diff --git a/book/src/admin.md b/book/src/admin.md
index 37a9a93..23daab2 100644
--- a/book/src/admin.md
+++ b/book/src/admin.md
@@ -448,6 +448,12 @@ action, target and timestamp. Destructive **replica stop/restart**, schedule
 changes, MFA enrolment/reset/proof, and break-glass MFA bypasses are recorded
 too; rows with a change diff expand to show it.
 
+Timestamps are stored in UTC and rendered in **your browser's timezone**, so
+two operators in different zones each read the local wall clock of the same
+event. Hovering a timestamp shows the full date with the zone name. (The
+scheduler's own times — next occurrence and last run on the Schedules page —
+are still labelled UTC.)
+
 ### System
 
 A read-only diagnostic of the running server (version, bind address,
diff --git a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/_layout.html b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/_layout.html
index 5051b02..cddcfe5 100644
--- a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/_layout.html
+++ b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/_layout.html
@@ -309,6 +309,70 @@
   {% block content %}{% endblock %}
 </main>
 
+{# ── Local-time rendering (#1041) ──────────────────────────────────
+   Every timestamp in the DB is UTC (the right thing to store), and
+   chrono's `format` prints the wall clock OF THE VALUE — so a bare
+   day/month/year+hour interpolation renders UTC and reads as three
+   hours in the future for a UTC−3 operator (the audit log made this
+   obvious). There is no server-side timezone to convert to: box and
+   hugo would each need configuring, and operators can sit in
+   different zones anyway. So each timestamp cell ships as
+   `<time datetime="…Z" data-rk-time="pattern">` with the UTC text as
+   the no-JS fallback, and this rewrites it into the VIEWER's zone.
+   Patterns mirror the chrono formats they replace, so the digit
+   layout of each screen is unchanged — only the hour is now right.
+   Runs immediately (the cells above are already parsed) to keep the
+   wrong-time flash sub-frame; the DOMContentLoaded pass is the
+   belt-and-braces for anything still streaming in. #}
+<script>
+(function () {
+  function p(n) { return (n < 10 ? '0' : '') + n; }
+  function ymd(d) { return p(d.getDate()) + '/' + p(d.getMonth() + 1) + '/' + d.getFullYear(); }
+  function hms(d, secs) {
+    return p(d.getHours()) + ':' + p(d.getMinutes()) + (secs ? ':' + p(d.getSeconds()) : '');
+  }
+  var PATTERNS = {
+    'datetime-s': function (d) { return ymd(d) + ' ' + hms(d, true); },   // %d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S
+    'datetime':   function (d) { return ymd(d) + ' ' + hms(d, false); },  // %d/%m/%Y %H:%M
+    'date':       function (d) { return ymd(d); },                        // %d/%m/%Y
+    'date-iso':   function (d) {                                          // %Y-%m-%d
+      return d.getFullYear() + '-' + p(d.getMonth() + 1) + '-' + p(d.getDate());
+    }
+  };
+
+  function localize(root) {
+    (root || document).querySelectorAll('time[data-rk-time]:not([data-rk-tz])').forEach(function (el) {
+      var fmt = PATTERNS[el.dataset.rkTime];
+      var d = new Date(el.getAttribute('datetime'));
+      // Unknown pattern or unparseable value: leave the server's UTC
+      // text alone. A wrong-but-labelled time beats a blank cell.
+      if (!fmt || isNaN(d.getTime())) return;
+      el.textContent = fmt(d);
+      el.dataset.rkTz = '1';
+      // Hover shows the full date + the zone name, in the PAGE's locale
+      // (not the browser's — the operator picked pt/en/es/fr in the chrome
+      // cluster and the tooltip should follow that choice).
+      try {
+        var lang = document.documentElement.lang || undefined;
+        el.title = d.toLocaleString(lang, { dateStyle: 'full', timeStyle: 'long' });
+      } catch (e) { /* older engine without dateStyle — the cell text is enough */ }
+      // Sort the column by the instant, not by the rendered digits: the
+      // table enhancer's numeric compare strips the separators and reads
+      // `29/07/2026` as one big number, i.e. it sorts by day-of-month.
+      var cell = el.closest('td');
+      if (cell) cell.dataset.sortValue = String(d.getTime());
+    });
+  }
+
+  window.ruscker = window.ruscker || {};
+  window.ruscker.localizeTimes = localize;   // for fragments swapped in later
+  localize();
+  if (document.readyState === 'loading') {
+    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function () { localize(); });
+  }
+})();
+</script>
+
 {# Floating toasts (#623): promote any server-rendered flash banner into a
    bottom-centre toast that auto-dismisses. The banner markup is unchanged
    (still produced server-side from `?flash=…`); this only re-homes it, so
diff --git a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/activity.html b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/activity.html
index ed2f1db..ee46078 100644
--- a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/activity.html
+++ b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/activity.html
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ <h1 class="text-xl font-medium tracking-tight">{{ self.t("admin-activity-title")
     <tbody>
       {% for r in rows %}
       <tr>
-        <td class="dash-mono text-[color:var(--text-faint)]" style="white-space:nowrap">{{ r.occurred_at.format("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S") }}</td>
+        <td class="dash-mono text-[color:var(--text-faint)]" style="white-space:nowrap"><time datetime="{{ r.occurred_at.format("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ") }}" data-rk-time="datetime-s">{{ r.occurred_at.format("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S") }}</time></td>
         <td>
           <span class="user-cell">
             <span class="rk-avatar" data-avatar="{% match r.username %}{% when Some with (u) %}{{ u }}{% when None %}anon{% endmatch %}" aria-hidden="true"></span>
diff --git a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/audit.html b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/audit.html
index 3ce657a..09e6b65 100644
--- a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/audit.html
+++ b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/audit.html
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ <h1 class="text-xl font-medium tracking-tight">{{ self.t("admin-audit-title") }}
             @keydown.enter.prevent="toggle({{ e.id }})" @keydown.space.prevent="toggle({{ e.id }})"
             tabindex="0" role="button" :aria-expanded="open === {{ e.id }} ? 'true' : 'false'"
             style="cursor:pointer"{% endif %}>
-          <td class="dash-mono text-[color:var(--text-faint)]" style="white-space:nowrap">{{ e.occurred_at.format("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S") }}</td>
+          <td class="dash-mono text-[color:var(--text-faint)]" style="white-space:nowrap"><time datetime="{{ e.occurred_at.format("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ") }}" data-rk-time="datetime-s">{{ e.occurred_at.format("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S") }}</time></td>
           <td>
             <span class="user-cell">
               <span class="rk-avatar" data-avatar="{% match e.actor %}{% when Some with (a) %}{{ a }}{% when None %}system{% endmatch %}" aria-hidden="true"></span>
diff --git a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/credentials.html b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/credentials.html
index 0716325..bf4f538 100644
--- a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/credentials.html
+++ b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/credentials.html
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ <h1 class="text-xl font-medium tracking-tight">{{ self.t("admin-creds-title") }}
           <td class="id-cell"><span class="cred-cell"><span class="cred-ico"><i class="ti ti-key" aria-hidden="true"></i></span>{{ c.name }}</span></td>
           <td class="text-[color:var(--text-muted)]">{{ c.registry }}</td>
           <td>{{ c.username }}</td>
-          <td class="text-[color:var(--text-muted)]">{{ c.created_at.format("%d/%m/%Y") }}</td>
+          <td class="text-[color:var(--text-muted)]"><time datetime="{{ c.created_at.format("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ") }}" data-rk-time="date">{{ c.created_at.format("%d/%m/%Y") }}</time></td>
           <td class="actions-cell">
             <form method="post" action="{{ base }}/admin/credentials/{{ c.name }}/delete"
                   data-confirm="{{ self.t("admin-creds-delete-confirm") }}"
diff --git a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/process_logs.html b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/process_logs.html
index 318b90c..6917b55 100644
--- a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/process_logs.html
+++ b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/process_logs.html
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ <h1 class="text-2xl font-medium tracking-tight">{{ self.t("admin-proclog-title")
     var knownApps = {};      // app name -> true, to dedupe the app <select>
 
     function cell(cls, text) { var s = document.createElement('span'); s.className = cls; s.textContent = text; return s; }
+    function p2(n) { return (n < 10 ? '0' : '') + n; }
 
     // A row matches when its level chip is on AND the app filter allows it.
     function matches(el) {
@@ -123,9 +124,21 @@ <h1 class="text-2xl font-medium tracking-tight">{{ self.t("admin-proclog-title")
         div.dataset.level = level;
         div.dataset.app = app;
         div.dataset.text = clean.toLowerCase();
-        // HH:MM:SS.mmm (keep millis like the design; drop the date + tz).
-        var ts = m[1].replace(/^.*T/, '').replace(/(\.\d{3})\d*Z?$/, '$1').replace(/Z$/, '');
-        div.appendChild(cell('log-ts', ts));
+        // HH:MM:SS.mmm (keep millis like the design; drop the date + tz),
+        // in the VIEWER's timezone (#1041): the tracing stream emits UTC,
+        // which reads three hours ahead for a UTC−3 operator — the same
+        // defect the audit table had. The raw UTC token stays on the
+        // cell's title for anyone correlating with the downloaded log.
+        var d = new Date(m[1]);
+        var ts = isNaN(d.getTime())
+          // First field isn't a timestamp we can parse — show it as-is
+          // rather than blanking the column.
+          ? m[1].replace(/^.*T/, '').replace(/(\.\d{3})\d*Z?$/, '$1').replace(/Z$/, '')
+          : p2(d.getHours()) + ':' + p2(d.getMinutes()) + ':' + p2(d.getSeconds()) +
+            '.' + ('00' + d.getMilliseconds()).slice(-3);
+        var tsCell = cell('log-ts', ts);
+        tsCell.title = m[1];
+        div.appendChild(tsCell);
         div.appendChild(cell('log-lvl log-lvl-' + level.toLowerCase(), level));
         div.appendChild(cell('log-app', app));
         div.appendChild(cell('log-msg', rest));
diff --git a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/specs.html b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/specs.html
index a0d325b..53a9f6d 100644
--- a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/specs.html
+++ b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/specs.html
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ <h1 class="text-xl font-medium tracking-tight">{{ self.t("admin-specs-title") }}
             <span class="pill" title="{{ self.t("admin-specs-config-defined") }}">{{ self.t("admin-specs-config-badge") }}</span>
           </td>
           {% else %}
-          <td class="text-[color:var(--text-muted)]">{{ spec.updated_at.format("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M") }}</td>
+          <td class="text-[color:var(--text-muted)]"><time datetime="{{ spec.updated_at.format("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ") }}" data-rk-time="datetime">{{ spec.updated_at.format("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M") }}</time></td>
           <td class="text-[color:var(--text-muted)]">v{{ spec.version }}</td>
           <td class="access-cell">
             <span class="access-num">{% if spec.access_count > 0 %}{{ spec.access_count }}{% else %}<span class="text-[color:var(--text-faint)]">0</span>{% endif %}</span>
diff --git a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/users.html b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/users.html
index ae5971b..d361f3d 100644
--- a/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/users.html
+++ b/crates/ruscker-admin/templates/admin/users.html
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ <h1 class="text-xl font-medium tracking-tight">{{ self.t("admin-users-title") }}
           {% if let Some(celular) = u.celular %}<div class="text-xs text-[color:var(--text-muted)]">{{ celular }}</div>{% endif %}
           {% if u.setor.is_none() && u.email.is_none() && u.celular.is_none() %}<span class="text-[color:var(--text-faint)]">—</span>{% endif %}
         </td>
-        <td class="dash-mono text-[color:var(--text-muted)]">{{ u.created_at.format("%Y-%m-%d") }}</td>
+        <td class="dash-mono text-[color:var(--text-muted)]"><time datetime="{{ u.created_at.format("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ") }}" data-rk-time="date-iso">{{ u.created_at.format("%Y-%m-%d") }}</time></td>
         <td style="text-align:right;white-space:nowrap">
           <a href="{{ base }}/admin/users/{{ u.username }}/edit" class="dash-action"
              title="{{ self.t("admin-users-edit") }}" aria-label="{{ self.t("admin-users-edit") }}">
diff --git a/crates/ruscker-admin/tests/activity_ui.rs b/crates/ruscker-admin/tests/activity_ui.rs
index ce78c58..9b3694d 100644
--- a/crates/ruscker-admin/tests/activity_ui.rs
+++ b/crates/ruscker-admin/tests/activity_ui.rs
@@ -179,3 +179,45 @@ async fn paginates_server_side() {
     assert_eq!(status, StatusCode::OK);
     assert_eq!(row_count(&body2), 10, "second page has the remainder");
 }
+
+/// The timestamp column must ship the instant in a machine-readable
+/// `<time datetime="…Z">` next to the human text, so the layout can
+/// re-render it in the viewer's timezone. Without it the cell shows UTC
+/// and reads three hours ahead for a UTC−3 operator (#1041).
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn timestamp_cell_carries_utc_instant_for_local_rendering() {
+    let db = open_db().await;
+    user_activity::insert_batch(
+        &db,
+        &[ActivityEvent::login_success(
+            "alice",
+            AuthMethod::Password,
+            "l1",
+            None,
+        )],
+    )
+    .await
+    .unwrap();
+    let state = app_state(db).await;
+    let cookie = admin_cookie(&state).await;
+
+    let (status, body) = get(state, "/admin/activity", Some(&cookie)).await;
+    assert_eq!(status, StatusCode::OK);
+    assert!(
+        body.contains(r#"data-rk-time="datetime-s""#),
+        "activity row is missing the local-time marker"
+    );
+
+    // The attribute is a real UTC instant — not the pt-BR display text.
+    let attr = body
+        .split(r#"<time datetime=""#)
+        .nth(1)
+        .and_then(|rest| rest.split('"').next())
+        .expect("a <time datetime=…> in the row");
+    let parsed = chrono::DateTime::parse_from_rfc3339(attr)
+        .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("datetime attr {attr:?} is not RFC-3339: {e}"));
+    let skew = (chrono::Utc::now() - parsed.with_timezone(&chrono::Utc))
+        .num_seconds()
+        .abs();
+    assert!(skew < 120, "row timestamp {attr} is {skew}s off from now");
+}
diff --git a/crates/ruscker-admin/tests/template_lint.rs b/crates/ruscker-admin/tests/template_lint.rs
index 73e1b77..c7c3831 100644
--- a/crates/ruscker-admin/tests/template_lint.rs
+++ b/crates/ruscker-admin/tests/template_lint.rs
@@ -93,3 +93,56 @@ fn no_inline_onsubmit_confirm_handlers() {
         offenders.join("\n")
     );
 }
+
+/// A `DateTime<Utc>` formatted straight into the page prints UTC
+/// wall-clock — three hours in the future for a UTC−3 operator, which
+/// is exactly how the audit log was reported (#1041). Every visible
+/// timestamp must ship inside a `<time datetime="…Z" data-rk-time="…">`
+/// so the layout's `localizeTimes` can re-render it in the viewer's
+/// zone, with the UTC text kept as the no-JS fallback.
+#[test]
+fn timestamps_are_wrapped_for_local_time_rendering() {
+    // The chrono formats that render a date to the operator. The
+    // machine-readable `datetime` attribute we ADD uses `%Y-%m-%dT…`,
+    // so it never matches these on its own.
+    let visible = ["format(\"%d/%m", "format(\"%Y-%m-%d\"", "format(\"%H"];
+    let offenders: Vec<String> = template_files()
+        .iter()
+        .flat_map(|path| {
+            let body = std::fs::read_to_string(path).expect("read template");
+            body.lines()
+                .enumerate()
+                .filter(|(_, line)| {
+                    visible.iter().any(|pat| line.contains(pat)) && !line.contains("data-rk-time=")
+                })
+                .map(|(n, line)| format!("{}:{}: {}", path.display(), n + 1, line.trim()))
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>()
+        })
+        .collect();
+    assert!(
+        offenders.is_empty(),
+        "timestamp rendered without a <time data-rk-time=…> wrapper — it \
+         will display UTC instead of the viewer's local time (#1041):\n{}",
+        offenders.join("\n")
+    );
+}
+
+/// The wrapper is only half the fix: the layout must actually carry the
+/// script that rewrites it. Guards against someone dropping the block
+/// while the `data-rk-time` attributes stay behind, silently reverting
+/// every screen to UTC.
+#[test]
+fn admin_layout_ships_the_local_time_script() {
+    let layout = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")).join("templates/admin/_layout.html");
+    let body = std::fs::read_to_string(&layout).expect("read admin layout");
+    assert!(
+        body.contains("window.ruscker.localizeTimes"),
+        "admin/_layout.html lost the local-time renderer (#1041)"
+    );
+    for pattern in ["datetime-s", "datetime", "date-iso", "date"] {
+        assert!(
+            body.contains(&format!("'{pattern}':")),
+            "local-time renderer is missing the `{pattern}` pattern (#1041)"
+        );
+    }
+}