Date field

Store date and time values with optional min/max constraints

The date field stores a single date and time value using PocketBase’s types.DateTime type. You can optionally enforce min/max date constraints for validation.

Configuration options

min · types.DateTime

Minimum allowed date value. Leave empty to skip the validator.

max · types.DateTime

Maximum allowed date value. Leave empty to skip the validator.

required · bool · default: "false"

When true, requires the field value to be a non-zero date time.

Validation rules

The date field validates:

• Type: Value must be a valid types.DateTime
• Min date: If specified, value must be on or after the minimum date
• Max date: If specified, value must be on or before the maximum date
• Required: If enabled, value cannot be zero (empty)

Go examples

Basic usage

import (
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/core"
    "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/tools/types"
)

field := &core.DateField{
    Name:     "publishedAt",
    Required: false,
}

collection.Fields.Add(field)

// Set field value
now := types.NowDateTime()
record.Set("publishedAt", now)

With min/max constraints

minDate, _ := types.ParseDateTime("2024-01-01 00:00:00.000Z")
maxDate, _ := types.ParseDateTime("2024-12-31 23:59:59.999Z")

field := &core.DateField{
    Name:     "eventDate",
    Required: true,
    Min:      minDate,
    Max:      maxDate,
}

collection.Fields.Add(field)

// Set a date within range
eventDate, _ := types.ParseDateTime("2024-06-15 14:30:00.000Z")
record.Set("eventDate", eventDate)

Future dates only

field := &core.DateField{
    Name:     "expiresAt",
    Required: true,
    Min:      types.NowDateTime(), // Must be in the future
}

collection.Fields.Add(field)

// Set expiration to 30 days from now
expiry := types.NowDateTime()
record.Set("expiresAt", expiry)

Birth date validation

maxDate := types.NowDateTime() // Cannot be in the future
minDate, _ := types.ParseDateTime("1900-01-01 00:00:00.000Z")

field := &core.DateField{
    Name:     "birthDate",
    Required: true,
    Min:      minDate,
    Max:      maxDate,
}

collection.Fields.Add(field)

birthDate, _ := types.ParseDateTime("1990-05-15 00:00:00.000Z")
record.Set("birthDate", birthDate)

Database column type

TEXT DEFAULT '' NOT NULL

Dates are stored as ISO 8601 formatted strings in the database but handled as types.DateTime objects in Go.

Date format

PocketBase uses ISO 8601 format for dates:

Parsing dates

import "github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/tools/types"

// From string
date, err := types.ParseDateTime("2024-03-15 14:30:00.000Z")

// Current time
now := types.NowDateTime()

// From time.Time
import "time"
t := time.Now()
date := types.DateTime{Time: t}

Common use cases

Timestamp fields

field := &core.DateField{
    Name:     "deadline",
    Required: true,
}

Best practices

• Use types.NowDateTime() for current timestamp
• Set appropriate min/max constraints to prevent invalid dates
• For created/updated timestamps, consider using the autodate field instead
• Dates are stored in UTC, plan timezone handling accordingly
• Use IsZero() to check if a date field is empty

Zero value

The zero value for date fields is a zero types.DateTime, which you can check using the IsZero() method.