diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 4fdf3cb7..76338a2b 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ People trust SoundCraft with their recordings; a crash loses takes. **This outra
 - The audio callback never blocks, allocates in steady state, or panics.
 - Every production crate root carries `#![deny(clippy::unwrap_used, clippy::expect_used, clippy::panic, clippy::unimplemented, clippy::todo, clippy::unreachable)]`.
 - `Engine::execute` catches escaped panics and restores the document. Every crash fix lands with a regression test.
+- **Time goes through `chrono`** (workspace dependency). Never hand-roll UTC/calendar conversion (days-to-date algorithms, leap-year math); a crate owns only its output format string. The one exception is range extension: past the years chrono can represent, shift the date by whole 400-year Gregorian cycles (146,097 days, after which the calendar repeats), let chrono compute the month and day, and add the cycles back to the year (splitting seconds into hours, minutes and seconds is plain arithmetic).
 
 
 ## Architecture (layers enforced by `cargo xtask layers`)
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index d006e25c..eb578a28 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -688,6 +688,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "rand_core",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "chrono"
+version = "0.4.45"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1aa79e62e7697b8e29b513a68abacf485adcd1fe8284a4316c5ae868e6633327"
+dependencies = [
+ "num-traits",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "clang-sys"
 version = "1.9.1"
@@ -3668,6 +3677,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "soundcraft"
 version = "0.12.1"
 dependencies = [
+ "chrono",
  "eframe",
  "egui 0.37.0",
  "log",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 146f58d8..b0fda5df 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ thiserror = "2"
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive", "rc"] }
 serde_json = { version = "1", features = ["float_roundtrip"] }
 log = "0.4"
+# All date/time conversion goes through chrono (no hand-rolled calendar code beyond the 400-year range extension; AGENTS.md).
+chrono = { version = "0.4.45", default-features = false, features = ["std"] }
 rayon = "1"
 proptest = "1"
 
diff --git a/apps/soundcraft/Cargo.toml b/apps/soundcraft/Cargo.toml
index 634bf218..5dd042b9 100644
--- a/apps/soundcraft/Cargo.toml
+++ b/apps/soundcraft/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ eframe = { workspace = true, features = ["default_fonts", "wgpu", "accesskit", "
 egui.workspace = true
 serde_json.workspace = true
 log.workspace = true
+chrono.workspace = true
 
 [target.'cfg(not(target_arch = "wasm32"))'.dependencies]
 rfd.workspace = true
diff --git a/apps/soundcraft/src/logging.rs b/apps/soundcraft/src/logging.rs
index 53be177b..8209f3c2 100644
--- a/apps/soundcraft/src/logging.rs
+++ b/apps/soundcraft/src/logging.rs
@@ -112,28 +112,36 @@ fn matches(name: &str, target: &str) -> bool {
 }
 
 /// `2026-10-08T07:59:17.728Z` (UTC, milliseconds). A clock before 1970 reads as the epoch.
+/// A clock far past chrono's year range still converts (the calendar repeats every 400 years), so
+/// logging never panics and never silently resets to the epoch for a convertible instant.
 pub fn timestamp(t: SystemTime) -> String {
     let since = t.duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH).unwrap_or_default();
-    let secs = since.as_secs();
-    let (days, rem) = (secs / 86_400, secs % 86_400);
-    let (y, m, d) = civil_from_days(days);
-    format!("{y:04}-{m:02}-{d:02}T{:02}:{:02}:{:02}.{:03}Z", rem / 3600, rem % 3600 / 60, rem % 60, since.subsec_millis())
+    // Pre-1970 is clamped to the epoch by `unwrap_or_default` above. `as_secs` is `u64`; a value
+    // past `i64::MAX` seconds saturates rather than falling back to the epoch.
+    let secs = i64::try_from(since.as_secs()).unwrap_or(i64::MAX);
+    let (y, t) = utc_parts(secs, since.subsec_nanos());
+    // `{:04}` rather than `%Y`, which writes a `+` before years past 9999.
+    format!("{y:04}-{}", t.format("%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%.3fZ"))
 }
 
-/// Days since 1970-01-01 to a proleptic Gregorian (year, month, day) (Howard Hinnant's
-/// `civil_from_days`, unsigned because `timestamp` clamps at the epoch; saturating so an absurd
-/// clock can't overflow).
-fn civil_from_days(days: u64) -> (u64, u64, u64) {
-    let z = days.saturating_add(719_468);
-    let era = z / 146_097;
-    let doe = z % 146_097;
-    let yoe = (doe - doe / 1460 + doe / 36_524 - doe / 146_096) / 365;
-    let doy = doe - (365 * yoe + yoe / 4 - yoe / 100);
-    let mp = (5 * doy + 2) / 153;
-    let d = doy - (153 * mp + 2) / 5 + 1;
-    let m = if mp < 10 { mp + 3 } else { mp - 9 };
-    let y = era.saturating_mul(400).saturating_add(yoe).saturating_add(u64::from(m <= 2));
-    (y, m, d)
+/// Unix seconds (+ nanos) → (proleptic Gregorian year, the same wall-clock instant moved into
+/// chrono's range by whole 400-year cycles). The calendar repeats every 400 years (146_097 days),
+/// so month, day and time of day come from chrono and only the year is carried, which keeps every
+/// `i64` exact. Replaces the old hand-rolled `civil_from_days`; chrono is the only calendar logic.
+fn utc_parts(secs: i64, nanos: u32) -> (i64, chrono::NaiveDateTime) {
+    use chrono::Datelike;
+    let (days, sod) = (secs.div_euclid(86_400), secs.rem_euclid(86_400));
+    let (cycles, rest) = (days.div_euclid(146_097), days.rem_euclid(146_097));
+    // `rest + 719_163` (1970-01-01 is CE day 719_163) is always a valid CE day, and `sod` < 86_400.
+    let date = i32::try_from(rest + 719_163).ok().and_then(chrono::NaiveDate::from_num_days_from_ce_opt);
+    let time = u32::try_from(sod).ok().and_then(|s| chrono::NaiveTime::from_num_seconds_from_midnight_opt(s, nanos.min(999_999_999)));
+    match (date, time) {
+        (Some(d), Some(t)) => {
+            let y = i128::from(d.year()) + i128::from(cycles) * 400;
+            (i64::try_from(y).unwrap_or(if y < 0 { i64::MIN } else { i64::MAX }), d.and_time(t))
+        }
+        _ => (1970, chrono::NaiveDateTime::default()), // unreachable
+    }
 }
 
 fn numbered(dir: &Path, n: usize) -> PathBuf {
@@ -533,6 +541,20 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(timestamp(UNIX_EPOCH + Duration::from_secs(4_107_542_400)), "2100-03-01T00:00:00.000Z");
         // Before the epoch (a clock set wrong) clamps instead of panicking.
         assert_eq!(timestamp(UNIX_EPOCH - Duration::from_secs(5)), "1970-01-01T00:00:00.000Z");
+        // Past chrono's year range still converts via the 400-year cycle (the old code did too,
+        // through `civil_from_days`): never a silent reset to the epoch. Platform-safe: Windows'
+        // SystemTime can't hold this instant, so it is only checked where it exists.
+        // `u64::MAX / 2` seconds == `i64::MAX` seconds → year 292277026596 (old output).
+        if let Some(far) = UNIX_EPOCH.checked_add(Duration::from_secs(u64::MAX / 2)) {
+            assert_eq!(timestamp(far), "292277026596-12-04T15:30:07.000Z");
+        }
+        // Years past 9999 keep the plain zero-padded year (no `+`).
+        assert_eq!(timestamp(UNIX_EPOCH + Duration::from_secs(253_402_300_800)), "10000-01-01T00:00:00.000Z");
+        // 10_000_000_000_000 s is far beyond chrono's range; old output is year 318857.
+        // Windows' SystemTime holds only up to about year 30828, so this is checked where it fits.
+        if let Some(far) = UNIX_EPOCH.checked_add(Duration::from_secs(10_000_000_000_000)) {
+            assert_eq!(timestamp(far), "318857-05-20T17:46:40.000Z");
+        }
     }
 
     #[test]