diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 6573708..0c00b73 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -97,9 +97,8 @@ Job Configuration
 -----------------
 
 Jobs are defined using yaml files. Options may be specified either at the
-top-level or on individual seeds. A job id and at least one seed url
-must be specified, everything else is optional. For details, see
-`<job-conf.rst>`_.
+top-level or on individual seeds. At least one seed url must be specified,
+everything else is optional. For details, see `<job-conf.rst>`_.
 
 ::
 
@@ -238,7 +237,7 @@ option:
     brozzler-worker --chrome-exe ~/bin/headless_chromium.sh
 
 To render Flash content, `download <https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/>`_
-and extract the Linux (.tar.gz) PPAPI plugin.  Configure Headless Chromium 
+and extract the Linux (.tar.gz) PPAPI plugin.  Configure Headless Chromium
 to load the plugin by adding this option to your wrapper script:
 
 ::
diff --git a/brozzler/frontier.py b/brozzler/frontier.py
index 8bf8e8f..33c2053 100644
--- a/brozzler/frontier.py
+++ b/brozzler/frontier.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 '''
 brozzler/frontier.py - RethinkDbFrontier manages crawl jobs, sites and pages
 
-Copyright (C) 2014-2016 Internet Archive
+Copyright (C) 2014-2017 Internet Archive
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ class RethinkDbFrontier:
         if not job.id:
             # only if "id" has not already been set
             job.id = result["generated_keys"][0]
+        return job
 
     def new_site(self, site):
         self.logger.info("inserting into 'sites' table %s", site)
diff --git a/brozzler/job.py b/brozzler/job.py
index ede81b8..bf6f571 100644
--- a/brozzler/job.py
+++ b/brozzler/job.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 brozzler/job.py - Job class representing a brozzler crawl job, and functions
 for setting up a job with supplied configuration
 
-Copyright (C) 2014-2016 Internet Archive
+Copyright (C) 2014-2017 Internet Archive
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -61,17 +61,22 @@ def merge(a, b):
         return a
 
 def new_job_file(frontier, job_conf_file):
+    '''Returns new Job.'''
     logging.info("loading %s", job_conf_file)
     with open(job_conf_file) as f:
         job_conf = yaml.load(f)
-        new_job(frontier, job_conf)
+        return new_job(frontier, job_conf)
 
 def new_job(frontier, job_conf):
+    '''Returns new Job.'''
     validate_conf(job_conf)
     job = Job(
             id=job_conf.get("id"), conf=job_conf, status="ACTIVE",
             started=rethinkstuff.utcnow())
 
+    # insert the job now to make sure it has an id
+    job = frontier.new_job(job)
+
     sites = []
     for seed_conf in job_conf["seeds"]:
         merged_conf = merge(seed_conf, job_conf)
@@ -92,11 +97,10 @@ def new_job(frontier, job_conf):
                 password=merged_conf.get("password"))
         sites.append(site)
 
-    # insert all the sites into database before the job
     for site in sites:
         new_site(frontier, site)
 
-    frontier.new_job(job)
+    return job
 
 def new_site(frontier, site):
     site.id = str(uuid.uuid4())
diff --git a/brozzler/job_schema.yaml b/brozzler/job_schema.yaml
index d9c1df9..3b5ae7d 100644
--- a/brozzler/job_schema.yaml
+++ b/brozzler/job_schema.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ id:
   type:
   - string
   - integer
-  required: true
+  required: false
 
 <<: &multi_level_options
   time_limit:
diff --git a/job-conf.rst b/job-conf.rst
index 6773afd..c36ab05 100644
--- a/job-conf.rst
+++ b/job-conf.rst
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@ brozzler job configuration
 **************************
 
 Jobs are defined using yaml files. Options may be specified either at the
-top-level or on individual seeds. A job id and at least one seed url
-must be specified, everything else is optional.
+top-level or on individual seeds. At least one seed url must be specified,
+everything else is optional.
 
 an example
 ==========
@@ -85,11 +85,11 @@ settings reference
 
 id
 --
-+-----------+--------+----------+---------+
-| scope     | type   | required | default |
-+===========+========+==========+=========+
-| top-level | string | yes?     | *n/a*   |
-+-----------+--------+----------+---------+
++-----------+--------+----------+--------------------------+
+| scope     | type   | required | default                  |
++===========+========+==========+==========================+
+| top-level | string | no       | *generated by rethinkdb* |
++-----------+--------+----------+--------------------------+
 An arbitrary identifier for this job. Must be unique across this deployment of
 brozzler.
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 35dd97f..830b51e 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def find_package_data(package):
 
 setuptools.setup(
         name='brozzler',
-        version='1.1b9.dev181',
+        version='1.1b9.dev182',
         description='Distributed web crawling with browsers',
         url='https://github.com/internetarchive/brozzler',
         author='Noah Levitt',