Unix Timestamp API: Complete Developer Guide

Working with dates and times across systems? This guide covers everything about Unix timestamp conversion via API, including what timestamps are, conversion methods, and implementation examples in multiple programming languages.

What is a Unix Timestamp?

A Unix timestamp (or epoch time) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, at 00:00:00 UTC. It provides a universal way to represent time that's timezone-agnostic and easy to compare.

Example: 1704067200 = January 1, 2024, 00:00:00 UTC

Why Use Unix Timestamps?

Benefits of Unix timestamps:

Timezone Independent

Timestamps represent a single moment in time, regardless of timezone.

Easy Comparison

Simple numeric comparison for sorting and calculations.

Universal Format

Supported by virtually all programming languages and databases.

Using the Unix Timestamp API

TinyFn provides endpoints to convert timestamps:

GET https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/time/from-timestamp?timestamp=1704067200
Headers: X-API-Key: your-api-key

{
  "timestamp": 1704067200,
  "iso8601": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "date": "2024-01-01",
  "time": "00:00:00",
  "day_of_week": "Monday",
  "timezone": "UTC"
}

GET https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/time/to-timestamp?date=2024-01-01T00:00:00Z
Headers: X-API-Key: your-api-key

Parameters

Code Examples

JavaScript / Node.js

const response = await fetch(
  'https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/time/from-timestamp?timestamp=1704067200',
  { headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your-api-key' } }
);
const result = await response.json();
console.log(result.iso8601); // 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Python

import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/time/from-timestamp',
    params={'timestamp': 1704067200},
    headers={'X-API-Key': 'your-api-key'}
)
result = response.json()
print(result['iso8601'])  # 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

cURL

curl "https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/time/from-timestamp?timestamp=1704067200" \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key"

Common Use Cases

• API Responses: Convert timestamps in API responses to readable dates
• Database Storage: Store timestamps and convert for display
• Log Analysis: Parse timestamps in log files
• Scheduling: Calculate future dates from timestamps
• Data Migration: Convert date formats during migrations

Best Practices

1. Store in UTC: Always store timestamps in UTC, convert for display
2. Use 64-bit: Use 64-bit integers to avoid Year 2038 problem
3. Include timezone: Always specify timezone when converting
4. Handle milliseconds: Some systems use millisecond timestamps