diff --git a/frontend/src/js/misc/wb-id-tools.js b/frontend/src/js/misc/wb-id-tools.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ac4752
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/js/misc/wb-id-tools.js
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import arvadosTypeName from 'arvados-type-name';
+
+const UUID_REGEX = /[a-z0-9]{5}-[a-z0-9]{5}-[a-z0-9]{15}/g;
+const PDH_REGEX = /[a-f0-9]{32}\+[0-9]+/g;
+
+class WBIdTools {
+  static isIdentifier(value) {
+    return ( this.isUuid(value) || this.isPDH(value) );
+  }
+
+  static isUuid(value) {
+    const m = UUID_REGEX.exec(value);
+    return (m && m[0] === value);
+  }
+
+  static isPDH(value) {
+    const m = PDH_REGEX.exec(value);
+    return (m && m[0] === value);
+  }
+
+  static startsWithIdentifier(value) {
+    return ( this.startsWithUuid(value) || this.startsWithPDH(value) );
+  }
+
+  static startsWithUuid(value) {
+    const m = UUID_REGEX.exec(value);
+    return ( m && m.index === 0 );
+  }
+
+  static startsWithPDH(value) {
+    const m = PDH_REGEX.exec(value);
+    return ( m && m.index === 0 );
+  }
+
+  static typeName(value) {
+    if (this.isPDH(value))
+      return 'collection';
+    if (this.isUuid(value))
+      return arvadosTypeName(value);
+    throw Error('Given value is neither an UUID nor a PDH: ' + value);
+  }
+}
+
+export default WBIdTools;