Mongoose-Serial

A powerful Mongoose plugin for generating auto-incrementing serial numbers with flexible formatting options. Perfect for invoices, orders, tickets, and any document that needs unique sequential identifiers.

Features

• 🚀 Auto-incrementing serial numbers with customizable formatting
• 📅 Time-based counter reset (yearly, monthly, daily, hourly, or never)
• 🎨 Flexible formatting with prefixes, separators, and zero-padding
• 🔧 TypeScript support with full type definitions
• 🛡️ Robust error handling and validation
• 📦 Zero dependencies (except Mongoose)
• ⚡ High performance with optimized database queries

Installation

npm install mongoose-serial

Quick Start

Basic Usage

import mongoose from 'mongoose';
import mongooseSerial from 'mongoose-serial';

const invoiceSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  serialNumber: String,
  amount: Number,
  customer: String,
});

// Apply the plugin
invoiceSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, { field: 'serialNumber' });

const Invoice = mongoose.model('Invoice', invoiceSchema);

// Create invoices
const invoice1 = new Invoice({ amount: 100, customer: 'John Doe' });
const invoice2 = new Invoice({ amount: 200, customer: 'Jane Smith' });

await invoice1.save(); // serialNumber: "0000000001"
await invoice2.save(); // serialNumber: "0000000002"

Advanced Usage with Time-based Reset

import mongoose from 'mongoose';
import mongooseSerial, { InitCounter } from 'mongoose-serial';

const invoiceSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  serialNumber: String,
  amount: Number,
  customer: String,
});

// Monthly reset with prefix and custom formatting
invoiceSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, {
  field: 'serialNumber',
  prefix: 'INV',
  separator: '-',
  digits: 5,
  initCounter: InitCounter.MONTHLY,
  ignoreIncrementOnEdit: true
});

const Invoice = mongoose.model('Invoice', invoiceSchema);

// In March 2024
const invoice1 = new Invoice({ amount: 100, customer: 'John' });
await invoice1.save(); // serialNumber: "INV-2024-03-00001"

// In April 2024 (counter resets)
const invoice2 = new Invoice({ amount: 200, customer: 'Jane' });
await invoice2.save(); // serialNumber: "INV-2024-04-00001"

API Reference

Plugin Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
field	string	"serialNumber"	The field name to store the serial number
prefix	string	""	Prefix for the serial number
separator	string	"-"	Separator between parts
digits	number	10	Number of digits for the counter (1-20)
initCounter	InitCounter	InitCounter.NEVER	When to reset the counter
startFrom	number	1	Starting counter value (also used when counter resets)
ignoreIncrementOnEdit	boolean	true	Skip increment on document updates
getCurrentDate	() => Date	() => new Date()	Custom date function (useful for testing)

InitCounter Enum

enum InitCounter {
  NEVER = "never",     // Never reset (default)
  YEARLY = "yearly",   // Reset every year
  MONTHLY = "monthly", // Reset every month
  DAILY = "daily",     // Reset every day
  HOURLY = "hourly"    // Reset every hour
}

Examples

Different Time Periods

// Yearly reset
invoiceSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, {
  field: 'serialNumber',
  prefix: 'INV',
  initCounter: InitCounter.YEARLY
});
// Result: "INV-2024-00001", "INV-2024-00002", "INV-2025-00001"

// Daily reset
orderSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, {
  field: 'orderNumber',
  prefix: 'ORD',
  initCounter: InitCounter.DAILY
});
// Result: "ORD-2024-03-15-00001", "ORD-2024-03-16-00001"

Custom Formatting

// Custom separator and digits
ticketSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, {
  field: 'ticketNumber',
  prefix: 'TKT',
  separator: '/',
  digits: 6,
  initCounter: InitCounter.MONTHLY
});
// Result: "TKT/2024/03/000001"

Custom Starting Counter

// Start numbering from a specific value (e.g., continuing from a legacy system)
invoiceSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, {
  field: 'serialNumber',
  prefix: 'INV',
  separator: '-',
  digits: 5,
  startFrom: 1000
});
// Result: "INV-01000", "INV-01001", "INV-01002"

// Works with time-based resets too — counter resets back to startFrom
invoiceSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, {
  field: 'serialNumber',
  prefix: 'INV',
  separator: '-',
  digits: 5,
  initCounter: InitCounter.YEARLY,
  startFrom: 500
});
// 2024: "INV-2024-00500", "INV-2024-00501"
// 2025: "INV-2025-00500", "INV-2025-00501"  ← resets to 500, not 1

Without Prefix or Date

// Simple counter without prefix or date
simpleSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, {
  field: 'id',
  digits: 8
});
// Result: "00000001", "00000002"

TypeScript Support

Full TypeScript support with comprehensive type definitions:

import mongooseSerial, { SerialOptions, InitCounter } from 'mongoose-serial';

const options: SerialOptions = {
  field: 'serialNumber',
  prefix: 'INV',
  initCounter: InitCounter.MONTHLY,
  digits: 5
};

invoiceSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, options);

Error Handling

The plugin includes robust error handling:

try {
  invoiceSchema.plugin(mongooseSerial, { field: 'serialNumber' });
} catch (error) {
  console.error('Plugin configuration error:', error.message);
}

Common validation errors:

• Field must exist in schema
• Field must be of type String
• Digits must be between 1 and 20
• Separator must be a single character
• startFrom must be a non-negative integer

Performance Considerations

• Uses efficient database queries with sorting
• Minimal memory footprint
• Optimized for high-concurrency scenarios
• Safe for concurrent document creation

Migration from v1.0.x

The new version is mostly backward compatible, but some options have been renamed:

// Old (v1.0.x)
schema.plugin(mongooseSerial, {
  initCount: "monthly"  // ❌ Deprecated
});

// New (v1.1.x)
schema.plugin(mongooseSerial, {
  initCounter: InitCounter.MONTHLY  // ✅ New
});

Contributing

• Fork this Repo first
• Clone your Repo
• Install dependencies by $ npm install
• Checkout a feature branch
• Feel free to add your features
• Make sure your features are fully tested
• Publish your local branch, Open a pull request
• Enjoy hacking <3

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2021 KHALIL MANSOURI

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.