ngrok inspection API returns UTC timestamps while dashboard shows local time

Resolution

There is currently no configuration flag, YAML setting, or API parameter that allows ngrok to emit timestamps in a specific local time zone. The inspection API (/api/requests) and log files are designed to provide a universal source of truth by strictly using UTC (ISO-8601 format ending in “Z”).

Technical Explanation

The discrepancy between the API and the dashboard is a result of where the data transformation occurs:

• The API: Returns raw data from the ngrok cloud backend. To maintain consistency across global regions, the backend emits timestamps in UTC.
• The Dashboard: This is a client-side application. It fetches the same UTC data from the API but uses browser-based JavaScript to detect your local system's time zone and offset the display accordingly.

Programmatic Conversion

Since the server-side output cannot be changed, consumers must handle the conversion in their own processing logic. Because the API uses the ISO-8601 standard, most modern languages can parse these strings natively without manual regex.

Example: Python

from datetime import datetime
import pytz

# Example API timestamp
utc_time_str = "2026-10-19T09:02:26Z"

# Parse UTC string and localize to a specific zone
utc_dt = datetime.fromisoformat(utc_time_str.replace('Z', '+00:00'))
local_tz = pytz.timezone('America/New_York')
local_dt = utc_dt.astimezone(local_tz)

print(local_dt.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z'))

Example: Node.js

const utcDate = new Date("2026-10-19T09:02:26Z");

// Convert to a specific locale string
console.log(utcDate.toLocaleString("en-US", { timeZone: "America/New_York" }));

Verification

To verify that your conversion logic is accurate, you can perform a side-by-side check:

1. Call GET /api/requests and note the timestamp of a specific request.
2. Open the ngrok web dashboard and locate the same request.
3. Confirm that the difference between the API's "Z" time and the dashboard's displayed time matches your local system's UTC offset.

Diagnostic Detail: Are you consuming these logs via a third-party SIEM or log aggregator? If so, the conversion should typically be handled at the ingestion layer (e.g., Logstash or Fluentd) rather than in the script fetching the API data.