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How to change git author date

Author date is the timestamp attached to the person who wrote the change. If it is wrong — wrong timezone, drifted clock, or commits under the wrong identity — you can fix it across a branch with git-edit-date.

Author date vs committer date

Git stores two timestamps. Author date is when the work was written. Committer date is when the commit object was created (rebase, cherry-pick, and amend often update only the committer date). See author date vs commit date for the full difference.

Change author date with CSV

  1. Export: git-edit-date export -o commits.csv
  2. Edit author_date (RFC3339 with timezone). Optionally fix author_name and author_email in the same rows.
  3. Apply: git-edit-date apply -file=commits.csv
  4. If already pushed: git push --force-with-lease

Step-by-step screenshots of the flow: tutorial — edit the CSV.

When amend is enough

To change author date on the latest commit only, you can use GIT_AUTHOR_DATE=… git commit --amend --no-edit. For older commits or many rows, use the CSV workflow — see change last commit date.

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