Transform Date Formats Between APIs Using Luxon

Different APIs use wildly different date formats -- ISO 8601, Unix timestamps, US format, European format. n8n includes the Luxon library globally as DateTime, giving you full control over parsing and formatting without external dependencies.

Real-world example: Your source API (Stripe) returns dates as Unix timestamps. Your destination (a project management tool) expects dd/MM/yyyy format. Meanwhile, your logging database wants ISO 8601.

// Unix timestamp to human-readable
{{ DateTime.fromSeconds($json.created).toFormat('dd/MM/yyyy') }}
// Input: 1710504000 → Output: "15/03/2024"

// ISO string to US format
{{ DateTime.fromISO($json.created_at).toFormat('MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm a') }}
// Input: "2024-03-15T14:30:00Z" → Output: "03/15/2024 02:30 PM"

// Parse a non-standard format
{{ DateTime.fromFormat($json.event_date, 'yyyy-dd-MM').toISO() }}
// Input: "2024-15-03" → Output: "2024-03-15T00:00:00.000+00:00"

// Timezone conversion
{{ DateTime.fromISO($json.utc_time).setZone('America/New_York').toFormat('ff') }}
// Input: "2024-03-15T14:30:00Z" → Output: "Mar 15, 2024, 10:30 AM"

// Relative time calculation
{{ DateTime.fromISO($json.due_date).diff(DateTime.now(), 'days').days.toFixed(0) }}
// Returns number of days until due date

// Add/subtract time
{{ DateTime.now().minus({ days: 7 }).toISO() }}
// Returns ISO timestamp for exactly 7 days ago
```text
A practical Code node for batch date transformation:

```javascript
const items = $input.all();
const { DateTime } = require('luxon');

return items.map(item => ({
  json: {
    ...item.json,
    created_display: DateTime.fromSeconds(item.json.created)
      .toFormat('dd MMM yyyy'),
    created_iso: DateTime.fromSeconds(item.json.created).toISO(),
    days_ago: Math.floor(
      DateTime.now().diff(DateTime.fromSeconds(item.json.created), 'days').days
    )
  }
}));
```text
Luxon handles timezone-aware parsing, locale formatting, and arithmetic -- covering virtually every date transformation scenario you will encounter.

**Related:** [Flatten Deeply Nested API Responses](../code-node-mastery/01-flatten-deeply-nested-api-responses.md) | [Use the HTTP Request Node as a Universal Connector](../integration-patterns/01-use-the-http-request-node-as-a-universal-connector.md)