Seed Data with Realistic Date and Timestamp Ranges

Date and Timestamp Generation

Date and time columns are critical for testing time-based queries, sorting, and display formatting. The seed generator produces dates within a realistic range to make test data behave like production data.

Supported Date Types

SQL Type	Example Output
DATE	'2023-07-15'
TIMESTAMP	'2022-11-03 14:27:38'
DATETIME	'2024-02-19 09:45:12'
TIMESTAMPTZ	'2021-08-22 18:03:51'
TIME	'14:27:38'

Date Range

All generated dates fall within the range 2020–2025. This range is wide enough to test date filtering and sorting, while being recent enough to look realistic in a modern application. Days are capped at 28 to avoid invalid dates in February.

Column Name Heuristics for Dates

The generator does not apply date-specific name heuristics beyond what the SQL type already provides. Columns named created_at, updated_at, birth_date, or expires_on all receive dates based on their declared SQL type (TIMESTAMP, DATE, etc.).

Testing Time-Based Features

Realistic timestamps let you verify:

• Sorting: "newest first" and "oldest first" ordering
• Filtering: date range pickers, "last 30 days" filters
• Display: relative time formatting ("3 months ago")
• Pagination: cursor-based pagination using timestamps
• Timezone handling: how your app converts between UTC and local time

Null Handling for Dates

If a date column is nullable (no NOT NULL constraint), approximately 10% of rows will receive NULL instead of a date. This helps test how your UI handles missing dates in tables, cards, and detail views.