django-sequences

What it is and what it does

django-sequences solves a compliance problem in Django applications: by default, Django's auto-incrementing primary keys can have gaps when transactions roll back, because most databases don't roll back their sequence counters for performance reasons. This happens on PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, Oracle, and SQLite. For use cases like accounting or invoicing where sequential, gapless numbering is legally or operationally required, these gaps are unacceptable.

The package provides a get_next_value function and a Sequence class that generate gapless integer sequences by leveraging database transaction integrity. You call get_next_value within a transaction, save its return value to the database in the same transaction, and the package guarantees no gaps. It supports multiple independent sequences, custom starting values, and looping sequences. The trade-off is that transactions calling get_next_value for the same sequence are serialized—other callers block until the transaction completes—so you should keep such transactions short.

Use it for

• Generate invoice numbers that must be sequential and gapless for accounting compliance and audit trails.
• Create sequential case or ticket IDs in support systems where gaps would confuse users or violate reporting requirements.
• Produce sequential receipt or order numbers in point-of-sale or e-commerce systems with strict numbering policies.
• Maintain gapless sequence counters for regulatory or financial reporting where auditors expect continuous numbering.
• Batch-generate a range of sequential IDs for bulk operations using get_next_values while preserving transaction guarantees.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.

Install

django-sequences on PyPI

Before you install

Low friction install with a single runtime dependency on django. Maintenance status is aging—last release was 2024-01-31 and last commit 2026-01-05—but the repository remains active and unarchived with 246 stars.

Requires Django 3.2+ and Python 3.8+. Guarantees apply only when get_next_value is called and its return value is saved to the database within the same transaction.

License in practice

Released under BSD-3-Clause, a permissive open-source license. You may use, modify, and distribute the package freely in both commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install django-sequences

# Add to INSTALLED_APPS: "sequences.apps.SequencesConfig"
# Run: django-admin migrate

from django.db import transaction
from sequences import get_next_value

with transaction.atomic():
    Invoice.objects.create(number=get_next_value("invoice_numbers"))

Package facts

Evidence: django_sequences-3.0-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More Database packages

See also django-fernet-fields-v2 · django-db-connection-pool · django-add-default-value · django-pgmigrate · SQLAlchemy-JSONField · djfernet · django-cleanup · django-safedelete · fractional-indexing · django-dirtyfields