diff --git a/crates/lance-context-core/Cargo.toml b/crates/lance-context-core/Cargo.toml
index 1c99f876..d621686c 100644
--- a/crates/lance-context-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/lance-context-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ serde_json = "1"
 futures = "0.3"
 tokio = { version = "1", features = ["sync", "time"] }
 tracing = "0.1"
-uuid = { version = "1.20.0", features = ["v4", "v5"] }
+uuid = { version = "1.20.0", features = ["v4", "v5", "v7"] }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tempfile = "3"
diff --git a/crates/lance-context-core/src/id.rs b/crates/lance-context-core/src/id.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1571025a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/lance-context-core/src/id.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+//! Identifier helpers for context and rollout records.
+//!
+//! Records are keyed by string ids that callers frequently generate on the
+//! write path. Using a **time-ordered** UUID (rather than a fully random
+//! [`Uuid::new_v4`]) means the lexical/byte order of ids matches creation
+//! order, which keeps appends clustered at the tail of an index instead of
+//! scattering them randomly — friendlier to Lance's on-write indexing and to
+//! any downstream B-tree/LSM key space.
+//!
+//! UUIDv7 (RFC 9562) lays out a 48-bit Unix-millisecond timestamp in the high
+//! bits followed by random bits, so ids are sortable by time. Ordering across
+//! the same millisecond (and across processes/machines) is only approximate:
+//! the sub-millisecond bits are random, so two ids minted in the same
+//! millisecond have no guaranteed relative order.
+
+use uuid::Uuid;
+
+/// Generate a new time-ordered [`UUIDv7`](Uuid::now_v7) as a hyphenated string.
+///
+/// The result sorts (lexically) roughly in creation order, making it a good
+/// default primary key for append-heavy tables such as the rollout store.
+///
+/// ```
+/// let id = lance_context_core::generate_id();
+/// assert_eq!(id.len(), 36); // 32 hex digits + 4 hyphens
+/// ```
+#[must_use]
+pub fn generate_id() -> String {
+    new_uuid().to_string()
+}
+
+/// Generate a new time-ordered [`UUIDv7`](Uuid::now_v7).
+///
+/// Prefer [`generate_id`] when a `String` id is what you ultimately need; this
+/// variant is for callers that want to keep the raw [`Uuid`] (e.g. to compare
+/// or to encode differently).
+#[must_use]
+pub fn new_uuid() -> Uuid {
+    Uuid::now_v7()
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn generate_id_is_a_hyphenated_uuid() {
+        let id = generate_id();
+        // Round-trips as a valid UUID and is the canonical hyphenated form.
+        let parsed = Uuid::parse_str(&id).expect("valid uuid string");
+        assert_eq!(parsed.to_string(), id);
+        assert_eq!(parsed.get_version_num(), 7);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn ids_are_unique() {
+        let a = generate_id();
+        let b = generate_id();
+        assert_ne!(a, b);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn ids_sort_in_creation_order_across_milliseconds() {
+        // Two ids minted a millisecond apart must sort in creation order,
+        // because UUIDv7 places the millisecond timestamp in the high bits.
+        let earlier = new_uuid();
+        std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(2));
+        let later = new_uuid();
+        assert!(earlier < later, "{earlier} should sort before {later}");
+        assert!(earlier.to_string() < later.to_string());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/lance-context-core/src/lib.rs b/crates/lance-context-core/src/lib.rs
index 8f4f0826..54cfe0d1 100644
--- a/crates/lance-context-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/lance-context-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ mod api_impl;
 mod context;
 mod eval;
 mod export;
+mod id;
 mod namespace;
 mod record;
 mod rollout;
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ pub use export::{
     RolloutExample, RolloutResponse, SftExample, SplitConfig, SplitManifest, TokenStats,
     EXPORT_SCHEMA_VERSION,
 };
+pub use id::{generate_id, new_uuid};
 pub use namespace::{ContextNamespace, PartitionInfo, PartitionSelector, PartitionSpec};
 pub use record::{
     ContextRecord, LifecycleQueryOptions, MetadataFilter, RecordFilters, RecordPatch, Relationship,
diff --git a/python/python/lance_context/__init__.py b/python/python/lance_context/__init__.py
index 7854f0d0..bbb5ec56 100644
--- a/python/python/lance_context/__init__.py
+++ b/python/python/lance_context/__init__.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
     RemoteContext,
     RolloutStore,
     __version__,
+    generate_id,
 )
 from .embeddings import (  # pyright: ignore[reportMissingImports]
     MultiModalEmbeddingProvider,
@@ -24,4 +25,5 @@
     "RemoteContext",
     "RolloutStore",
     "__version__",
+    "generate_id",
 ]
diff --git a/python/python/lance_context/api.py b/python/python/lance_context/api.py
index 8c9425ed..c9514fde 100644
--- a/python/python/lance_context/api.py
+++ b/python/python/lance_context/api.py
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@
 from ._internal import (  # pyright: ignore[reportMissingImports]
     RolloutStore as _RolloutStore,
 )
+from ._internal import (  # pyright: ignore[reportMissingImports]
+    generate_id as _generate_id,
+)
 from ._internal import version as _version  # pyright: ignore[reportMissingImports]
 from .embeddings import EmbeddingProvider, _build_provider, supports_media
 
@@ -33,10 +36,21 @@
     "RemoteContext",
     "RolloutStore",
     "__version__",
+    "generate_id",
 ]
 
 __version__ = _version()
 
+
+def generate_id() -> str:
+    """Generate a new time-ordered id (UUIDv7) as a string.
+
+    Ids sort roughly in creation order, making them a good default primary key
+    for append-heavy tables such as the rollout store.
+    """
+    return _generate_id()
+
+
 _ARROW_STREAM_MIME = "application/vnd.apache.arrow.stream"
 _DEFAULT_INGEST_BATCH_SIZE = 1000
 _MISSING = object()
diff --git a/python/src/lib.rs b/python/src/lib.rs
index fa9eaed4..eeb204e1 100644
--- a/python/src/lib.rs
+++ b/python/src/lib.rs
@@ -77,6 +77,15 @@ fn version() -> &'static str {
     env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION")
 }
 
+/// Generate a new time-ordered id (UUIDv7) as a string.
+///
+/// Ids sort roughly in creation order, making them a good default primary key
+/// for append-heavy tables such as the rollout store.
+#[pyfunction]
+fn generate_id() -> String {
+    lance_context_core::generate_id()
+}
+
 #[pyclass]
 struct Context {
     inner: RustContext,
@@ -2517,6 +2526,7 @@ fn rollout_record_to_json(record: &RolloutRecordDto) -> PyResult<String> {
 #[pymodule]
 fn _internal(m: &Bound<'_, PyModule>) -> PyResult<()> {
     m.add_function(wrap_pyfunction!(version, m)?)?;
+    m.add_function(wrap_pyfunction!(generate_id, m)?)?;
     m.add_class::<Context>()?;
     m.add_class::<ContextNamespace>()?;
     m.add_class::<RemoteContext>()?;