diff --git a/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/src/templates/drizzle-schema.ts b/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/src/templates/drizzle-schema.ts
index 52fced31c..0caeb048d 100644
--- a/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/src/templates/drizzle-schema.ts
+++ b/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/src/templates/drizzle-schema.ts
@@ -372,12 +372,18 @@ function renderColumn(
     }
   }
 
-  // @autoSet fields: emit .$defaultFn(() => new Date().toISOString()) so Drizzle
-  // inserts stamp the server-side timestamp automatically. This means callers don't
-  // need to supply createdAt / updatedAt in INSERT calls — Drizzle fills them in.
+  // @autoSet fields: emit a $defaultFn so Drizzle inserts stamp the server-side timestamp
+  // automatically. This means callers don't need to supply createdAt / updatedAt in INSERT
+  // calls — Drizzle fills them in. The stamp's shape must match ctx.timestampMode — the base
+  // column type already does (mapColumnType, above) — or a "date" column ends up with a
+  // $defaultFn that hands Drizzle a string, which fails to typecheck (reported against an
+  // adopting project: TS2322 "Type 'string' is not assignable to type 'Date | SQL<unknown>'",
+  // cascading into every generated insert/update query touching the field).
   const autoSet = field.attr(FIELD_ATTR_AUTO_SET);
   const autoSetSuffix = (autoSet === "onCreate" || autoSet === "onUpdate")
-    ? `.$defaultFn(() => new Date().toISOString())`
+    ? ctx.timestampMode === "date"
+      ? `.$defaultFn(() => new Date())`
+      : `.$defaultFn(() => new Date().toISOString())`
     : "";
 
   // $type<E[]>() chain — emitted as Code (not a string modifier) so ts-poet can
diff --git a/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/src/templates/zod-validators.ts b/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/src/templates/zod-validators.ts
index 9b89a4795..b3c5cdfcc 100644
--- a/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/src/templates/zod-validators.ts
+++ b/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/src/templates/zod-validators.ts
@@ -193,7 +193,9 @@ export function renderInsertSchemaOnly(obj: MetaObject, ctx?: RenderContext): Co
 
     if (autoSet === AUTO_SET_ON_CREATE || autoSet === AUTO_SET_ON_UPDATE) {
       insertFieldLines.push(
-        code`  ${child.name}: z.string().optional().transform(() => new Date().toISOString())`,
+        ctx?.timestampMode === "date"
+          ? code`  ${child.name}: z.date().optional().transform(() => new Date())`
+          : code`  ${child.name}: z.string().optional().transform(() => new Date().toISOString())`,
       );
     } else {
       insertFieldLines.push(code`  ${child.name}: ${zodFieldExpr(child, obj, ctx)}`);
@@ -338,7 +340,9 @@ export function renderZodValidators(obj: MetaObject, ctx?: RenderContext): Code
     // Insert schema: @autoSet fields use transform (always override client input).
     if (autoSet === AUTO_SET_ON_CREATE || autoSet === AUTO_SET_ON_UPDATE) {
       insertFieldLines.push(
-        code`  ${child.name}: z.string().optional().transform(() => new Date().toISOString())`,
+        ctx?.timestampMode === "date"
+          ? code`  ${child.name}: z.date().optional().transform(() => new Date())`
+          : code`  ${child.name}: z.string().optional().transform(() => new Date().toISOString())`,
       );
       // Preserving schema: the @autoSet column is validated verbatim (its natural
       // field expr) so an import/restore keeps the caller's original timestamp.
@@ -354,7 +358,9 @@ export function renderZodValidators(obj: MetaObject, ctx?: RenderContext): Code
       // Omit: creation timestamps cannot be changed after creation
     } else if (autoSet === AUTO_SET_ON_UPDATE) {
       updateFieldLines.push(
-        code`  ${child.name}: z.string().optional().transform(() => new Date().toISOString())`,
+        ctx?.timestampMode === "date"
+          ? code`  ${child.name}: z.date().optional().transform(() => new Date())`
+          : code`  ${child.name}: z.string().optional().transform(() => new Date().toISOString())`,
       );
     } else {
       // All non-autoSet fields are optional in the update schema (PATCH semantics).
@@ -511,8 +517,14 @@ function zodFieldExpr(field: MetaField, owner?: MetaObject, ctx?: RenderContext)
       break;
     case FIELD_SUBTYPE_DATE:
     case FIELD_SUBTYPE_TIME:
+      baseStr = "z.string()"; // calendar date / time-of-day — always ISO-string-shaped, not governed by timestampMode
+      break;
     case FIELD_SUBTYPE_TIMESTAMP:
-      baseStr = "z.string()";
+      // Must agree with column-mapper.ts's mapColumnType, which already honors
+      // ctx.timestampMode for the Drizzle column itself — z.string() here regardless would
+      // disagree with a "date"-mode column (Date-typed) and fail to typecheck downstream
+      // (reported against an adopting project).
+      baseStr = ctx?.timestampMode === "date" ? "z.date()" : "z.string()";
       break;
     case FIELD_SUBTYPE_ENUM: {
       const values = enumValues(field);
diff --git a/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/test/templates/drizzle-schema.test.ts b/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/test/templates/drizzle-schema.test.ts
index 89f7ddcab..0996f45cd 100644
--- a/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/test/templates/drizzle-schema.test.ts
+++ b/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/test/templates/drizzle-schema.test.ts
@@ -186,6 +186,52 @@ describe("renderDrizzleSchema — Postgres", () => {
     expect(out).toContain("varchar(\"title\", { length: 200 }).notNull()");
   });
 
+  // Reported against an adopting project: @autoSet's $defaultFn ignored timestampMode and always
+  // returned a string, failing to typecheck against a "date"-mode column (Date-typed).
+  test("@autoSet field respects timestampMode: \"date\" — $defaultFn returns Date, not a string", () => {
+    const post = makePost();
+    const createdAt = metaField(FIELD_SUBTYPE_TIMESTAMP, "createdAt");
+    createdAt.setAttr("required", true);
+    createdAt.setAttr("autoSet", "onCreate");
+    post.addChild(createdAt);
+
+    const root = makeRoot([post]);
+    const ctx = makeRenderContext({
+      dialect: "postgres",
+      timestampMode: "date",
+      loadedRoot: root,
+      outDir: "/x",
+      dbImport: "~/db",
+      pkMap: buildPkMap(root),
+      relationMap: buildRelationMap(root),
+    });
+    const out = renderDrizzleSchema(root.findObject("Post")!, ctx).toString();
+    expect(out).toContain(".$defaultFn(() => new Date())");
+    expect(out).not.toContain(".toISOString()");
+    expect(out).toMatch(/timestamp\("created_at",\s*\{\s*mode:\s*"date"/);
+  });
+
+  test("@autoSet field defaults to timestampMode: \"string\" unchanged (no config set)", () => {
+    const post = makePost();
+    const createdAt = metaField(FIELD_SUBTYPE_TIMESTAMP, "createdAt");
+    createdAt.setAttr("required", true);
+    createdAt.setAttr("autoSet", "onCreate");
+    post.addChild(createdAt);
+
+    const root = makeRoot([post]);
+    const ctx = makeRenderContext({
+      dialect: "postgres",
+      loadedRoot: root,
+      outDir: "/x",
+      dbImport: "~/db",
+      pkMap: buildPkMap(root),
+      relationMap: buildRelationMap(root),
+    });
+    const out = renderDrizzleSchema(root.findObject("Post")!, ctx).toString();
+    expect(out).toContain(".$defaultFn(() =>");
+    expect(out).toContain("new Date().toISOString()");
+  });
+
   test("Postgres long PK emits bigserial, not serial", () => {
     const root = makeRoot([makePost()]);
     const ctx = makeRenderContext({
diff --git a/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/test/templates/zod-validators.test.ts b/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/test/templates/zod-validators.test.ts
index 06433eef2..adcd1d3e0 100644
--- a/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/test/templates/zod-validators.test.ts
+++ b/server/typescript/packages/codegen-ts/test/templates/zod-validators.test.ts
@@ -6,10 +6,49 @@ import { TypeId, TYPE_IDENTITY, TYPE_VALIDATOR,
          IDENTITY_SUBTYPE_PRIMARY, OBJECT_SUBTYPE_ENTITY,
          VALIDATOR_SUBTYPE_REGEX, VALIDATOR_SUBTYPE_LENGTH,
          MetaDataLoader, InMemoryStringSource } from "@metaobjectsdev/metadata";
-import { meta, metaObject, metaField } from "../_meta-build.js";
+import { meta, metaObject, metaField, metaRoot } from "../_meta-build.js";
 import { renderZodValidators } from "../../src/templates/zod-validators.js";
+import { makeRenderContext } from "../../src/render-context.js";
+import { buildPkMap } from "../../src/pk-resolver.js";
+import { buildRelationMap } from "../../src/relation-resolver.js";
+import { FIELD_SUBTYPE_TIMESTAMP } from "@metaobjectsdev/metadata";
 
 describe("renderZodValidators", () => {
+  // Reported against an adopting project: a plain field.timestamp (autoSet or not) always got
+  // z.string() regardless of timestampMode, disagreeing with a "date"-mode Drizzle column
+  // (Date-typed) and failing to typecheck downstream.
+  test("timestampMode: \"date\" — field.timestamp gets z.date(), @autoSet gets a Date-returning transform", () => {
+    const post = metaObject(OBJECT_SUBTYPE_ENTITY, "Post");
+    const id = metaField(FIELD_SUBTYPE_LONG, "id");
+    post.addChild(id);
+    const updatedAt = metaField(FIELD_SUBTYPE_TIMESTAMP, "updatedAt"); // plain, not autoSet
+    post.addChild(updatedAt);
+    const createdAt = metaField(FIELD_SUBTYPE_TIMESTAMP, "createdAt");
+    createdAt.setAttr("required", true);
+    createdAt.setAttr("autoSet", "onCreate");
+    post.addChild(createdAt);
+    const primary = meta(new TypeId(TYPE_IDENTITY, IDENTITY_SUBTYPE_PRIMARY), "primary");
+    primary.setAttr("fields", ["id"]);
+    primary.setAttr("generation", "increment");
+    post.addChild(primary);
+
+    const root = metaRoot();
+    root.addChild(post);
+    const ctx = makeRenderContext({
+      dialect: "postgres",
+      timestampMode: "date",
+      loadedRoot: root,
+      outDir: "/x",
+      dbImport: "~/db",
+      pkMap: buildPkMap(root),
+      relationMap: buildRelationMap(root),
+    });
+    const out = renderZodValidators(post, ctx).toString();
+    expect(out).toContain("updatedAt: z.date()"); // plain field, general zodFieldExpr path
+    expect(out).toContain("z.date().optional().transform(() =>"); // @autoSet insert path
+    expect(out).not.toContain("z.string()"); // no stale string-typed timestamp anywhere
+    expect(out).not.toContain(".toISOString()");
+  });
   test("emits InsertSchema with required fields and optional unset fields", () => {
     const post = metaObject(OBJECT_SUBTYPE_ENTITY, "Post");
     const id = metaField(FIELD_SUBTYPE_LONG, "id");