@ainarsklavins/date-mcp

An MCP server that provides real-time date, time, and timezone information to AI assistants.

Why Use This?

AI models don't inherently know the current date or time. This MCP server solves that by providing tools that return accurate, real-time temporal information.

Installation

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

OS	Path
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "date-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ainarsklavins/date-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code (CLI)

claude mcp add --scope user date-mcp -- npx -y @ainarsklavins/date-mcp

<details> <summary>Manual configuration</summary>

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "date-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ainarsklavins/date-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

</details>

VS Code

Or manually add to your VS Code MCP settings (Ctrl+Shift+P → "MCP: Open User Configuration"):

{
  "servers": {
    "date-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ainarsklavins/date-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to Cursor's MCP settings (Settings → MCP Servers):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "date-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ainarsklavins/date-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "date-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ainarsklavins/date-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

<details> <summary>Alternative: Global Installation</summary>

npm install -g @ainarsklavins/date-mcp

Then use "command": "date-mcp" instead of npx in any configuration above. </details>

Available Tools

Tool	Description	Read-only
get-current-datetime	Get current date/time with timezone	Yes
get-day-of-week	Get day name for any date	Yes
get-timezone-info	Get timezone offset and details	Yes
format-date	Format dates in various styles	Yes

All tools are read-only and have no side effects.

get-current-datetime

Returns the current date and time.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
timezone	string	No	IANA timezone (e.g., America/New_York)

Example:

{
  "iso": "2024-12-15T14:30:00.000Z",
  "formatted": "12/15/2024, 9:30:00 AM",
  "timezone": "America/New_York",
  "timestamp": 1734272200000
}

get-day-of-week

Returns the day of the week for a given date.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
date	string	No	Date in YYYY-MM-DD format (defaults to today)
locale	string	No	Locale code (e.g., en-US, de-DE)

Example:

{
  "dayName": "Sunday",
  "dayNumber": 0,
  "date": "2024-12-15"
}

get-timezone-info

Returns detailed timezone information.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
timezone	string	No	IANA timezone name

Example:

{
  "timezone": "America/New_York",
  "offset": "GMT-05:00",
  "abbreviation": "EST",
  "currentTime": "12/15/2024, 9:30:00 AM"
}

format-date

Formats a date in various styles.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
date	string	No	Date in ISO format (defaults to today)
style	string	No	short, medium, long, or full
locale	string	No	Locale code (e.g., en-US, fr-FR)

Example:

{
  "formatted": "December 15, 2024",
  "style": "long",
  "locale": "en-US",
  "iso": "2024-12-15T00:00:00.000Z"
}

Supported Timezones

Uses IANA timezone database. Common examples:

• America/New_York, America/Los_Angeles, America/Chicago
• Europe/London, Europe/Paris, Europe/Berlin
• Asia/Tokyo, Asia/Shanghai, Asia/Singapore
• Australia/Sydney
• UTC

Full list: IANA Time Zone Database

Debugging

You can use the MCP Inspector to debug the server:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector npx -y @ainarsklavins/date-mcp

Development

git clone https://github.com/ainarsklavins/date-mcp.git
cd date-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Testing Locally

Add to Claude Code with direct path:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "date-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/date-mcp/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

License

MIT - see LICENSE