Configure Timezones for Your Tests

Many applications display dates, schedule events, or trigger time-sensitive logic based on the user's timezone. TestMu AI lets you set the timezone on the test VM using the timezone capability in LT:Options, so you can validate timezone-dependent behavior without changing your local machine settings. The capability accepts UTC offset strings (e.g., UTC+05:30).

Set the Timezone Using the `timezone` Capability

Pass a UTC offset string in LT:Options to configure the test VM's system timezone.

Add the timezone capability to your LT:Options configuration. The value is a UTC offset string in the format UTC+HH:MM or UTC-HH:MM (e.g., UTC+05:30). The default is UTC+00:00.

TimezoneTest.java
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.HashMap;

public class TimezoneTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        ChromeOptions browserOptions = new ChromeOptions();
        browserOptions.setPlatformName("Windows 11");
        browserOptions.setBrowserVersion("latest");

        HashMap<String, Object> ltOptions = new HashMap<>();
        ltOptions.put("username", System.getenv("LT_USERNAME"));
        ltOptions.put("accessKey", System.getenv("LT_ACCESS_KEY"));
        ltOptions.put("timezone", "UTC-05:00");
        ltOptions.put("project", "Timezone Test");
        browserOptions.setCapability("LT:Options", ltOptions);

        RemoteWebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(
            new URL("https://hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub"), browserOptions);
        driver.get("https://example.com");
        driver.quit();
    }
}

timezone-test.js
const { Builder } = require("selenium-webdriver");
const chrome = require("selenium-webdriver/chrome");

(async function timezoneTest() {
  let options = new chrome.Options();
  options.setPlatform("Windows 11");
  options.setBrowserVersion("latest");

  let ltOptions = {
    username: process.env.LT_USERNAME,
    accessKey: process.env.LT_ACCESS_KEY,
    timezone: "UTC-05:00",
    project: "Timezone Test",
  };

  const driver = await new Builder()
    .usingServer("https://hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub")
    .withCapabilities({ ...options.toJSON(), "LT:Options": ltOptions })
    .build();

  await driver.get("https://example.com");
  await driver.quit();
})();

timezone_test.py
import os
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

options = Options()
options.platform_name = "Windows 11"
options.browser_version = "latest"

lt_options = {
    "username": os.environ["LT_USERNAME"],
    "accessKey": os.environ["LT_ACCESS_KEY"],
    "timezone": "UTC-05:00",
    "project": "Timezone Test",
}
options.set_capability("LT:Options", lt_options)

driver = webdriver.Remote(
    command_executor="https://hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub",
    options=options,
)
driver.get("https://example.com")
driver.quit()

TimezoneTest.cs
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Remote;

ChromeOptions browserOptions = new ChromeOptions();
browserOptions.PlatformName = "Windows 11";
browserOptions.BrowserVersion = "latest";

Dictionary<string, object> ltOptions = new Dictionary<string, object>();
ltOptions.Add("username", Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("LT_USERNAME"));
ltOptions.Add("accessKey", Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("LT_ACCESS_KEY"));
ltOptions.Add("timezone", "UTC-05:00");
ltOptions.Add("project", "Timezone Test");
browserOptions.AddAdditionalOption("LT:Options", ltOptions);

IWebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(
    new Uri("https://hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub"), browserOptions);
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
driver.Quit();

TimezoneTest.php
<?php
use Facebook\WebDriver\Remote\RemoteWebDriver;
use Facebook\WebDriver\Remote\DesiredCapabilities;

$capabilities = DesiredCapabilities::chrome();
$capabilities->setPlatform("Windows 11");
$capabilities->setCapability("browserVersion", "latest");

$ltOptions = [
    "username" => getenv("LT_USERNAME"),
    "accessKey" => getenv("LT_ACCESS_KEY"),
    "timezone" => "UTC-05:00",
    "project" => "Timezone Test",
];
$capabilities->setCapability("LT:Options", $ltOptions);

$driver = RemoteWebDriver::create(
    "https://hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub", $capabilities);
$driver->get("https://example.com");
$driver->quit();

timezone_test.rb
require "selenium-webdriver"

options = Selenium::WebDriver::Options.chrome(
  platform_name: "Windows 11",
  browser_version: "latest",
  "LT:Options" => {
    username: ENV["LT_USERNAME"],
    accessKey: ENV["LT_ACCESS_KEY"],
    timezone: "UTC-05:00",
    project: "Timezone Test",
  }
)

driver = Selenium::WebDriver.for(
  :remote,
  url: "https://hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub",
  capabilities: options,
)
driver.navigate.to("https://example.com")
driver.quit

Common Timezone Values

Use these UTC offset strings with the timezone capability.

Value	Region
`UTC+00:00`	London, Coordinated Universal Time
`UTC-05:00`	New York, Washington D.C. (US Eastern)
`UTC-08:00`	Los Angeles, San Francisco (US Pacific)
`UTC+01:00`	Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam
`UTC+05:30`	Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore
`UTC+09:00`	Tokyo, Osaka
`UTC+11:00`	Sydney, Melbourne
`UTC+08:00`	Singapore, Hong Kong, Perth
`UTC-03:00`	Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires
`UTC+03:00`	Moscow, Istanbul

note

The timezone capability is case sensitive. Use the exact format UTC+HH:MM or UTC-HH:MM.

When to Configure Timezones

Set the timezone capability when your test validates time-sensitive application behavior.

Consider setting the timezone capability in these scenarios:

Scheduled events. Verify that calendar events, reminders, or notifications fire at the correct local time.
Date formatting. Confirm that dates and timestamps render in the expected format for a given locale.
Time-based business logic. Test features like cutoff times, availability windows, or session expiration that depend on the user's timezone.
Cross-timezone consistency. Run the same test suite across multiple timezones to catch discrepancies in time-dependent logic.

tip

Combine the timezone capability with geolocation to simulate a complete locale environment for your tests.