influxdata/influxdb · error · Error

Cannot parse the timestamp

Error message

Cannot parse the timestamp: {0}

What it means

This error is the `ParsingTimestamp(#[from] chrono::ParseError)` variant of the HTTP server's `Error` enum in influxdb3_server/src/http.rs, rendered as "Cannot parse the timestamp: {0}". It is thrown when an RFC3339/ISO-8601 timestamp supplied in an HTTP request cannot be parsed by `chrono::DateTime::parse_from_rfc3339` (converted via `#[from]`). The chrono parse error is embedded directly as the message payload.

Solutions

1. Format the timestamp as full RFC3339 with timezone offset, e.g. `2024-09-19T12:00:00Z`
2. If you have an epoch integer, convert it to RFC3339 before sending (or use the API's epoch-accepting parameter if available)
3. Inspect the embedded chrono::ParseError message to identify the malformed component
4. Ensure the timestamp includes fractional seconds in the supported `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS[.fff]Z` form

Example fix

// before
{"start_timestamp": "2024-09-19T12:00:00"} // missing offset
// after
{"start_timestamp": "2024-09-19T12:00:00Z"}

// normalize to RFC3339 before sending
function toRfc3339(input) {
  const d = typeof input === 'number' ? new Date(input * (input < 1e12 ? 1000 : 1)) : new Date(input);
  const ts = d.toISOString(); // always RFC3339 with Z
  if (isNaN(d.getTime())) throw new Error(`not a valid date: ${input}`);
  return ts;
}

function isRfc3339(s) {
  return typeof s === 'string' && /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}(\.\d+)?(Z|[+-]\d{2}:\d{2})$/.test(s);
}

try {
  await query(db, sql, { start_timestamp: ts });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message.startsWith('Cannot parse the timestamp')) {
    throw new Error(`Timestamp '${ts}' must be RFC3339 with offset, e.g. 2024-09-19T12:00:00Z`, { cause: e });
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Supplying a `timestamp`, start/stop time, or other absolute-time HTTP parameter in a format chrono cannot parse as RFC3339 — e.g. missing timezone offset, unix epoch integer, or loose ISO-8601 variants.

Common situations: Sending a Unix epoch number (`1726800000`) where RFC3339 is required; omitting the `Z`/`+00:00` offset (`2024-09-19T12:00:00`); passing a datetime from a client library serialized in a non-RFC3339 format (e.g. Python `isoformat()` without tzinfo, JS `toISOString` is fine but `Date.toString()` is not).

Related errors

• Timestamp is out of range
• Cannot parse the given human time
• {error_code}
• failed to build an http client
• failed to parse JSON response

AI-assisted analysis of influxdata/influxdb@06200ef96b (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b1dd930ff7e0ebfc. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at influxdb3_server/src/http.rs:382

    #[error(transparent)]
    Influxdb3TypesHttp(#[from] influxdb3_types::http::Error),

    #[error("Authorization error: {0}")]
    ResourceAuthorization(#[from] ResourceAuthorizationError),

    #[error("Authentication error: {0}")]
    Authentication(#[from] AuthenticatorError),

    #[error("The following Database does not exist: {0}")]
    MissingDb(String),

    #[error("The following Database Table does not exist: {0}")]
    MissingTable(String),

    #[error("Cannot parse the given human time: {0}")]
    ParsingHumanTime(#[source] humantime::DurationError),

    #[error("Cannot parse the timestamp: {0}")]
    ParsingTimestamp(#[from] chrono::ParseError),

    #[error("Timestamp is out of range")]
    TimestampOutOfRange,

    #[error("Current node mode does not use the processing engine")]
    NoProcessingEngine,

    #[error("invalid request: {0}")]
    InvalidRequest(String),

    #[error(transparent)]
    LegacyWriteParse(#[from] WriteParseError),
}

#[derive(Debug, Error)]
pub(crate) enum AuthenticationError {
    #[error("the request was not authenticated")]

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