diff --git a/mcrouter/lib/carbon/RequestCommon.h b/mcrouter/lib/carbon/RequestCommon.h
index 609db44e1..498b73df5 100644
--- a/mcrouter/lib/carbon/RequestCommon.h
+++ b/mcrouter/lib/carbon/RequestCommon.h
@@ -102,10 +102,14 @@ class RequestCommon : public MessageCommon {
     sourceIpAddr_ = sourceIpAddr;
   }
 
-  void setWriteTimestamp(uint64_t writeTimestamp) noexcept {
+  void setWriteTimestampNs(uint64_t writeTimestamp) noexcept {
     writeTimestamp_ = writeTimestamp;
   }
 
+  std::optional<uint64_t> getWriteTimestampNs() const noexcept {
+    return writeTimestamp_;
+  }
+
  protected:
   void markBufferAsDirty() {
     serializedBuffer_ = nullptr;