What determines a Qdrant point ID, and what constraints apply to point IDs?

Qdrant point IDs are supplied by the application and can be either 64-bit unsigned integers or UUIDs. The ID is the stable identifier used to address, update, retrieve, and delete a point; it does not determine vector similarity.

The choice should follow the identity model of the source system. Numeric IDs can be compact and convenient when the source database already uses numeric identifiers. UUIDs are often easier when identifiers are globally unique across services or generated before persistence.

The trade-off is mainly interoperability and operational simplicity. A UUID avoids coordination for distributed ID generation, while a numeric ID can be smaller and easier to integrate with existing systems. Do not use an embedding hash as an ID merely because it is deterministic unless that identity semantics is actually what you want.

A common mistake is treating the Qdrant ID as an internal auto-increment key. The application owns the identifier, and it should remain stable if the same logical entity is re-indexed.