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Oct 17, 2025
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chore: add detail on timestamp vs created_at #13188

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10 changes: 10 additions & 0 deletions contents/docs/data/events.mdx
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Expand Up @@ -120,6 +120,16 @@ Below is a list of some of the properties that PostHog captures by default in cl
| Plugins Deferred | `$plugins_deferred` | `['plugin4']` |
| IP Address | `$ip` | `192.168.1.1` |

### Different timestamp properties

An event has 2 `DATETIME` type fields - `timestamp` and `created_at`.

The `timestamp` field is the time at which your app or website has made the SDK call to capture the event. It defaults to `now()`, unless specified on the SDK call.

The `created_at` field is the time at which our server received the event and started processing it.

Generally, work with and build insights and queries with `timestamp` and only reach for `created_at` if you're investigating the difference between the two.

## Managing event definitions

On the [events management page](https://us.posthog.com/data-management/events), you can edit event tags and descriptions. These show up when searching for events throughout PostHog and provide more context about the purpose of the event.
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4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions contents/docs/how-posthog-works/data-model.mdx
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Expand Up @@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ Each event contains the following base fields within ClickHouse:
| **distinct_id** | `VARCHAR` | The unique or anonymous ID of the user that triggered the event. |
| **properties** | `VARCHAR` | Any key: value pairs in a dict.<br />- `$current_url` - we use this in a couple of places (like `/paths`, `/events`) as the URL the user was visiting at that time. |
| **elements\_\*** | Various | Columns used for `$autocapture` to track which DOM element was clicked on |
| **timestamp** | `DateTime64(6, 'UTC')` | Defaults to timezone.now at ingestion time if not set |
| **created_at** | `DateTime64(6, 'UTC')` | The timestamp for when the event was ingested |
| **timestamp** | `DateTime64(6, 'UTC')` | Defaults to timezone.now when the event is captured if not set |
| **created_at** | `DateTime64(6, 'UTC')` | The timestamp for when the event was ingested by our server |
| **person_id** | `UUID` | This is the `id` of the [Person](#person) that sent this event |
| **person_created_at** | `DateTime64(3)` | The timestamp of the earliest event associated with this person |
| **person_properties** | `VARCHAR` | A JSON object with all the properties for a user, which can be altered using the `$set`, `$set_once`, and `$unset` arguments |
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