diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 3f68b56f..514991df 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ repos:
             "types-requests",
             "sqlmodel",
             "types-Markdown",
+            types-tzlocal,
           ]
         args: ["--check-untyped-defs", "--ignore-missing-imports"]
         exclude: "^templates/"
diff --git a/libs/ktem/ktem/db/base_models.py b/libs/ktem/ktem/db/base_models.py
index 7d8b3e50..0c6004bd 100644
--- a/libs/ktem/ktem/db/base_models.py
+++ b/libs/ktem/ktem/db/base_models.py
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 import datetime
 import uuid
 from typing import Optional
-from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
 
 from sqlalchemy import JSON, Column
 from sqlmodel import Field, SQLModel
-from theflow.settings import settings as flowsettings
+from tzlocal import get_localzone
 
 
 class BaseConversation(SQLModel):
@@ -26,9 +25,9 @@ class BaseConversation(SQLModel):
         default_factory=lambda: uuid.uuid4().hex, primary_key=True, index=True
     )
     name: str = Field(
-        default_factory=lambda: datetime.datetime.now(
-            ZoneInfo(getattr(flowsettings, "TIME_ZONE", "UTC"))
-        ).strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
+        default_factory=lambda: datetime.datetime.now(get_localzone()).strftime(
+            "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
+        )
     )
     user: int = Field(default=0)  # For now we only have one user
 
@@ -37,8 +36,12 @@ class BaseConversation(SQLModel):
     # contains messages + current files + chat_suggestions
     data_source: dict = Field(default={}, sa_column=Column(JSON))
 
-    date_created: datetime.datetime = Field(default_factory=datetime.datetime.utcnow)
-    date_updated: datetime.datetime = Field(default_factory=datetime.datetime.utcnow)
+    date_created: datetime.datetime = Field(
+        default_factory=lambda: datetime.datetime.now(get_localzone())
+    )
+    date_updated: datetime.datetime = Field(
+        default_factory=lambda: datetime.datetime.now(get_localzone())
+    )
 
 
 class BaseUser(SQLModel):
diff --git a/libs/ktem/ktem/index/file/index.py b/libs/ktem/ktem/index/file/index.py
index 896bc812..f202a6a8 100644
--- a/libs/ktem/ktem/index/file/index.py
+++ b/libs/ktem/ktem/index/file/index.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import uuid
+from datetime import datetime
 from typing import Any, Optional, Type
 
 from ktem.components import filestorage_path, get_docstore, get_vectorstore
@@ -7,9 +8,9 @@
 from sqlalchemy import JSON, Column, DateTime, Integer, String, UniqueConstraint
 from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
 from sqlalchemy.ext.mutable import MutableDict
-from sqlalchemy.sql import func
 from theflow.settings import settings as flowsettings
 from theflow.utils.modules import import_dotted_string
+from tzlocal import get_localzone
 
 from kotaemon.storages import BaseDocumentStore, BaseVectorStore
 
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ def _setup_resources(self):
                     "path": Column(String),
                     "size": Column(Integer, default=0),
                     "date_created": Column(
-                        DateTime(timezone=True), server_default=func.now()
+                        DateTime(timezone=True), default=datetime.now(get_localzone())
                     ),
                     "user": Column(Integer, default=1),
                     "note": Column(
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ def _setup_resources(self):
                     "path": Column(String),
                     "size": Column(Integer, default=0),
                     "date_created": Column(
-                        DateTime(timezone=True), server_default=func.now()
+                        DateTime(timezone=True), default=datetime.now(get_localzone())
                     ),
                     "user": Column(Integer, default=1),
                     "note": Column(
@@ -126,7 +127,7 @@ def _setup_resources(self):
                 "__tablename__": f"index__{self.id}__group",
                 "id": Column(Integer, primary_key=True, autoincrement=True),
                 "date_created": Column(
-                    DateTime(timezone=True), server_default=func.now()
+                    DateTime(timezone=True), default=datetime.now(get_localzone())
                 ),
                 "name": Column(String, unique=True),
                 "user": Column(Integer, default=1),
diff --git a/libs/ktem/pyproject.toml b/libs/ktem/pyproject.toml
index b3890214..1fc420bb 100644
--- a/libs/ktem/pyproject.toml
+++ b/libs/ktem/pyproject.toml
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "gradio>=4.31.0,<5",
     "python-multipart==0.0.12", # required for gradio, pinning to avoid yanking issues with micropip (fixed in gradio >= 5.4.0)
     "markdown>=3.6,<4",
+    "tzlocal>=5.0",
 ]
 authors = [
     { name = "@trducng", email = "john@cinnamon.is" },
diff --git a/libs/ktem/requirements.txt b/libs/ktem/requirements.txt
index 67fd014b..c2e28315 100644
--- a/libs/ktem/requirements.txt
+++ b/libs/ktem/requirements.txt
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 platformdirs
+tzlocal
diff --git a/scripts/migrate/migrate_chroma_db.py b/scripts/migrate/migrate_chroma_db.py
index adffca0f..1503906f 100644
--- a/scripts/migrate/migrate_chroma_db.py
+++ b/scripts/migrate/migrate_chroma_db.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import uuid
+from datetime import datetime
 
 import chromadb
 from ktem.index.models import Index
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@
 from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
 from sqlalchemy.ext.mutable import MutableDict
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
-from sqlalchemy.sql import func
+from tzlocal import get_localzone
 
 
 def _init_resource(private: bool = True, id: int = 1):
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ def _init_resource(private: bool = True, id: int = 1):
                 "path": Column(String),
                 "size": Column(Integer, default=0),
                 "date_created": Column(
-                    DateTime(timezone=True), server_default=func.now()
+                    DateTime(timezone=True), default=datetime.now(get_localzone())
                 ),
                 "user": Column(Integer, default=1),
                 "note": Column(
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ def _init_resource(private: bool = True, id: int = 1):
                 "path": Column(String),
                 "size": Column(Integer, default=0),
                 "date_created": Column(
-                    DateTime(timezone=True), server_default=func.now()
+                    DateTime(timezone=True), default=datetime.now(get_localzone())
                 ),
                 "user": Column(Integer, default=1),
                 "note": Column(