modifiedat

ModifiedAt is a timestamp attribute that records the most recent date and time when an object, such as a record, document, or resource, was modified. It is commonly used alongside a creation timestamp (createdAt) to reflect the item's lifecycle. Variants of the name include modifiedAt (camelCase), modified_at (snake_case), or, less commonly, modifiedat, depending on naming conventions in a given system.

Formats and storage commonly include ISO 8601 strings in UTC (for example, 2024-11-24T10:15:30Z), RFC 3339 timestamps, or numeric Unix timestamps (seconds or milliseconds since the epoch). Databases may store this as a TIMESTAMP, DATETIME, or equivalent type, and APIs may serialize it as ISO 8601 for interoperability.

Usage and applications: On updates that change content, the modifiedAt field is updated to the current time. This enables data synchronization between clients, supports optimistic concurrency control, and provides a human-readable indicator of recency for displays. In distributed systems, relying on server-side timestamps helps mitigate issues with client clock drift and ensures a consistent reference point.

Implementation considerations: Store times in UTC to avoid timezone-related confusion, and update the field atomically with the modification. Indexing modifiedAt can improve performance for range queries (e.g., finding recently changed records). Be mindful of privacy and security implications, as last modification times can reveal editing patterns or workload. When designing APIs, consider whether to expose modifiedAt publicly or require authentication for access.