diff --git a/contrib/decoder/decode_partition/main.go b/contrib/decoder/decode_partition/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0fae4d3c845
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/decoder/decode_partition/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+// decode_partition decodes a lakeFS partition (the path component after
+// "data/" in an external location) and extracts its time.  It may be useful
+// for debugging.
+package main
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/rs/xid"
+)
+
+const (
+	unixYear4000 = 64060588800
+)
+
+func main() {
+	if len(os.Args) != 2 {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Usage: %s ID", os.Args[0])
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	xid, err := xid.FromString(os.Args[1])
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Not an XID: %s\n", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	createdAt := xid.Time().UTC()
+	fmt.Printf("%s (asc)\n", createdAt.UTC())
+	createdAt = time.Unix(unixYear4000-int64(createdAt.Unix()), 0)
+	fmt.Printf("%s (desc)\n", createdAt.UTC())
+}