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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/atulin/forged/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Forged’s temporal extension methods let you post-process any Generator<DateTime> without reaching for .Refine() by hand. They are declared in DateTimeGeneratorExtensions using the C# 14 extension member syntax and cover the four most common tasks when shaping date-time data: normalising the DateTimeKind, extracting only the date or time component, and stripping the time portion entirely.
These extensions are defined on Generator<DateTime> specifically. They are not available on Generator<DateTimeOffset>, Generator<DateOnly>, or Generator<TimeOnly>. Use .Refine() for those types.

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Timezone / kind normalisation

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.ToUtc()

Marks the generated DateTime as UTC by applying DateTime.SpecifyKind(value, DateTimeKind.Utc). The date and time components are not shifted — only the Kind property changes. Returns Generator<DateTime> 
CreatedAt = f => f.Temporal.Past().ToUtc(),

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.ToLocal()

Marks the generated DateTime as local time by applying DateTime.SpecifyKind(value, DateTimeKind.Local). As with .ToUtc(), the numeric date/time values are unchanged. Returns Generator<DateTime> 
LastLoginAt = f => f.Temporal.Recent(30).ToLocal(),

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Component extraction

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.ToDateOnly()

Extracts only the date portion of the generated DateTime via DateOnly.FromDateTime(value), discarding all time-of-day information. Returns Generator<DateOnly> 
BirthDate = f => f.Temporal.Past(DateTime.Now.AddYears(-80)).ToDateOnly(),

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.ToTimeOnly()

Extracts only the time-of-day portion of the generated DateTime via TimeOnly.FromDateTime(value), discarding the date. Returns Generator<TimeOnly> 
AppointmentTime = f => f.Temporal.Between(
    DateTime.Today,
    DateTime.Today.AddHours(23)
).ToTimeOnly(),

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Truncation

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.TruncateToDate()

Returns a DateTime whose time component is set to midnight (00:00:00.000) by reading the .Date property of the generated value. The DateTimeKind of the original value is preserved. Returns Generator<DateTime> 
StartOfDay = f => f.Temporal.Between(
    DateTime.Now.AddDays(-7),
    DateTime.Now
).TruncateToDate(),

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Combining extensions

Temporal extensions return a new Generator<DateTime> (or Generator<DateOnly> / Generator<TimeOnly>) and can be chained with any other modifier in the pipeline. 
CreatedAt = f => f.Temporal.Past().ToUtc(),
To produce a nullable date — for example an optional DeletedAt column — chain .OrDefault(probability) after a temporal extension:
DeletedAt = f => f.Temporal.Past().ToUtc().OrDefault(0.8f),
This yields a non-null UTC DateTime 20 % of the time and null 80 % of the time.

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