diff --git a/compiler/semmagic.nim b/compiler/semmagic.nim
index e4e00767831c5..20b0f95f88c88 100644
--- a/compiler/semmagic.nim
+++ b/compiler/semmagic.nim
@@ -162,6 +162,15 @@ proc evalTypeTrait(c: PContext; traitCall: PNode, operand: PType, context: PSym)
     result = newIntNode(nkIntLit, operand.len - ord(operand.kind==tyProc))
     result.typ = newType(tyInt, nextTypeId c.idgen, context)
     result.info = traitCall.info
+  of "getTypeIdImpl":
+    var arg = operand
+    if arg.kind in IntegralTypes - {tyEnum}:
+      # needed otherwise we could get different ids, see tests
+      arg = getSysType(c.graph, traitCall[1].info, arg.kind)
+    result = newStrNode(nkStrLit, $arg.id)
+      # `id` better than cast[int](arg) so that it's reproducible across compiles
+    result.typ = getSysType(c.graph, traitCall[1].info, tyString)
+    result.info = traitCall.info
   of "genericHead":
     var arg = operand
     case arg.kind
diff --git a/compiler/semtypes.nim b/compiler/semtypes.nim
index 84556ca1afdaf..f9afb9772aebb 100644
--- a/compiler/semtypes.nim
+++ b/compiler/semtypes.nim
@@ -1927,6 +1927,7 @@ proc semTypeNode(c: PContext, n: PNode, prev: PType): PType =
       else:
         assignType(prev, s.typ)
         # bugfix: keep the fresh id for aliases to integral types:
+        # could use simply: `IntegralTypes - {tyEnum}`
         if s.typ.kind notin {tyBool, tyChar, tyInt..tyInt64, tyFloat..tyFloat128,
                              tyUInt..tyUInt64}:
           prev.itemId = s.typ.itemId
diff --git a/lib/pure/typetraits.nim b/lib/pure/typetraits.nim
index 3e215a0ea3524..ef385e6059219 100644
--- a/lib/pure/typetraits.nim
+++ b/lib/pure/typetraits.nim
@@ -30,6 +30,37 @@ runnableExamples:
   type C[T] = enum h0 = 2, h1 = 4
   assert C[float] is HoleyEnum
 
+type
+  TypeId* = distinct string ## opaque, used by `getTypeId`
+
+proc `==`*(x, y: TypeId): bool {.borrow.}
+proc `$`*(x: TypeId): string {.borrow.}
+
+proc getTypeIdImpl(t: typedesc): string {.magic: "TypeTrait", since: (1, 5, 1).}
+
+proc getTypeId*(t: typedesc): TypeId {.since: (1, 5, 1).} =
+  ## Returns a unique id representing a type; the id is stable across
+  ## recompilations of the same program, but may differ if the program source
+  ## changes. In particular serializing it will be meaningless after source change
+  ## and recompilation: ids are reused in an un-specified manner.
+  ##
+  ## Example use cases that are impossible / hard without such feature:
+  ## 1: using ids as keys in Tables (eg for Type hashing) or to prevent recursions during type traversal
+  ## 2: passing a callback proc that can handle multiple types to a routine
+  ## 3: defining an exportc proc that can handle multiple types, this can be used
+  ##    as workaround for lack of cyclic imports
+  ##
+  ## See examples for those use cases in ttypetraits.nim; in each case the
+  ## callback is called via:
+  ## `callbackFun(cast[pointer](a), getTypeId(type(a)), ...)`
+
+  runnableExamples:
+    type Foo[T] = object
+    type Foo2 = Foo
+    assert Foo[int].getTypeId == Foo2[type(1)].getTypeId
+    assert Foo[int].getTypeId != Foo[float].getTypeId
+  TypeId(getTypeIdImpl(t))
+
 proc name*(t: typedesc): string {.magic: "TypeTrait".} =
   ## Returns the name of the given type.
   ##
diff --git a/tests/metatype/mtypetraits_impl.nim b/tests/metatype/mtypetraits_impl.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..9829f192b9c7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/metatype/mtypetraits_impl.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{.used.}
+
+import std/typetraits
+import mtypetraits_types
+import ttypetraits
+
+proc callbackFun(a: pointer, id: TypeId): string {.exportc.} =
+  case id
+  of getTypeid(Foo1): $("custom1", cast[Foo1](a))
+  of getTypeid(Foo2): $("custom2", cast[Foo2](a))
+  of getTypeid(Foo3): $("custom3", cast[Foo3](a))
+  else:
+    doAssert false, $id
+    ""
diff --git a/tests/metatype/mtypetraits_types.nim b/tests/metatype/mtypetraits_types.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0c8609b5377b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/metatype/mtypetraits_types.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+type Foo1* = object
+  x1*: int
+
+type Foo2* = object
+  x2*: int
+
+import std/typetraits
+proc callbackFun(a: pointer, id: TypeId): string {.importc.}
+
+proc callbackFun*[T](a: T): string = callbackFun(cast[pointer](a), getTypeid(T))
diff --git a/tests/metatype/ttypetraits.nim b/tests/metatype/ttypetraits.nim
index 3ff5c5ea66f6c..ae0ca20937d2f 100644
--- a/tests/metatype/ttypetraits.nim
+++ b/tests/metatype/ttypetraits.nim
@@ -350,3 +350,106 @@ block: # enum.len
     doAssert MyEnum.enumLen == 4
     doAssert OtherEnum.enumLen == 3
     doAssert MyFlag.enumLen == 4
+
+block: # getTypeId
+  const c1 = getTypeId(type(12))
+  const a1 = getTypeId(type(12))
+  const a2 = getTypeId(type(12))
+  let a3 = getTypeId(type(12))
+  doAssert a1 == a2
+    # we need to check that because nim uses different id's
+    # for different instances of tyInt (etc), so we make sure implementation of
+    # `getTypeId` is robust to that
+  doAssert a1 == a3
+  doAssert getTypeId(type(12.0)) != getTypeId(type(12))
+  doAssert getTypeId(type(12.0)) == getTypeId(float)
+
+  type Foo = object
+    x1: int
+
+  type FooT[T] = object
+    x1: int
+  type Foo2 = Foo
+  type FooT2 = FooT
+  doAssert Foo.getTypeId == Foo2.getTypeId
+  doAssert FooT2.getTypeId == FooT.getTypeId
+  doAssert FooT2[float].getTypeId == FooT[type(1.2)].getTypeId
+  doAssert FooT2[float].getTypeId != FooT[type(1)].getTypeId
+  doAssert Foo.x1.type.getTypeId == int.getTypeId
+
+  doAssert int.getTypeId is TypeId
+
+block: # example use case for `getTypeId`: passing a callback that handles multiple types
+  ## this would be in a library, say prettys.nim:
+  type Callback = proc(result: var string, a: pointer, id: TypeId): bool
+
+  proc pretty[T](result: var string, a: T, callback: Callback) =
+    when T is object:
+      result.add "("
+      for k,v in fieldPairs(a):
+        result.add $k & ": "
+        pretty(result, v, callback)
+        result.add ", "
+      result.add ")"
+    elif T is ref|ptr:
+      if callback(result, cast[pointer](a), getTypeId(T)):
+        discard
+      elif a == nil:
+        result.add "nil"
+      else:
+        pretty(result, a[], callback)
+    else:
+      result.add $a
+
+  proc pretty[T](a: T, callback: Callback): string = pretty(result, a, callback)
+
+  ## this would be in user code, say main.nim:
+  proc main()=
+    type Foo = ref object
+      x: int
+    type Bar = object
+      b1: Foo
+      b2: string
+
+    let f = Bar(b1: Foo(x: 12), b2: "abc")
+
+    proc callback(ret: var string, a: pointer, id: TypeId): bool =
+      case id
+      of Foo.getTypeId:
+        ret.add $("custom:", cast[Foo](a).x)
+        return true
+      else:
+        discard
+
+    proc callback2(ret: var string, a: pointer, id: TypeId): bool =
+      case id
+      of Foo.getTypeId:
+        ret.add $("custom2:", cast[Foo](a).x)
+        return true
+      else:
+        discard
+
+    doAssert pretty(f, callback) == """(b1: ("custom:", 12), b2: abc, )"""
+    doAssert pretty(f, callback2) == """(b1: ("custom2:", 12), b2: abc, )"""
+
+  main()
+
+type Foo3* = object
+  x3*: int
+
+import ./mtypetraits_types
+
+block:
+  # example use case for `getTypeId`: exportc proc that handles multiple types.
+  # This can be used in cases where we want to define implementation for a
+  # proc in a separate module (here, mtypetraits_impl), to avoid cyclic import
+  # issues or avoid dragging many dependencies for users of the proc, which can
+  # be declared in another import module (here, mtypetraits_types).
+  # This mimicks the use of headers vs source files in C.
+
+  doAssert callbackFun(Foo1(x1: 1)) == """("custom1", (x1: 1))"""
+  doAssert callbackFun(Foo2(x2: 2)) == """("custom2", (x2: 2))"""
+  doAssert callbackFun(Foo3(x3: 3)) == """("custom3", (x3: 3))"""
+
+import ./mtypetraits_impl
+  # this could be imported from any module; it defines our exportc proc