delorean
library for manipulating datetimes with ease and clarity
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you work frequently with datetimes and timezones in Python. The low install friction, active maintenance, MIT license, and clean API make it a practical choice for reducing datetime-related complexity. Not necessary for simple, timezone-naive use cases, but worthwhile for applications that juggle multiple timezones or need readable time output.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.10 or later.
- Low friction install with four lightweight runtime dependencies (babel, humanize, python-dateutil, tzlocal).
- Active maintenance with a recent release (13 days ago) and steady repository activity.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.
last release 2026-08-01 (13 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-01 · 1,822 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 114,790 downloads/mo, #12,280 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install delorean
from delorean import Delorean
d = Delorean()
d = d.shift('US/Eastern')
print(d)- Whether natural language time parsing (e.g., 'next Tuesday') is supported beyond timezone shifting.
- Performance characteristics when handling large batches of datetime operations.
- Extent of timezone database coverage and update frequency.
What it is and what it does
Delorean is a datetime manipulation library that abstracts away the complexity of Python's standard datetime and timezone handling. It builds on python-dateutil and zoneinfo to provide a simpler, more intuitive API for common tasks like shifting between timezones, manipulating dates, and creating datetime objects. Rather than chaining multiple imports and method calls, you work with Delorean objects that handle the boilerplate—timezone conversions, localization, and arithmetic become single-line operations.
The library targets developers who find Python's native datetime API verbose or error-prone, especially when working across timezones or performing repeated date manipulations. It integrates humanize for readable time representations and babel for locale-aware formatting, making it useful in applications that need both programmatic precision and human-friendly output.
Use it for
- Convert and display times across multiple timezones in web applications or APIs.
- Simplify date arithmetic (e.g., shifting a datetime forward or backward) in scheduling or reporting code.
- Generate human-readable timestamps and relative time strings in logs or user interfaces.
- Handle timezone-aware datetime creation and manipulation in data pipelines.
- Build timezone-sensitive business logic without repeated dateutil boilerplate.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you work frequently with datetimes and timezones in Python.
The low install friction, active maintenance, MIT license, and clean API make it a practical choice for reducing datetime-related complexity. Not necessary for simple, timezone-naive use cases, but worthwhile for applications that juggle multiple timezones or need readable time output.
Install
delorean on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction install with four lightweight runtime dependencies (babel, humanize, python-dateutil, tzlocal). Active maintenance with a recent release (13 days ago) and steady repository activity.
Requires Python 3.10 or later.
License in practice
MIT license permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.
Quickstart
pip install delorean
from delorean import Delorean
d = Delorean()
d = d.shift('US/Eastern')
print(d)Verify before relying
- Whether natural language time parsing (e.g., 'next Tuesday') is supported beyond timezone shifting.
- Performance characteristics when handling large batches of datetime operations.
- Extent of timezone database coverage and update frequency.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 4 packagesbabelhumanizepython-dateutiltzlocal |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 13 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 114,790 / month, #12,280 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 4 - BetaIntended Audience :: DevelopersNatural Language :: EnglishProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules |
Evidence: delorean-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl
Tags
Let your AI agent find packages like this
Example. Real query, live index.
You found this page by searching. An agent finds it by wishing: SkillFed indexes 14,416 PyPI packages by what they can do, searchable in plain language.
wish › “python datetime manipulation”
- deloreanDelorean simplifies Python datetime manipulation by wrapping the…
- pendulumPendulum provides an enhanced datetime API for Python that handles…
- arrowArrow provides a simpler, more intuitive API for creating,…
Give your agent the search over MCP, or paste the wish link into any chat.
More Python Modules packages
Converts domain names between Unicode and ASCII-compatible encoding (Punycode) according to IDNA 2008 and Unicode Technical Standard 46, with security validation and broader script coverage than the standard library.
Install it if you work with internationalized domain names, need to validate domains, or use HTTP clients that depend on it transitively.
Setuptools is a Python build backend and package management tool that handles building, distributing, and installing Python packages, including support for C/C++ extension modules.
PyYAML parses and emits YAML 1.1 data format, enabling serialization and deserialization of configuration files and Python objects to and from human-readable YAML text.
Pydantic validates Python data structures against type hints, coercing and checking input at runtime to ensure it matches a declared schema.
Provides reusable metadata objects for use with PEP-593 `typing.Annotated` to express common constraints like bounds, collection sizes, and predicates on types.
Install it if you use or build libraries that need to express type constraints in a standardized, inspectable way—or if you want to annotate your own types with…
Provides runtime tools to inspect and introspect Python type annotations, enabling programmatic examination of type hints at execution time.
See also arrow · pendulum · python-dateutil · times · maya · DateTime · moment · dateutils · backports.zoneinfo · freezegun