diff --git a/lib/couch_rest.rb b/lib/couch_rest.rb
index 66c7bfe..dd31e67 100644
--- a/lib/couch_rest.rb
+++ b/lib/couch_rest.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 class CouchRest
-  attr_accessor :uri
-  def initialize server = 'http://localhost:5984'
+  attr_accessor :uri, :uuid_batch_count
+  def initialize server = 'http://localhost:5984', uuid_batch_count = 1000
     @uri = server
+    @uuid_batch_count = uuid_batch_count
   end
   
   # ensure that a database exists
@@ -29,13 +30,13 @@ class CouchRest
   end
   
   def database name
-    CouchRest::Database.new(@uri, name)
+    CouchRest::Database.new(self, name)
   end
   
   # creates the database if it doesn't exist
   def database! name
     create_db(path) rescue nil
-    CouchRest::Database.new(@uri, name)
+    database name
   end
   
   # get the welcome message
@@ -43,17 +44,25 @@ class CouchRest
     CouchRest.get "#{@uri}/"
   end
 
-  # restart the couchdb instance
-  def restart!
-    CouchRest.post "#{@uri}/_restart"
-  end
-  
   # create a database
   def create_db name
     CouchRest.put "#{@uri}/#{name}"
     database name
   end
 
+  # restart the couchdb instance
+  def restart!
+    CouchRest.post "#{@uri}/_restart"
+  end
+
+  def next_uuid count = @uuid_batch_count
+    @uuids ||= []
+    if @uuids.empty?
+      @uuids = CouchRest.post("#{@uri}/_uuids?count=#{count}")["uuids"]
+    end
+    @uuids.pop
+  end
+
   class << self
     def put uri, doc = nil
       payload = doc.to_json if doc
diff --git a/lib/database.rb b/lib/database.rb
index 7482fd8..bb7bfbc 100644
--- a/lib/database.rb
+++ b/lib/database.rb
@@ -3,10 +3,11 @@ require "base64"
 
 class CouchRest
   class Database
-    attr_accessor :host, :name
-    def initialize host, name
+    attr_accessor :server, :host, :name
+    def initialize server, name
       @name = name
-      @host = host
+      @server = server
+      @host = server.uri
       @root = "#{host}/#{name}"
     end
     
@@ -62,13 +63,18 @@ class CouchRest
       end
       if doc['_id']
         slug = CGI.escape(doc['_id'])
-        CouchRest.put "#{@root}/#{slug}", doc
       else
-        CouchRest.post "#{@root}", doc
+        slug = doc['_id'] = @server.next_uuid
       end
+      CouchRest.put "#{@root}/#{slug}", doc
     end
     
     def bulk_save docs
+      ids, noids = docs.partition{|d|d['_id']}
+      uuid_count = [noids.length, @server.uuid_batch_count].max
+      noids.each do |doc|
+        doc['_id'] = @server.next_uuid(uuid_count)
+      end
       CouchRest.post "#{@root}/_bulk_docs", {:docs => docs}
     end
     
@@ -80,7 +86,9 @@ class CouchRest
     def delete!
       CouchRest.delete @root
     end
+
     private
+
     def encode_attachments attachments
       attachments.each do |k,v|
         next if v['stub']
@@ -88,6 +96,7 @@ class CouchRest
       end
       attachments
     end
+
     def base64 data
       Base64.encode64(data).gsub(/\s/,'')
     end
diff --git a/spec/couchrest_spec.rb b/spec/couchrest_spec.rb
index af69cdc..bfa8e0a 100644
--- a/spec/couchrest_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/couchrest_spec.rb
@@ -26,10 +26,12 @@ describe CouchRest do
     end
   end
   
-  describe "description" do
-    it "should restart" do
-      @cr.restart!
-    end
+  it "should restart" do
+    @cr.restart!
+  end
+
+  it "should provide one-time access to uuids" do
+    @cr.next_uuid.should_not be_nil
   end
 
   describe "initializing a database" do
diff --git a/spec/database_spec.rb b/spec/database_spec.rb
index 83163a5..a12fe07 100644
--- a/spec/database_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/database_spec.rb
@@ -138,6 +138,16 @@ describe CouchRest::Database do
       end
     end
     
+    it "should use uuids when ids aren't provided" do
+      @db.server.stub!(:next_uuid).and_return('asdf6sgadkfhgsdfusdf')
+      
+      docs = [{'key' => 'value'}, {'_id' => 'totally-uniq'}]
+      id_docs = [{'key' => 'value', '_id' => 'asdf6sgadkfhgsdfusdf'}, {'_id' => 'totally-uniq'}]
+      CouchRest.should_receive(:post).with("http://localhost:5984/couchrest-test/_bulk_docs", {:docs => id_docs})
+      
+      @db.bulk_save(docs)
+    end
+    
     it "should add them with uniq ids" do
       rs = @db.bulk_save([
           {"_id" => "oneB", "wild" => "and random"},
@@ -179,7 +189,7 @@ describe CouchRest::Database do
     end
   end
   
-  describe "POST (new document without an id)" do
+  describe "new document without an id" do
     it "should start empty" do
       @db.documents["total_rows"].should == 0
     end
@@ -188,6 +198,11 @@ describe CouchRest::Database do
       r2 = @db.get(r['id'])
       r2["lemons"].should == "from texas"
     end
+    it "should use PUT with UUIDs" do
+      CouchRest.should_receive(:put)
+      r = @db.save({'just' => ['another document']})      
+    end
+    
   end
 
   describe "PUT document with attachment" do