How can I convert a UTC string to a local date-time in JavaScript?

When using a Code node, native JavaScript’s Date handling will follow the server’s default setting (often UTC) and ignore your workflow’s timezone setting. The workflow’s timezone setting is applied by n8n when scheduling nodes or processing dates with nodes that explicitly account for it (e.g. the Date & Time node). This means that if you simply run JavaScript code to parse and format a UTC string, it will still work in UTC unless you manually handle the conversion.

A couple of approaches to convert a UTC string to your local time (or any dynamic timezone) are:

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1. Use the Date & Time Node

The Date & Time node is designed to handle timezones correctly:

• It leverages Luxon internally.
• You can set the source format (ISO 8601) and specify the target timezone.
• This method will automatically take into account your workflow or instance timezone settings.

This is generally the recommended approach for dynamic timezone conversions.

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2. Use Luxon in a Code Node

If you prefer handling the conversion directly in a Code node, you can leverage Luxon. Although your workflow is set to America/Los_Angeles, remember that the Code node doesn’t automatically use that setting. You can import Luxon and then explicitly convert the time as follows:

JAVASCRIPTCopied
// Import Luxon's DateTime
const { DateTime } = require('luxon');

const utcString = "2025-02-26T23:30:00Z";

// Parse the UTC string as a DateTime object in UTC
const dtUTC = DateTime.fromISO(utcString, { zone: 'utc' });

// Convert to your desired timezone (for example, America/Los_Angeles)
const dtLocal = dtUTC.setZone('America/Los_Angeles');

// Optionally, format the date-time to a string
return {
  json: {
    localTime: dtLocal.toISO() // or dtLocal.toFormat('yyyy-LL-dd HH:mm:ss')
  }
};

You can adjust the target timezone value dynamically if needed, for example by reading it from workflow settings (if that information is passed into your node or stored in a variable).

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Summary

• n8n’s Workflow/Instance Timezone:
  These settings are applied when scheduling nodes and specific n8n nodes (like the Date & Time node), not during raw JavaScript code execution.

• Dynamic Conversion:
  For dynamic environments, it’s best to either use the Date & Time node or import a timezone library (e.g., Luxon) in your Code node and explicitly set the timezone conversion.

Following these approaches will ensure that you don’t have to hard-code any timezone and can readily change the target timezone as needed.