diff --git a/react-openapi/index.ts b/react-openapi/index.ts
index 0dd032d..5852ac9 100644
--- a/react-openapi/index.ts
+++ b/react-openapi/index.ts
@@ -17,5 +17,6 @@ export { getApi } from "./src/hooks/useApi";
 export { useItemSse } from "./src/hooks/useItemSse";
 export { sanitizePayload } from "./src/utils/sanitize-payload";
 export type { FkResolver } from "./src/utils/sanitize-payload";
+export { formatDate, formatDateTime } from "./src/utils/datetime";
 export type { FilterComponentProps } from "./src/context/useResource";
 export type { SpecConfiguration, ResourceConfig, FieldConfig, FKFieldConfig, ResourceRelationship, ProfileOperation, ProfileComponents, AuthConfig } from "./src/types";
diff --git a/react-openapi/src/components/fields/ListCellRenderer.tsx b/react-openapi/src/components/fields/ListCellRenderer.tsx
index 598dd16..9d6e235 100644
--- a/react-openapi/src/components/fields/ListCellRenderer.tsx
+++ b/react-openapi/src/components/fields/ListCellRenderer.tsx
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { useNavigate } from "react-router-dom";
 import { Box, Typography, Chip, Avatar, Dialog, DialogTitle, DialogContent, DialogActions, Button, Grid } from "@mui/material";
 import type { FieldConfig } from "../../types";
 import { applyDisplayFormat, resolveMediaUrl } from "./utils";
+import { formatByFieldFormat } from "../../utils/datetime";
 import { InlineRefField } from "./renderers/InlineRefField";
 import { CurrencyField } from "./renderers/CurrencyField";
 import { extractFields } from "../../transformers/field-config";
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ export function ListCellRenderer({ field, value, displayFormat, basePath }: List
                   {sf.label}
                 </Typography>
                 <Typography variant="body2">
-                  {fv == null ? "—" : typeof fv === "object" ? (sf.inlineDisplayFormat ? applyDisplayFormat(fv, sf.inlineDisplayFormat) : JSON.stringify(fv)) : String(fv)}
+                  {fv == null ? "—" : typeof fv === "object" ? (sf.inlineDisplayFormat ? applyDisplayFormat(fv, sf.inlineDisplayFormat) : JSON.stringify(fv)) : formatByFieldFormat(fv, sf.format)}
                 </Typography>
               </Box>
             </Grid>
@@ -153,5 +154,5 @@ export function ListCellRenderer({ field, value, displayFormat, basePath }: List
     return <Typography variant="body2">{applyDisplayFormat(value, displayFormat ?? "")}</Typography>;
   }
 
-  return <Typography variant="body2">{String(value)}</Typography>;
+  return <Typography variant="body2">{formatByFieldFormat(value, field.format)}</Typography>;
 }
diff --git a/react-openapi/src/components/fields/renderers/DateField.tsx b/react-openapi/src/components/fields/renderers/DateField.tsx
index 8540006..5f335e7 100644
--- a/react-openapi/src/components/fields/renderers/DateField.tsx
+++ b/react-openapi/src/components/fields/renderers/DateField.tsx
@@ -10,11 +10,26 @@ interface Props {
 }
 
 export function DateField({ field, value, onChange, error }: Props) {
-  const inputType = field.format === "date" ? "date" : "datetime-local";
+  // `x-edit-as: date` renders a date-time field as a plain date picker;
+  // the picked day is submitted as midnight so the stored type is intact.
+  const editAsDate = field.format === "date" || field.editAs === "date";
 
-  const normalized = field.format === "date-time" && typeof value === "string"
-    ? value.replace(/\.\d+Z$/, "").replace(/Z$/, "")
-    : value;
+  const inputType = editAsDate ? "date" : "datetime-local";
+
+  const normalized = (() => {
+    if (field.format !== "date-time" || typeof value !== "string") return value;
+    if (editAsDate) return value.slice(0, 10);
+    return value.replace(/\.\d+Z$/, "").replace(/Z$/, "");
+  })();
+
+  const handleChange = (e: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>) => {
+    const v = e.target.value;
+    if (editAsDate && field.format === "date-time" && /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$/.test(v)) {
+      onChange(`${v}T00:00:00`);
+    } else {
+      onChange(v);
+    }
+  };
 
   return (
     <TextField
@@ -22,7 +37,7 @@ export function DateField({ field, value, onChange, error }: Props) {
       label={field.label}
       type={inputType}
       value={normalized ?? ""}
-      onChange={(e) => onChange(e.target.value)}
+      onChange={handleChange}
       error={!!error}
       helperText={error || field.description || undefined}
       placeholder={field.description || undefined}
diff --git a/react-openapi/src/components/fields/renderers/InlineRefField.tsx b/react-openapi/src/components/fields/renderers/InlineRefField.tsx
index 5a4adc6..d28a77e 100644
--- a/react-openapi/src/components/fields/renderers/InlineRefField.tsx
+++ b/react-openapi/src/components/fields/renderers/InlineRefField.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import React, { useState } from "react";
 import { Box, Typography, Chip, Dialog, DialogTitle, DialogContent, DialogActions, Button, Grid } from "@mui/material";
 import type { FieldConfig } from "../../../types";
 import { applyDisplayFormat } from "../utils";
+import { formatByFieldFormat } from "../../../utils/datetime";
 import { extractFields } from "../../../transformers/field-config";
 import { useAppContext } from "../../../context/AppContext";
 
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ export function InlineRefField({ field, value }: Props) {
                   <Typography variant="caption" color="text.secondary" fontWeight={600} sx={{ mb: 0.25, display: "block" }}>
                     {sf.label}
                   </Typography>
-                  <Typography variant="body2">{value?.[sf.name] == null ? "—" : typeof value[sf.name] === "object" ? (sf.inlineDisplayFormat ? applyDisplayFormat(value[sf.name], sf.inlineDisplayFormat) : JSON.stringify(value[sf.name])) : String(value[sf.name])}</Typography>
+                  <Typography variant="body2">{value?.[sf.name] == null ? "—" : typeof value[sf.name] === "object" ? (sf.inlineDisplayFormat ? applyDisplayFormat(value[sf.name], sf.inlineDisplayFormat) : JSON.stringify(value[sf.name])) : formatByFieldFormat(value[sf.name], sf.format)}</Typography>
                 </Box>
               </Grid>
             ))}
diff --git a/react-openapi/src/components/fields/utils.ts b/react-openapi/src/components/fields/utils.ts
index 66407a5..a6ed871 100644
--- a/react-openapi/src/components/fields/utils.ts
+++ b/react-openapi/src/components/fields/utils.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import { formatIsoLike } from "../../utils/datetime";
+
 function getNested(obj: any, path: string): any {
   return path.split(".").reduce((o, k) => o?.[k], obj);
 }
@@ -6,7 +8,7 @@ export function applyDisplayFormat(item: any, format: string): string {
   if (!item || typeof item !== "object") return String(item ?? "");
   return format.replace(/\{([\w.]+)\}/g, (_, key) => {
     const val = getNested(item, key);
-    return val != null ? String(val) : "";
+    return val != null ? formatIsoLike(val) : "";
   });
 }
 
diff --git a/react-openapi/src/transformers/field-config.ts b/react-openapi/src/transformers/field-config.ts
index cbdb793..526e8b0 100644
--- a/react-openapi/src/transformers/field-config.ts
+++ b/react-openapi/src/transformers/field-config.ts
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ function extractOneOfOptions(schema: any, schemas: Record<string, any>, discrimi
           description: prop["x-description"] ?? "",
           type: prop.type ?? "string",
           format: prop.format,
+          editAs: prop["x-edit-as"],
           order: prop["x-order"] ?? Infinity,
           hidden: prop["x-hidden"] ?? {},
           filterable: prop["x-filterable"] ?? false,
@@ -130,6 +131,7 @@ export function extractFields(schemaName: string, schema: any, schemas: Record<s
         description: prop["x-description"] ?? "",
         type: isRef && refSchema ? "object" : isOneOf ? "object" : (prop.type ?? "string"),
         format: prop.format,
+        editAs: prop["x-edit-as"],
         order: prop["x-order"] ?? Infinity,
         hidden: prop["x-hidden"] ?? {},
         filterable: prop["x-filterable"] ?? false,
diff --git a/react-openapi/src/types.ts b/react-openapi/src/types.ts
index f0db395..16b82ec 100644
--- a/react-openapi/src/types.ts
+++ b/react-openapi/src/types.ts
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ export interface FieldConfig {
   description: string;
   type: string;
   format?: string;
+  /** `x-edit-as: date` — edit a `date-time` field with a plain date input; submits midnight. */
+  editAs?: string;
   order: number;
   hidden: { form?: boolean; list?: boolean; detail?: boolean };
   filterable: boolean;
diff --git a/react-openapi/src/utils/datetime.ts b/react-openapi/src/utils/datetime.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ad0fc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/react-openapi/src/utils/datetime.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/**
+ * Zero-dependency date/time display helpers.
+ *
+ * Only ISO-shaped strings ("2026-08-24", "2026-08-24T09:07:25[.f][Z]") are
+ * reformatted; anything else (DD-MM-YYYY expense strings, free text) passes
+ * through untouched. Naive strings without a zone are parsed as clock time
+ * so the displayed wall time matches what the backend stored.
+ */
+
+const ISO_DATE = /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$/;
+const ISO_DATETIME = /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}[T ]\d{2}:\d{2}/;
+
+function parseIso(value: any): Date | null {
+  if (typeof value !== "string") return null;
+  if (!ISO_DATE.test(value) && !ISO_DATETIME.test(value)) return null;
+  const d = new Date(value);
+  return isNaN(d.getTime()) ? null : d;
+}
+
+const DATE_FMT = new Intl.DateTimeFormat("en-IN", { day: "numeric", month: "short", year: "numeric" });
+const DATETIME_FMT = new Intl.DateTimeFormat("en-IN", {
+  day: "numeric",
+  month: "short",
+  year: "numeric",
+  hour: "2-digit",
+  minute: "2-digit",
+  hour12: false,
+});
+
+function fallback(value: any): string {
+  return typeof value === "string" ? value : value != null ? String(value) : "";
+}
+
+/** "2026-08-24" -> "24 Aug 2026"; non-ISO values pass through. */
+export function formatDate(value: any): string {
+  const d = parseIso(value);
+  return d ? DATE_FMT.format(d) : fallback(value);
+}
+
+/** "2026-08-24T09:07:25" -> "24 Aug 2026, 09:07"; non-ISO values pass through. */
+export function formatDateTime(value: any): string {
+  const d = parseIso(value);
+  return d ? DATETIME_FMT.format(d) : fallback(value);
+}
+
+/** Route by OpenAPI field format ("date" | "date-time"); other formats render plainly. */
+export function formatByFieldFormat(value: any, format?: string): string {
+  if (format === "date") return formatDate(value);
+  if (format === "date-time") return formatDateTime(value);
+  return fallback(value);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Metadata-free variant for display-format templates ({key} interpolation):
+ * reformats a scalar only when it happens to be ISO-shaped.
+ */
+export function formatIsoLike(value: any): string {
+  if (typeof value === "string") {
+    if (ISO_DATETIME.test(value)) return formatDateTime(value);
+    if (ISO_DATE.test(value)) return formatDate(value);
+  }
+  return fallback(value);
+}
diff --git a/src/Reports/ReportViewer.tsx b/src/Reports/ReportViewer.tsx
index ad151f2..fa2bd82 100644
--- a/src/Reports/ReportViewer.tsx
+++ b/src/Reports/ReportViewer.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import CloseIcon from "@mui/icons-material/Close";
 import CachedIcon from "@mui/icons-material/Cached";
 import KeyboardArrowDownIcon from "@mui/icons-material/KeyboardArrowDown";
 import KeyboardArrowUpIcon from "@mui/icons-material/KeyboardArrowUp";
-import { FkMultiSelectField, useResource, formatCurrency } from "../../react-openapi";
+import { FkMultiSelectField, useResource, formatCurrency, formatDateTime } from "../../react-openapi";
 import type { FieldConfig } from "../../react-openapi";
 import { StatCard } from "../common/components/StatCard";
 import { TransactionList } from "../common/components/TransactionList";
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ export function ReportViewer({ id, version, fields, onClose, onRegenerated }: Re
           </Typography>
           <Box sx={{ display: "flex", gap: 1.5, flexWrap: "wrap" }}>
             <Typography variant="caption" color="text.secondary">
-              flow {report.flow} · generated {report.generated_at ?? report.created_at}
+              flow {report.flow} · generated {formatDateTime(report.generated_at ?? report.created_at)}
             </Typography>
             {range && (
               <Typography variant="caption" color="text.disabled">