Yet the assumption that all models require an ID is a fallacy. I was generating reports unique to the day, therefore a simple Date field was adequate as an inde

Yet the assumption that all models require an ID is a fallacy. I was generating reports unique to the day, therefore a simple Date field was adequate as an index/ID. I don't know about other ORMs but when working directly with the SQL it'd be no issue. I hold out that it's a problem in the design of ActiveRecord to assume that there will always be a primary key. That said, if I can just tell the model "identify yourself by this key" WITHOUT setting it as the primary key I would be happy.