you customize it.
Prefer model-based sequence definitions when the rule belongs to the model lifecycle.

🎯 Final Thoughts

Sequence generation looks like a tiny feature until it breaks in production.

Then it becomes a trust problem:

duplicate invoice numbers
broken audit trails
manual corrections
support tickets
accounting headaches

hatchyu/laravel-sequence on GitHub exists to solve that problem properly in Laravel.

If you need sequence numbers that are:

readable
grouped
customizable
safe under concurrency
ready for real production workflows

this package gives you a clean and reliable way to do it.

Reliable sequence generation is one of those backend details that looks small until the day it causes duplicate invoices, broken receipts, or manual cleanup work.

Forem: Raju Koyilandy

🚀 Stop Guessing Your IDs: Generate Smart, Human-Friendly Sequence Numbers in Laravel

😵 Why Sequence Numbers Break in Real Laravel Apps

🛡️ How laravel-sequence Solves It

📦 Installation

✅ Supported Stack

⚠️ The Most Important Rule

1️⃣ Generate Your First Sequence

2️⃣ Add Prefixes and Zero Padding

3️⃣ Add Dynamic Output Without Resetting the Counter

4️⃣ Reset the Counter by Year, Month, Day, Tenant, or Branch

Reset every year

Reset every day

Separate numbering per tenant or branch

Group by models

5️⃣ Format the Output with Templates

6️⃣ Format the Output with a Callback

7️⃣ Use Custom Increment Steps

8️⃣ Configure Ranges, Overflow, and Cycling

Bounded range

Cycle when max is reached

Full range control

9️⃣ Auto-Assign Sequence Numbers on Eloquent Models

Model example with formatted invoice numbers

Multiple sequence columns on the same model

⚙️ Configuration Options

table

connection

model

strict_mode

🧩 Complete API Overview

Direct sequence builder methods

SequenceConfig methods

📣 Event Support

🤔 Why Not Just Use COUNT() or MAX()?

1. It is transaction-safe

2. It supports grouped counters cleanly

3. It separates counter scope from display format

4. It supports model-level automation

5. It has flexible formatting

6. It handles overflow scenarios

7. It is package-friendly for real business apps

🌟 Why Use This Package Over Simpler Alternatives

🏷️ Real-World Laravel Use Cases

Invoices

Support tickets

School admission numbers

Branch-wise receipt numbers

Daily token numbers

🧠 Best Practices

🎯 Final Thoughts

🛡️ How `laravel-sequence` Solves It

`table`

`connection`

`model`

`strict_mode`

`SequenceConfig` methods

🤔 Why Not Just Use `COUNT()` or `MAX()`?