Django/PostgreSQL: Unique constraint with a dynamic condition like expires_at > now()

I'm building a secure OTP system in Django. The model looks like this:

class OTP(models.Model):
    MAX_ATTEMPTS = 3
    DEFAULT_EXPIRE_IN_MINUTES = 1

    class Purposes(models.IntegerChoices):
        LOGIN = 1, "Login"
        REGISTER = 2, "Register"
        VERIFY_PHONE = 3, "Verify Phone"
        VERIFY_EMAIL = 4, "Verify Email"

    otp_hash = models.CharField(max_length=64)
    purpose = models.IntegerField(choices=Purposes)
    phone = PhoneNumberField(null=True, blank=True)
    email = models.EmailField(null=True, blank=True)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    expires_at = models.DateTimeField()
    failed_attempts = models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(default=0)
    used = models.BooleanField(default=False)
    used_at = models.DateTimeField(null=True, blank=True)

What I want to enforce:

A user should not receive another OTP if there is already an unexpired (based on expires_at field), unused (used=False) OTP for the same purpose.

The condition should apply either for:

  • (phone, purpose) if phone is set, or
  • (email, purpose) if email is set.

And this logic must hold true even under concurrent requests.

What I've tried so far:

  • Application-level check with OTP.objects.filter(...) before creating a new one — this is not safe under race conditions.
  • Adding a is_expired boolean field and a conditional UniqueConstraint like this:
class Meta:
    constraints = [
        models.UniqueConstraint(
            fields=["phone", "purpose"],
            condition=Q(is_expired=False),
            name="unique_active_phone_otp"
        ),
        models.UniqueConstraint(
            fields=["email", "purpose"],
            condition=Q(is_expired=False),
            name="unique_active_email_otp"
        ),
    ]

But this requires updating the is_expired field manually or periodically when expires_at < now(), which adds operational complexity and is easy to forget.

Is there a cleaner way to enforce this uniqueness at the database level, even with time-based conditions like expires_at > now()?

Below Postgres version 18 you can set up an exclusion constraint to make sure there can't exist two OTPs of a given type, valid during the same period. You'll need to swap out expires_at for a valid_between that holds a tstzrange of timestamps, during which that OTP is valid:
demo at db<>fiddle

--btree_gist lets `purpose` into the gist index behind the exclusion constraint
create extension btree_gist;

create table otp(purpose int,expires_at timestamptz);

alter table otp rename column expires_at to valid_between;
alter table otp
  alter column valid_between type tstzrange 
    using tstzrange(valid_between,valid_between+'1 minute'::interval)
 ,add constraint one_valid_otp_per_purpose_at_a_time 
    exclude using gist ( purpose WITH =
                        ,valid_between WITH &&);

insert into otp values
  (1,tstzrange(now(),now()+'1 minute'::interval)) 
, (2,tstzrange(now(),now()+'1 minute'::interval));

insert into otp values
  (1,tstzrange(now()+'10 seconds',now()+'65 seconds'::interval));

ERROR:  conflicting key value violates exclusion constraint "one_valid_otp_per_purpose_at_a_time"
DETAIL:  Key (purpose, valid_between)=(1, ["2025-06-18 12:50:21.469054+00","2025-06-18 12:51:16.469054+00")) conflicts with existing key (purpose, valid_between)=(1, ["2025-06-18 12:50:11.468011+00","2025-06-18 12:51:11.468011+00")).

Postgres 18 brings without overlap syntax to unique constraints which does the same:

alter table otp 
  add constraint one_valid_otp_per_purpose_at_a_time 
    unique(purpose,valid_between without overlap);

To actually check that flag, use a view (or a virtual generated column in version >18) for your is_expired field. That way this flag can be calculated at query time by comparing now() to valid_between.

create view v_otp as 
select*,not (now() <@ valid_between) as is_expired 
from otp;

select*from v_otp;
purpose valid_between is_expired
1 ["2025-06-18 12:57:37.530795+00","2025-06-18 12:57:42.530795+00") False
2 ["2025-06-18 12:57:37.530795+00","2025-06-18 12:57:42.530795+00") False 
select pg_sleep(6); 
select now();
select*from v_otp;
now
2025-06-18 12:57:43.539171+00
purpose valid_between is_expired
1 ["2025-06-18 12:57:37.530795+00","2025-06-18 12:57:42.530795+00") True
2 ["2025-06-18 12:57:37.530795+00","2025-06-18 12:57:42.530795+00") True

On its own, the view/virtual generated column is not supposed to solve the race condition. That's done via locking - implicit, explicit, advisory. Your client is meant to query the view and pick up a still valid OTP if it's there (I guess that's your intent). If not the unique/exclude constraint makes sure that if multiple requests attempt to generate a new one, only one of them succeeds - the rest can catch the exception raised by them being rejected.

You can pg_advisory_lock() a given OTP(purpose+owner) even before a check, or explicitly select..for update, or just attempt to update it (used and used_at fields), since update will attempt to acquire a lock. Any of these would result in the db arranging your parallel client nodes in a queue.

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