How do i defualt a date model variable to todays date

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Another solution is using flags for this.
What we do is pass the time as a flag and later on get a Date from that

In JS :

let flags = { initialTime: (new Date()).getTime() }
let app = Elm.App.init({ node, flags })

In Elm

type alias Flags =
  {
    initialTime : Posix
  }

Decoding the flags looks like:

timeDecoder =
  Decode.float
  |> Decode.map round
  |> Decode.map Time.millisToPosix

Decode.map Flags
  Decode.field "initialTime" timeDecoder

And later when needed we convert the time to a Date.

Date.fromPosix Time.utc model.flags.initialTime