What is the Temporal API and what problem does it solve?

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Answer

Temporal is a modern proposal/API for date and time handling designed to replace the flawed, mutable Date object with immutable, explicit types (PlainDate, ZonedDateTime, Duration, etc.) that handle time zones and calendars correctly by design.

// Temporal (where available):
const date = Temporal.PlainDate.from('2026-08-08');
const later = date.add({ days: 7 });
console.log(later.toString()); // '2026-08-15'

Real-world example Building a scheduling app where date math needs to be reliably correct across time zones and calendar edge cases.

Common follow-ups: Why has adoption of Temporal been gradual across browsers?

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