# Which time zone do services use?

**URL:** <https://community.appfarm.io/t/which-time-zone-do-services-use/2420>\
**Category:** Ask the community\
**Created:** [August 24, 2026, 11:56am UTC](https://community.appfarm.io/t/which-time-zone-do-services-use/2420 "2026-08-24T11:56:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![daniel](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.appfarm.io/daniel/32/2882_2.png) [@daniel](https://community.appfarm.io/u/daniel)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 11:56am UTC](https://community.appfarm.io/t/which-time-zone-do-services-use/2420/1 "2026-08-24T11:56:32Z")

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I have a service where Europe/Oslo is set as the default time zone. However, when I trigger the service from devtools for services (from Bergen, Norway, in case that matters) Now gives me UTC.

Is this intensional?  
Am I doing something wrong?  
Which time zone will be used when the service is triggered from an app or a schedule if I dont use overwrite timezone?

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**Author:** ![daniel](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.appfarm.io/daniel/32/2882_2.png) [@daniel](https://community.appfarm.io/u/daniel)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 12:01pm UTC](https://community.appfarm.io/t/which-time-zone-do-services-use/2420/2 "2026-08-24T12:01:51Z")

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![Screenshot 2026-08-24 at 13.57.30](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/appfarm/original/2X/6/6905e322151f4a58cb2020039f1489242320a9a5.png)

 ![Screenshot 2026-08-24 at 13.57.41](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/appfarm/original/2X/2/2fa4ced80de6b0d7e383c18a4fae7e86a997540a.png)

 ![Screenshot 2026-08-24 at 14.05.28](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/appfarm/original/2X/f/f9d2ee5dd5402c1b75b611c74b55b936698c27eb.png)

 ![Screenshot 2026-08-24 at 14.05.17](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/appfarm/original/2X/6/6e1f2cd37c727b8b276a04a5d8def3c0ca2edd58.png)

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**Author:** ![kristian](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.appfarm.io/kristian/32/58_2.png) [@kristian](https://community.appfarm.io/u/kristian)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://community.appfarm.io/t/which-time-zone-do-services-use/2420/3 "2026-08-24T13:35:41Z")

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Hi!

The Services run in the time zone that is  
a) Configured in the Service Settings (default: Europe/Oslo)  
b)…or the one configured in “Run Service” action node, or on the Service Schedule (may override the Europe/Oslo default).  
Dev Tools use the time zone given on the Service Settings.

In your code, a few things to note:

1. The **now** variable is a pure JSON date (e.g. `2026-08-24T13:08:14.430Z`). Running “toLocaleString()” on it just turns it into a string-date. I believe the same happens when you apply it to the “hours” variable.
2. The Date object you use does not store or hold time-zone. If you choose to use that lib, you can set the time zone on that variable, e.g.

```auto
const date = new Date();

const osloTime = date.toLocaleString("en-GB", {
    timeZone: "Europe/Oslo"
});

```

However, we do not set time zone on Date() type variables.

1. If you instead use the moment() library (that may be added from the left side in the function editor) it knows your timezone. return moment().hours() returns “15” if it is 15:00 in Oslo when the Service is triggered form Devtools. Also, if you use built-in value processors, or conditions such as `ServiceVariables.Now.Hours >= 15` there is “moment()-treatment” behind the scenes taking the time zone into account.

I just testet console logging Service Variables.Current Timestamp.Hour, and it prints the correct “Oslo-hour”:

 ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/appfarm/original/2X/4/4ec465385ab50aec6839209f2493f93b3efdde9d.png)

Hope this helps!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![daniel](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.appfarm.io/daniel/32/2882_2.png) [@daniel](https://community.appfarm.io/u/daniel)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://community.appfarm.io/t/which-time-zone-do-services-use/2420/4 "2026-08-24T14:28:18Z")

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This works, thanks for the help!

Feature request: Set time zone on Date() type variables

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kristian](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.appfarm.io/kristian/32/58_2.png) [@kristian](https://community.appfarm.io/u/kristian)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2026, 7:54am UTC](https://community.appfarm.io/t/which-time-zone-do-services-use/2420/5 "2026-08-26T07:54:49Z")

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Sounds great!

Regarding your feature request: This is not something we can implement on the `Date` object itself, as JavaScript’s native `Date` does not support storing a timezone. Timezones need to be applied when formatting or interpreting a `Date` (or use moment()).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![daniel](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.appfarm.io/daniel/32/2882_2.png) [@daniel](https://community.appfarm.io/u/daniel)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2026, 8:50am UTC](https://community.appfarm.io/t/which-time-zone-do-services-use/2420/6 "2026-08-26T08:50:44Z")

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I suppose my feature request would be to interpret the date to match the time zone that the service runs in, so that moment().hour() === new Date().getHours() is true, like it is in the browser.