Conventions
Dates and time zones
ISO 8601, inclusive and exclusive bounds, shop local time, and why the business day does not end at midnight
Updated on 2026-08-16For: Beginners · Developers
Dates are the number one source of differences between what Bistro shows and what your integration shows. Read this page before closing your first reconciliation.
Format
Every date, in and out, is ISO 8601.
2026-08-16T14:30:00
Seconds are accepted, milliseconds are ignored, and the T separator is
mandatory. A date without a time is read as that day at 00:00.
Inclusive and exclusive
| Parameter | Bound |
|---|---|
From / startDate | Inclusive |
To / endDate | Exclusive |
To request all of August 15th:
From = 2026-08-15T00:00:00
To = 2026-08-16T00:00:00
Inclusive-exclusive bounds mean consecutive windows neither overlap nor leave
gaps: one window's To is the next one's From.
Time zone
Operation timestamps come in the shop's local time, with no zone suffix. The
token's expiration comes in UTC.
| Field | Zone |
|---|---|
created_at, updated_at | Shop local time |
Token expiration | UTC |
If your integration spans Argentina, Mexico and Spain you cannot convert
everything with a single time zone, and Spain shifts twice a year. Store the
timestamp as received, alongside the shop_code, and convert only when reporting.