date

$date

Normalize the input value as a Date. Accepts strings, numbers, Date instances, and date-field objects produced by $date-object.

• 'now' — returns the current timestamp
• '+1h', '-30m', etc. — relative offsets from now
• ISO strings and numeric epoch values are parsed automatically
• {year, month, day, ...zone} — reassembled from a $date-object output

Output type is inferred from the schema's type option:

• 'string' → ISO string
• 'number' → epoch milliseconds
• otherwise → Date instance

See $is-date for strict Date validation.