# Date and Time Display Component

## Objective

Render every date and time through one component so none of them are ambiguous.

A single shared way of displaying dates and times, covering absolute format, time zone, and optional relative phrasing.

## Before You Begin

This feature is being added to an application that already exists and already
works. Do not scaffold a new project, and do not assume a blank slate.

Inspect the codebase first and establish:

- The existing application structure and where code of this kind already lives.
- The framework and version in use.
- The existing design system — colours, spacing, typography, and component conventions.
- Existing UI components you can reuse instead of writing new ones.
- The existing database structure, if this feature needs to persist anything.
- The existing authentication and authorization system, if this feature is user-scoped.
- Dependencies already installed, so you don't add a library that duplicates one.
- The existing test setup and conventions.

Only start writing code once you understand the above. If the application
already implements part of this feature, extend it rather than replacing it.

## Implementation Instructions

1. Find every place the app renders a date or a time — tables, activity feeds, audit logs, exports, emails, tooltips — and route them all through one display path rather than formatting at each call site.
2. Never render an all-numeric date whose day and month could be swapped. Spell or abbreviate the month, or use an unambiguous ordering consistently, because a reader has no way to tell 04/07 from 07/04.
3. State the time zone whenever the value is a specific moment rather than a calendar day, and be explicit about whose zone it is — the viewer's, the record's, or the account's — rather than leaving it implied.
4. Where a relative phrase is shown, keep the exact timestamp reachable on hover, on focus, and to assistive technology, so nobody has to guess what two months ago means.
5. Do not compute relative phrasing during server rendering. The server and the browser will disagree about now, producing a mismatch on hydration and a value that is already wrong when it reaches the page.

## UI and UX Requirements

Match the application's existing design system exactly. Reuse its components,
spacing, and typography. This feature should look like it was always there.

## Responsive Requirements

Works on mobile, tablet, and desktop. Touch targets are large enough to hit on a
phone, and nothing overflows horizontally at 320px.

## Accessibility Requirements

- Fully keyboard navigable.
- Correct semantic elements and ARIA roles.
- Visible focus states.
- Meets WCAG AA contrast.
- Dynamic changes are announced to screen readers.
- Respects prefers-reduced-motion.

## Edge Cases

- All-numeric dates are read differently in different regions, and a date that could be either is worse than a longer one that is clear.
- A missing, null, or unparseable value must render a defined placeholder rather than an error string or a date at the epoch, and a timestamp in the future must not be phrased as though it has already happened.
- Relative phrasing misleads at both extremes: last week is fine, three years ago on a legal record is not. Use absolute format past a defined threshold and always keep the exact value available.
- Server-rendered output must be stable and identical to the first client render; anything depending on the current time has to settle after mount.
- A date-only value has no time zone and must not be shifted by one. Converting a birthday or an invoice date into the viewer's zone moves it by a day.
- Relative labels must update while the page stays open, without a timer per row on a long list.
- Numeric quantities, counts, and percentages are handled by Number Formatting Component; this component owns only temporal values.

## Testing

Exercise the feature end to end in the running application. Cover every edge case
above, then run the existing test suite and confirm nothing regressed.

## Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] Every date and time in the app renders through the shared component.
- [ ] No displayed date can be read as two different calendar dates.
- [ ] Moments in time carry an explicit time zone and a stated frame of reference.
- [ ] The exact timestamp is available wherever a relative phrase is shown, including to screen readers.
- [ ] Null, invalid, and future values render defined states rather than errors or nonsense.
- [ ] Server-rendered and client-rendered output match on first paint.
- [ ] The feature matches the existing design system.
- [ ] No existing functionality is broken.

## Adaptation Rules

- Match the existing design system. Do not introduce a new colour palette,
  spacing scale, or component library.
- Reuse existing components and utilities wherever they fit.
- Follow the naming, file layout, and code style already present.
- Do not upgrade, replace, or remove existing dependencies to make this
  feature fit. Adapt the feature to the app, not the app to the feature.
- Do not break existing functionality. If a change is genuinely required in
  existing code, make the smallest one that works and say so.
- If something in these instructions conflicts with how the application is
  built, follow the application and explain the deviation.

## Final Verification

Before you report the work as done:

1. Re-read the acceptance criteria above and check each one against what you
   actually built.
2. Run the application and exercise the feature end to end.
3. Run the existing test suite and confirm you have broken nothing.
4. Check the feature on mobile, tablet, and desktop widths.
5. Check keyboard navigation and focus handling.
6. Summarize what changed: files added, files modified, and anything you
   deliberately did differently because of how this application is built.

If any acceptance criterion is unmet, fix it before reporting completion.