Timestamp Formatter

The pack's Timestamp Generator is for "now." This one is for everything else - the timestamp that arrived in a filename, in metadata, from an API response, in a spreadsheet row. AutoFlowTimestampFormatter (shown as "Timestamp Formatter") parses an existing string and re-emits it in a different shape. It's the boring, unglamorous normalization step that makes a mixed pile of dates comparable.

Mechanically it's datetime.strptime(timestamp, input_format) followed by a strftime to the target format. The critical thing to internalize: input_format is Python strftime syntax, and matching is strict. Feed it 2025-07-05 01:43:05 with the default %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S and it's happy. Feed it 20250705014305 with that same input format and you'll get your original string back untouched - the node catches the parse error, logs Timestamp format error to the console, and passes the input through rather than crashing.

That silent-ish pass-through is the trap. If your output looks unchanged, your input_format is wrong, not the node. The good news is you get a console line telling you exactly that.

Inputs:

• timestamp - the string you want converted.
• input_format - the strftime pattern the input must match. Default %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.
• output_format - a preset from the same filesystem-safe menu as the Generator (seven choices, from YYYYMMDDHHMMSS to readable to iso_safe).
• custom_output_format - optional raw strftime that overrides the preset.

The single output is formatted_timestamp (a STRING).

A concrete example: you've got a file named render_20250705_014305.png. Set input_format to %Y%m%d_%H%M%S, pick readable as the output, and you get 2025Jul05_014305 - good for sorting, logging, or re-keying a list of files that arrived in inconsistent formats. Since the output presets are all filesystem-safe, you can also feed the result straight back into a filename builder.

Think of the two timestamp nodes as a pair: Generator produces, Formatter normalizes. String together a few mixed-source timestamps through the Formatter and suddenly you can sort or dedupe them instead of squinting at them.

Install

It's part of the ComfyUI-AutoFlow pack. Install via ComfyUI Manager (search ComfyUI-AutoFlow) or:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/ZXL-Xinram/ComfyUI-AutoFlow

Restart ComfyUI, then find it under the AutoFlow category. No dependencies beyond Python's stdlib datetime, no downloads. The only pack-wide catch is the video nodes importing opencv-python at load time - a stock ComfyUI ships it, but if your environment lacks it, the whole pack (this node included) won't register.

Troubleshooting

Output unchanged? Your input_format doesn't match the string - check the console for Timestamp format error and adjust the pattern. Two-digit years need %y, not %Y. Seconds are %S, minutes %M, months %m - the usual strftime mix-ups bite here exactly as hard as they do anywhere else.