EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime

Adds native support to EntityFrameworkCore for SQL Server for the NodaTime types.

When modelling, usage of the following NodaTime types are supported:

• Instant
• OffsetDateTime
• LocalDateTime
• LocalDate
• LocalTime
• Duration (stored as time in SQL Server which limits this type to < 24 hours)

When querying, standard operators are supported as well as a range of additional mappings from NodaTime properties/function to their SQL Server equivalents.

Unit Tests

All types and their methods have unit tests written to verify that the SQL is translated as expected. See individual tests for more information.

Note: To run the unit tests for the first time, you will need to uncomment the lines here. This ensures that the test DB is created locally.

Usage

To use, simply install the NuGet package:

Install-Package SimplerSoftware.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime

Note: Versioning follows the [major.minor] of EF Core so that it is easy to know which version to install. Ie, if you are using EF Core v5.x then you would install v5.x of this package. Build and revision numbers are not guaranteed to follow the same numbers.

Then call the UseNodaTime() method as part of your SqlServer configuration during the UseSqlServer method call:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

options.UseSqlServer("your DB Connection",
                    x => x.UseNodaTime());

Reverse Engineering (Scaffolding)

Support for reverse engineering has been added starting in v5.0.2.

The SQL Server types map as follows:

• smalldatetime -> Instant
• datetime -> Instant
• datetime2 -> Instant
• date -> LocalDate
• time -> LocalTime
• datetimeoffset -> OffsetDateTime

Additional property / function mappings

DATEADD Support

The SQL DATEADD function is supported for the following types:

• Instant (extension methods)
• OffsetDateTime (native and some extension methods)
• LocalDateTime (native and some extension methods)
• LocalDate (native and some extension methods)
• LocalTime (native and some extension methods)
• Duration (native and some extension methods)

Note: Please add a using statement in order to use the extension methods:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime.Extensions;

Supported Methods

• PlusYears
• PlusMonths
• PlusDays
• PlusHours
• PlusMinutes
• PlusSeconds
• PlusMilliseconds

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime.Extensions;

// PlusYears
await this.Db.RaceResult
    .Where(r => r.StartTime.PlusYears(1) >= Instant.FromUtc(2019, 7, 1, 1, 0))
    .ToListAsync();

// Translates to: 
// SELECT [r].[Id], [r].[EndTime], [r].[StartTime], [r].[StartTimeOffset] 
// FROM [RaceResult] AS [r] WHERE DATEADD(year, CAST(1 AS int), [r].[StartTime]) >= '2019-07-01T01:00:00.0000000Z'

DATEPART Support

The SQL DATEPART function is supported for the following types:

• Instant (extension methods)
• OffsetDateTime (native and some extension methods)
• LocalDateTime (native and some extension methods)
• LocalDate (native and some extension methods)
• LocalTime (native and some extension methods)
• Duration (native and some extension methods)

Note: Please add a using statement in order to use the extension methods:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime.Extensions;

Supported Parts

• Year
• Quarter
• Month
• DayOfYear
• Day
• Week
• WeekDay
• Hour
• Minute
• Second
• Millisecond
• Microsecond
• Nanosecond
• TzOffset
• IsoWeek

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime.Extensions;

// Compare the 'Year' DatePart
await this.Db.RaceResult
    .Where(r => r.StartTime.Year() == 2019)
    .ToListAsync();

// Translates to: 
// SELECT [r].[Id], [r].[EndTime], [r].[StartTime], [r].[StartTimeOffset] 
// FROM [RaceResult] AS [r] WHERE DATEPART(year, [r].[StartTime]) = 2019

DATEDIFF Support

The SQL DATEDIFF function is supported for the following types:

• Instant (extension methods)
• OffsetDateTime (extension methods)
• LocalDateTime (extension methods)
• LocalDate (extension methods)
• LocalTime (extension methods)
• Duration (extension methods)

Note: Please add a using statement in order to use the extension methods:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime.Extensions;

Supported Parts

• Year
• Quarter
• Month
• DayOfYear
• Day
• Week
• WeekDay
• Hour
• Minute
• Second
• Millisecond
• Microsecond
• Nanosecond
• TzOffset
• IsoWeek

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime.Extensions;

// DateDiff based on 'day'
DbFunctions dbFunctions = null;

await this.Db.Race
    .Where(r => dbFunctions.DateDiffDay(r.Date, new LocalDate(2020, 1, 1)) >= 200)
    .ToListAsync();

// Translates to: 
// SELECT [r].[Id], [r].[Date], [r].[ScheduledDuration], [r].[ScheduledStart], [r].[ScheduledStartTime]
// FROM [Race] AS [r]
// WHERE DATEDIFF(DAY, [r].[Date], '2020-01-01') >= 200

DATEDIFF_BIG Support

The SQL DATEDIFF_BIG function is supported for the following types:

• Instant (extension methods)
• OffsetDateTime (extension methods)
• LocalDateTime (extension methods)
• LocalTime (extension methods)
• Duration (extension methods)

Note: Please add a using statement in order to use the extension methods:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime.Extensions;

Supported Parts

• Second
• Millisecond
• Microsecond
• Nanosecond

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.NodaTime.Extensions;

// DateDiffBig based on 'second'
DbFunctions dbFunctions = null;

await this.Db.RaceResult
    .Where(r => dbFunctions.DateDiffBigSecond(r.StartTime, Instant.FromUtc(2019, 7, 1, 0, 0)) >= 100000)
    .ToListAsync();

// Translates to: 
// SELECT [r].[Id], [r].[EndTime], [r].[OffsetFromWinner], [r].[StartTime], [r].[StartTimeOffset]
// FROM [RaceResult] AS [r]
// WHERE DATEDIFF_BIG(SECOND, [r].[StartTime], '2019-07-01T00:00:00.0000000Z') >= CAST(100000 AS bigint)

Sponsors

Entity Framework Extensions and Dapper Plus are major sponsors and proud to contribute to the development of EFCore.SqlServer.NodaTime.

Version History

• 10.0.1 (May 8, 2026)
  • Fixed: DateTime.UtcNow and other plain System.DateTime expressions without an entity-column anchor (e.g. Select(r => DateTime.UtcNow) or Where(r => dt >= DateTime.UtcNow)) threw InvalidCastException when UseNodaTime() was registered. The type mapping plugin now defers to EF Core's default mapping source for store-type-only lookups, instead of incorrectly returning the Instant mapping for datetime/datetime2.
• 10.0.0 (November 13, 2025)
  • Release for EF Core 10
• 9.1.1 (July 5, 2025)
  • Updated the Project and Repo URL's in the package.
• 9.1.0 (Mar 14, 2025)
  • Added support for Azure SQL DB's and the AzureSqlDbContextOptionsBuilder
• 9.0.0 (Nov 20, 2024)
  • Release for EF Core 9
• 9.0.0-rc.1.24451.1 (Sept 27, 2024)
  • Release candidate 1 for EF Core 9
• 8.0.1 (April 6, 2024)
  • Added support for compiled models - #39
• 8.0.0 (November 18, 2023)
  • Release for EF Core 8
• 8.0.0-rc.1.23419.6 (September 15, 2023)
  • Release candidate 1 for EF Core 8
• 7.1.0 (August 12, 2023)
  • Added support for LocalDateTime.Date property - #35
  • Added support for OffsetDateTime.Date property
• 7.0.0 (November 9, 2022)
  • Initial release supporting EF Core 7.0.0
• 7.0.0-rc.1.22426.7 (September 25, 2022)
  • Release candidate for EF Core 7
• 6.0.1
  • Fixed an issue where an ArgumentNullException would throw if you called UseInternalServiceProvider - #27
• 6.0.0
  • Support for .Net 6 - #23
• 5.0.3
  • Fixed an issue where DateTime queries failed in some instances - #25
• 5.0.2
  • Added design time support - #16
• 5.0.1
  • Fix SqlDateTime overflow - #13
• 5.0.0
  • Support for .Net 5
• 3.1.2
  • Fixed an issue where DateTime queries failed in some instances - #25
• 3.1.1
  • Fix SqlDateTime overflow - #13
• 3.1.0
  • Sync version number with .Net Core 3.1.0