completedAt

Completedat is a field or column name used in software systems to record the exact time an item, task, process, or operation finished. It represents the completion timestamp and is often contrasted with fields such as createdat, startedat, or updatedat, which mark other stages in an item's lifecycle. Variants of the name appear in different coding and database conventions, including completedAt (camelCase) and completed_at (snake_case).

In practice, completedat is stored as a date-time value. Common data types include datetime or timestamp attributes in relational databases, or ISO 8601 strings in APIs and document stores. Storing times in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is a common recommendation to avoid time zone confusion, with client-facing representations converted to local time as needed. Implementations should consider precision (seconds, milliseconds) and the possibility that a task may not be completed yet, in which case the field may be null.

Typical usage scenarios include task trackers, workflow engines, batch/job processing systems, order fulfillment, and event processing. A completedat value serves as a key for querying completed tasks, calculating durations, auditing, and reporting. It is often indexed to speed up range queries such as “tasks completed in the last 24 hours.”

Best practices include consistent naming conventions, clear handling of null or incomplete states, and standardized formatting for API outputs. Related fields include createdat, startedat, and updatedat, which together help describe an item's lifecycle.