firasd/alphadec: AlphaDec, a timezone-agonistic time format for humans, machines, and AI

A timezone-agnostic, readable time format for humans, machines, and AI.

Live Clock

Example:

• AlphaDec: 2025_L0V3 (or full canonical: 2025_L0V3_000000)
• UTC: June 5th, 2025 at 13:45

AlphaDec is a shared global timestamp. If an event is scheduled for N0A0, every participant worldwide knows what that means — without converting timezones or formats.

AlphaDec in action inside an AI chat.
Every ~7.8-minute beat (t) triggers a new memory summary.
Instead of timestamps, the model sees structured time tokens like N1U0.
It doesn’t just label time — it thinks with it.

AlphaDec encodes any UTC timestamp into a readable string that sorts chronologically.
This simple concept unlocks a host of powerful emergent properties.

• Lexically Sortable: Natively time-sortable in any system that can sort strings alphabetically. Perfect for database primary keys.
• Time-Series Friendly: Truncate the string for efficient time-range queries. 2024_M finds everything in that ~14-day period.
• Human-Readable & Compact: Understand a timestamp’s approximate place in the year at a glance.
• LLM & AI-Native: Its structured, tokenizable nature makes it powerful primitive for time-based reasoning, prompt engineering, and log analysis in AI systems.
• Collision-free with ISO time: AlphaDec avoids datetime-like formats, so you never confuse an AlphaDec timestamp for a local time.

The AlphaDec string is composed of several parts:

YYYY_PaBt_MMMMMM

• YYYY: The UTC year.
• P (Period): The year is divided into 26 periods, represented by letters A through Z. Each period is roughly 14 days long.
• a (Arc): Each period is divided into 10 arcs, numbered 0 through 9. Each arc is roughly 33.7 hours long.
• B (Bar): Each arc is divided into 26 bars, A through Z. Each bar is roughly 77.8 minutes long.
• t (Beat): Each bar is divided into 10 beats, 0 through 9. Each beat is roughly 7.8 minutes long.
• MMMMMM: The number of milliseconds that have elapsed within the current beat.

This project is language-agnostic. Below are examples of how to generate an AlphaDec string.

const clock = {
  alphadec: {
    _SCALER: 1_000_000,
    _toBase26(n) {
      if (n  0 || n > 25) throw new Error("Invalid index for Base26.");
      return String.fromCharCode(65 + n);
    },
    encode(d) {
      const y = d.getUTCFullYear();
      const SCALER = this._SCALER;
      const msSinceYearStart_float = d.getTime() - Date.UTC(y, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);
      const totalScaledMsSinceYearStart = Math.floor(msSinceYearStart_float * SCALER);
      const isLeap = ((y % 4 === 0 && y % 100 !== 0) || y % 400 === 0);
      const daysInYear = isLeap ? 366 : 365;
      const yearTotalMs_float = daysInYear * 86_400_000;
      const yearTotalScaledMs = Math.floor(yearTotalMs_float * SCALER);
      const periodSizeScaled = Math.floor(yearTotalScaledMs / 26);
      const arcSizeScaled    = Math.floor(periodSizeScaled / 10);
      const barSizeScaled    = Math.floor(arcSizeScaled / 26);
      const beatSizeScaled   = Math.floor(barSizeScaled / 10);
      let remainingScaledMs = totalScaledMsSinceYearStart;
      const p_idx = Math.floor(remainingScaledMs / periodSizeScaled);
      remainingScaledMs -= p_idx * periodSizeScaled;
      const a_val = Math.floor(remainingScaledMs / arcSizeScaled);
      remainingScaledMs -= a_val * arcSizeScaled;
      const b_idx = Math.floor(remainingScaledMs / barSizeScaled);
      remainingScaledMs -= b_idx * barSizeScaled;
      const t_val = Math.floor(remainingScaledMs / beatSizeScaled);
      remainingScaledMs -= t_val * beatSizeScaled;
      const msOffsetInBeat = Math.floor(remainingScaledMs / SCALER);
      const periodLetter = this._toBase26(p_idx);
      const barLetter    = this._toBase26(b_idx);
      const canonicalMsPart = msOffsetInBeat.toString().padStart(6, "0");
      const canonical = `${y}_${periodLetter}${a_val}${barLetter}${t_val}_${canonicalMsPart}`;
      return { canonical };
    }
  }
};

/**
 * Generates a lexically sortable AlphaDec timestamp from a DateTime object.
 *
 * @param DateTime|null $datetime The datetime to encode. Defaults to UTC now.
 * @return string The canonical AlphaDec string (e.g., "2024_M5C3_123456").
 * @throws Exception If the provided datetime is invalid.
 *
 * NOTE: This function requires a 64-bit PHP environment due to large integer calculations.
 */
function generate_alphadec(DateTime $datetime = null): string {
    // If no datetime is provided, use the current time in UTC.
    if ($datetime === null) {
        $datetime = new DateTime("now", new DateTimeZone("UTC"));
    }

    $y = (int)$datetime->format("Y");
    
    // SCALER is used to perform calculations with integer math to avoid float precision issues.
    $SCALER = 1000000;

    // Calculate the total milliseconds that have passed since the beginning of the year.
    $startOfYear = new DateTime("$y-01-01T00:00:00Z");
    $msSinceYearStart = ($datetime->format('U.v') - $startOfYear->format('U.v')) * 1000;

    // Scale up for integer-based math.
    $totalScaledMsSinceYearStart = (int)floor($msSinceYearStart * $SCALER);

    // Determine the total number of milliseconds in the current year.
    $isLeap = (bool)$datetime->format('L');
    $daysInYear = $isLeap ? 366 : 365;
    $yearTotalMs = $daysInYear * 86400000;
    $yearTotalScaledMs = (int)floor($yearTotalMs * $SCALER);

    // Calculate the size of each AlphaDec time unit in scaled milliseconds.
    $periodSizeScaled = (int)floor($yearTotalScaledMs / 26); // ~14 days
    $arcSizeScaled    = (int)floor($periodSizeScaled / 10);   // ~33.7 hours
    $barSizeScaled    = (int)floor($arcSizeScaled / 26);      // ~77.8 minutes
    $beatSizeScaled   = (int)floor($barSizeScaled / 10);      // ~7.8 minutes

    // Use division and remainder to find the index of each time unit.
    $remaining = $totalScaledMsSinceYearStart;

    $p_idx = (int)floor($remaining / $periodSizeScaled); $remaining -= $p_idx * $periodSizeScaled;
    $a_val = (int)floor($remaining / $arcSizeScaled);   $remaining -= $a_val * $arcSizeScaled;
    $b_idx = (int)floor($remaining / $barSizeScaled);   $remaining -= $b_idx * $barSizeScaled;
    $t_val = (int)floor($remaining / $beatSizeScaled);  $remaining -= $t_val * $beatSizeScaled;

    // The final remainder is the millisecond offset within the current "beat".
    $msOffsetInBeat = (int)floor($remaining / $SCALER);

    // Convert numeric indices to their character representation (A-Z).
    $periodLetter = chr(65 + $p_idx);
    $barLetter    = chr(65 + $b_idx);
    
    // Format the final milliseconds part to be 6 digits, zero-padded.
    $canonicalMsPart = str_pad((string)$msOffsetInBeat, 6, "0", STR_PAD_LEFT);

    // Assemble the final canonical string.
    return "{$y}_{$periodLetter}{$a_val}{$barLetter}{$t_val}_{$canonicalMsPart}";
}
?>

While AlphaDec was designed as a verbally chunked and compressed form of UTC, the mathematical structure leads to many emergent properties.
For example:

• AlphaDec timestamps are quite rhythmic: M2L3 ticks over to M2L4, etc.
• Period F, Period M, Period S, and Period Z always bracket equinoxes and solstices, even in leap years when AlphaDec units stretch to accomodate the longer UTC year.
• AlphaDec can be used as readable, chronological ID fragments such as prefixes and suffixes.
• Version labels: Unlike “v1, v10, v2” which breaks alphabetical order, AlphaDec versions (or version prefixes) like 2025_A1B2 sort chronologically by default.

• Unit intervals explicitly change one of four characters rather than requiring calculating numeric deltas to realize that time has passed

AlphaDec encodes time hierarchically. Each additional character narrows the scope — from periods to beats to milliseconds — forming a natural prefix tree.

This structure enables:

• Time-based partitioning (e.g., logs by 2025_M)
• Fast range queries with simple string matching
• Index stability (no random insert churn like UUIDs)
• Optional semantic suffixes without breaking order

AlphaDec does not prescribe a rigid ID format. Instead, its time-based, sortable nature makes it an excellent component for building meaningful identifiers through composition.

You can use the full canonical string or truncate it to the desired precision. Combine it with prefixes or suffixes like dictionary words, counters, or random characters to suit your specific needs.

This flexibility allows you to create IDs that are both chronologically sortable and contextually rich, without sacrificing readability.

Examples:

• 2025_G0R5_todo.txt (A truncated AlphaDec timestamp followed by a semantic tag)
• 2025_R173_154329_01.png (An AlphaDec timestamp followed by a counter)
• sales_Y3.sql (A category prefix followed by a truncated AlphaDec timestamp)

AlphaDec units stretch in leap years to accommodate the extra 24 hours. Since the year is always divided into exactly 26 periods regardless of length, each time unit becomes slightly longer in leap years than in common years.

This creates temporal drift between leap and common years that accumulates throughout the year, reaching maximum separation at the midpoint at Beat N0A0 — exactly 12 hours difference.

For example, July 4th midnight demonstrates how the same calendar moment maps to different AlphaDec coordinates:

• 2025 (common): N1B7 – July 4, 2025 00:00 UTC
• 2024 (leap): N1K9 – July 4, 2024 00:00 UTC

Notice the first two characters remain the same (N1) as both dates fall within the same period and arc, but the bar-beat coordinates diverge significantly (K9 vs B7), reflecting the accumulated temporal drift.

Pure Function Design: We accept this temporal drift as a deliberate trade-off to maintain AlphaDec as a pure mathematical function of UTC year duration and milliseconds elapsed since year start, ensuring the encoding remains deterministic.

Gregorian Boundary: AlphaDec acts like a temporal compass bounded by Gregorian years. The drift simply reflects the underlying astronomical reality that July 4th occurs at different orbital positions in 365-day versus 366-day years.

• Quantization Loss: Round-trip conversion (UTC → AlphaDec → UTC) may drift by a few milliseconds due to misaligned temporal boundaries between the two time systems.
• Cross-Year Math: Arithmetic operations spanning multiple years are not supported or intended.

AlphaDec is not a replacement for ISO 8601, created_at, or your existing datetime columns.

It’s a representation — a compact, structured, and readable fingerprint of UTC time.
You still store full datetimes in your database.
You still use ISO for APIs, logs, schemas, and interop.

But when you want to name a file, index a memory, prefix a row, or group logs, you can reach for:

AlphaDec: 2025_L0V3_001827

Instead of:

ISO 8601: 2025-06-14T23:37:42.814Z

One is for machines.
One is for humans, filenames, indexes, AI models.

AlphaDec sits beside your datetime — not in place of it.

Here’s how AlphaDec compares to other systems:

• Divides the day into 1000 “.beats” (@000 to @999), anchored to UTC+1.
• Intended to be universal, but doesn’t encode the date — @000 repeats every day.
• @000 in Tokyo might be a different date than in NYC.

✅ Global
❌ Ambiguous
❌ Not hierarchical
❌ Not useful for indexing or filenames

• Used in ham radio to encode spatial positions in a compact grid (e.g., FN31pr).
• Each character increases precision, and prefixes group cleanly.

✅ Hierarchical
✅ Prefix-sortable
✅ Spatially meaningful

AlphaDec is like Maidenhead — but for time.
You can zoom in or out: Year → Period → Arc → Beat → Offset.

• Canonical format for timestamps (2025-07-21T13:42:11Z)
• Great for storage, transport, and validation.

✅ Precise
✅ Interoperable
❌ Verbose
❌ Not sort-friendly as a string (unless zero-padded)
❌ Not great for filenames or embeddings

These are modern, sortable database IDs designed to replace UUIDs. They combine a high-precision timestamp with machine IDs (Snowflake) or randomness (ULID).

They are excellent for generating unique, chronological primary keys at scale.

• ✅ Sortable
• ✅ High-performance
• ✅ Collision-resistant
• ❌ Not Glanceable: The timestamp portion is a monolithic integer, not broken down into meaningful components. You can’t tell if a ULID is from mid-year.
• ❌ Not Hierarchical: They don’t have a “time tree” structure. You can’t query for a ~14-day “Period” using a simple string prefix.
  AlphaDec focuses on human/AI legibility and hierarchical querying, whereas ULID/Snowflake focus on machine-level key generation.

Designed by Firas Durri • https://twitter.com/firasd • https://www.linkedin.com/in/firasd

Keep your files stored safely and securely with the SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable SSD. With over 69,505 ratings and an impressive 4.6 out of 5 stars, this product has been purchased over 8K+ times in the past month. At only $129.99, this Amazon’s Choice product is a must-have for secure file storage.

Help keep private content private with the included password protection featuring 256-bit AES hardware encryption. Order now for just $129.99 on Amazon!

Help Power Techcratic’s Future – Scan To Support

If Techcratic’s content and insights have helped you, consider giving back by supporting the platform with crypto. Every contribution makes a difference, whether it’s for high-quality content, server maintenance, or future updates. Techcratic is constantly evolving, and your support helps drive that progress.

As a solo operator who wears all the hats, creating content, managing the tech, and running the site, your support allows me to stay focused on delivering valuable resources. Your support keeps everything running smoothly and enables me to continue creating the content you love. I’m deeply grateful for your support, it truly means the world to me! Thank you!