Dates and time zones

Countdowns, plans counted backwards, and one meeting in three cities.

Count down to a date and plan backwards from it

Dates subtract to durations, and durations display in whatever units you ask for. Whole weeks and days shift by the calendar.

launch = @2026-11-20
launch - today to week, day
code freeze = launch - 2 weeks
beta = code freeze - 4 weeks
kickoff = beta - 6 weeks
solve for buffer: beta + buffer = launch

solve for buffer reads the plan the other way: how long is there between beta and launch? The clock is the moment the page loaded, so today is yours.

A meeting across time zones, through daylight saving

Anchor the meeting in one zone and ask where it lands in the others. Late October is the trap: Europe has changed its clocks and America has not.

default timezone: Europe/Berlin
sync = @2026-05-04T16:00
sync to America/New_York
sync to Asia/Tokyo
autumn = @2026-10-28T16:00
autumn to America/New_York
sync - 15 minutes

default timezone: gives every bare date-time in the document a zone. to America/New_York re-expresses the same instant, and the offset is worked out for that specific date.