Luxon
A JavaScript library for working with dates, times, and time zones.
- Stars
- 16.5k
- Forks
- 812
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- JavaScript
- Last update
- 3 months ago
- Type
- Library
What it is
Luxon is a JavaScript library for handling dates and times. It provides DateTime, Duration, and Interval types, and uses the browser or runtime's built-in Intl and time zone support rather than bundling its own locale or time zone data. Developers use it to parse, format, and do math on dates in a chainable, immutable way.
- Get the current time in a named time zone such as America/New_York and shift it by weeks or days
- Parse date strings in custom formats and output them as ISO 8601 text
- Compute durations and intervals between two points in time
- Format dates for different locales using built-in Intl support
Great for
- JavaScript developers who need to work with dates and time zones in an app
- Teams moving away from Moment.js, since the README has a guide for Moment users
- Projects that want to avoid shipping large locale or time zone data files
Not ideal for
- Non-developers, since it is a code library and needs to be called from a program
- Projects that cannot rely on the platform's Intl and time zone support, since Luxon uses it rather than bundling its own data
- Anyone who only needs a simple date display and not a library dependency
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
Install from npm (package name from npm badge link)
npm install luxon - 2
Run it
- Install the package with npm install luxon
- Import DateTime from luxon in your JavaScript file
- Call DateTime.now() to get the current date and time
- Chain methods such as setZone and minus to adjust the value, then call toISO() to output it
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Read the Quick tour and API docs on the project homepage for the full set of methods
- Use the Moment users guide if migrating from Moment.js
- Review the Intl-based formatting options for locale-specific output
- Check the upgrade guide to Luxon 3.0 when moving between major versions
Downloads
Strengths
- Immutable, chainable API that the README describes as unambiguous
- Uses native time zone and Intl support, so no separate locale or time zone files are needed
- MIT licensed with a large star count and documented API and upgrade guide
Trade-offs
- Depends on the runtime's Intl and time zone support, so behavior can vary across environments (inferred from the feature description)
- The README does not list a latest release, and the project mentions planning a major version 4.0, so check the current status before adopting
- The README is brief; detailed usage is on the external documentation site
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| luxon (this) | 16.5k | Library | beginner | 3 months ago | JavaScript developers who need to work with dates and time zones in an app |
| dayjs | 48.7k | Library | beginner | 2 months ago | JavaScript developers who used Moment.js and want a smaller library |
| flatpickr | 16.5k | Library | beginner | 2.3 years ago | Web developers who need a date or time input in a JavaScript app |
| react-dates | 12.2k | Library | intermediate | 2.6 years ago | React developers who need a date or date-range picker in a web app |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.