Dates-LE
Extract every date and timestamp, and the exact instant each one resolves to
No editor in the loop? npx -y dates-le-mcp runs the same engine as an MCP server, so an agent can call extract_dates with nothing else installed, and cargo install dates-le puts the same check in a terminal. Every way to install it.
Overview
What Dates-LE does
Timestamps arrive in a dozen notations and rarely the one you want. Dates-LE extracts every date and time value from logs, data files and code, reporting each with its format and, where resolvable, its epoch value. It recognises ISO 8601, syslog and Apache access-log formats, numeric dates written day-first or month-first, and dates with the month spelled out. Unix timestamps are a kind you switch on, because a bare ten-digit number is more often something else.
What people use it for
Log analysis
Timestamps from server logs — ISO, syslog and Apache access-log formats.
Data review
Dates from JSON, YAML, CSV and XML, and Unix epochs once that kind is switched on.
Code audit
Date literals and the arguments to new Date(), Date.parse(), moment(), dayjs() and DateTime.fromISO().
Palette
11 commands
Open the command palette and type the name. Nothing is bound to a shortcut by default — the editor's keymap is the user's, not ours.
dates-le.showPositions: Show the line and column of each date. Off by default.
- Extract Dates
dates-le.extractDates - Extract Dates from Workspace
dates-le.extractWorkspace - Extract Dates from Folder
dates-le.extractFolder - Deduplicate Dates
dates-le.postProcess.dedupe - Sort Dates
dates-le.postProcess.sort - Open Settings
dates-le.openSettings - Analyze Dates
dates-le.analyze - Convert Dates
dates-le.convert - Filter Dates
dates-le.filter - Validate Dates
dates-le.validate - Help & Troubleshooting
dates-le.help
Install
Install Dates-LE
VS Code
ext install nolindnaidoo.dates-leOpen Quick Open (Cmd/Ctrl+P) and paste.
Cursor / Windsurf
cursor --install-extension nolindnaidoo.dates-leCursor, Windsurf, VSCodium and the other VS Code forks pull from Open VSX. The id is the same as on the Marketplace.
AI agents
npx -y dates-le-mcpRuns Dates-LE's engine as an MCP server, so an agent can call extract_dates with no editor involved. VS Code 1.101+ needs nothing — the extension registers it for you.
Channels
Where it ships
One engine, 5 places to get it. Copy the one for the editor you use.
Links
Where Dates-LE lives
- VS Code Marketplacedates-le
- Open VSXfor Cursor, Windsurf and VSCodium
- npmdates-le-mcp
- GitHubsource, issues, changelog
- MCP registryio.github.nolindnaidoo/dates-le
The family
The other 16
String-LEExtract every string in a codebase, so a person can read them
Numbers-LEExtract every hardcoded number in a codebase, so a person can check them
Paths-LEExtract every file path in a codebase, and say whether it still points at anything
Colors-LEExtract every color in a codebase, and say which ones are not in your palette
URLs-LEExtract every URL in a codebase, with its protocol and exact position
Units-LEExtract every quantity with its unit, normalized, and refuse the ambiguous ones by name
IDs-LEExtract every UUID, ULID, NanoID, ObjectId and Snowflake, and decode the time inside
IPs-LEExtract every IP address, CIDR block and MAC, normalized and classified by scope
Regex-LEFind every regex in a codebase, and report which can be driven into catastrophic backtracking
Scrape-LECheck whether a page is scrapeable before the scraper is written, and say when it cannot tell
Versions-LEFind where one dependency is constrained differently across a repository's manifests
i18n-LEIdentify the i18n library a project uses, then audit its catalogs by that library's rules
DecisionLintLint Jev and Luna questions before they are sent: the questions you write for TypeSafe's Jev, OpenAI's Decisions API (gpt-6-luna) or any platform that serves one, as you type, with no API key and no network calls. An optional command asks the model itself to check a file
Secrets-LEFind hardcoded credentials in a codebase, and never print one into the report
EnvSync-LECompare the dotenv files in a tree, and say which keys are missing from which
Unicode-LEFind the Unicode that hides meaning — bidi controls, invisibles, homoglyphs, mixed scripts