GitHub WEB, set "GIT_COMMITTER_DATE" and "GIT_AUTHOR_DATE" timezone offset (UTC)

[omnigenous]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Product Feedback

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Apps

Body

I couldn't find and option to do this in settings. Only option to display timezone offset in your profile for other users to see.

I'm mostly concerned about merging PRs in WEB UI or with github-cli. Relevant github-cli issue: cli/cli#13704

"TZ=UTC gh pr merge ..." seems to work but I'm not 100% sure why and how, see issue linked above. And I have found no way to set timezone offset to utc/0 in GitHub WEB.

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[revolover00]

Hi — Short answer: there isn’t a built-in Web UI setting to force timestamps to UTC for your view; the times you see on the web are rendered in your browser/system timezone, and the profile timezone offset only shows to other users — it doesn’t change the UI rendering.

Practical workarounds

• gh CLI (client-side): run the command with TZ=UTC so gh renders timestamps in UTC:

  # Bash/sh (one-off)
  TZ=UTC gh pr merge <PR>
  
  # Export for the session
  export TZ=UTC
  gh pr merge <PR>

  # PowerShell (session)
  $env:TZ = 'UTC'
  gh pr merge <PR>

  :: cmd.exe (one-liner)
  set TZ=UTC && gh pr merge <PR>

• Web UI alternatives:

  • Temporarily set your system timezone to UTC.
  • In Chrome DevTools: More tools → Sensors → Timezone override → choose UTC (affects only that tab).

• If you need persistent team-wide UTC views, these are client-side hacks only — GitHub would need a product setting to change the server-to-client display behavior.

Why TZ=UTC works

• GitHub stores timestamps in UTC on the server; the client (gh or the browser) formats them using the client environment. Setting TZ affects how the client renders the timestamp, not how it’s stored.

Suggested product request

• If you want a stable solution, consider filing Product Feedback asking for a per-account or org-level “display timestamps in UTC” option (or supporting a fixed offset). That would solve the UX confusion for distributed teams.

Next steps / Offer

If you’d like, I can:

• Draft a short Feature Request text you can post, or
• Add a supportive comment on the linked cli/cli#13704 issue.