Real-time date and time access for AI assistants via Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Built for AI, Built with AI - Enhancing AI assistant capabilities through intelligent tooling

📑 Table of Contents

Overview

@strix-ai/currentdt-mcp is an MCP server that provides AI assistants with instant access to current date and time information. Essential for generating timestamped code, migration files, and dated documentation.

Quick Start

# No install required -- point your MCP client at npx (see integration guides below)
npx -y @strix-ai/currentdt-mcp

# Or install globally
npm install -g @strix-ai/currentdt-mcp

Requires Node.js 18 or newer.

User Flow

┌─────────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐
│ User Asks for       │───▶│ AI Assistant    │───▶│ get_current_        │
│ Timestamped Code    │    │                 │    │ datetime Tool       │
└─────────────────────┘    └─────────────────┘    └─────────────────────┘
                                                            │
                                                            ▼
┌─────────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐
│ Timestamped Output  │◀───│ Current Time    │◀───│ CurrentDT MCP       │
│ Generated           │    │ Returned        │    │ Server              │
└─────────────────────┘    └─────────────────┘    └─────────────────────┘
                                                            │
                                                            ▼
                           ┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐
                           │ Formatted       │◀───│ Local/Remote        │
                           │ DateTime        │    │ Time Provider       │
                           └─────────────────┘    └─────────────────────┘

Core Features

Never ambiguous about timezone - every response states the same instant as UTC, as local time with its real offset, and as epoch milliseconds
Any IANA timezone - timezone: "Asia/Tokyo" on the current time, and a convert_timezone tool that is DST-correct for the date in question
Multiple Formats - ISO 8601, named patterns, token patterns (YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm Z)
Structured output - structuredContent with a declared schema, plus plain text for older clients
Zero Configuration - npx -y and go; Node 18+
MCP Compatible - Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, Windsurf

MCP Client Integration

Every client below uses the same server entry. npx -y fetches the package on first use and suppresses the install prompt, so nothing needs to be installed beforehand.

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "@strix-ai/currentdt-mcp"]
}

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global) or .cursor/mcp.json in a project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "currentdt": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@strix-ai/currentdt-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

One-click: download currentdt-mcp.mcpb from the latest release and open it -- Claude Desktop installs it as an extension. No Node, npm or config file needed.

Or by config: edit claude_desktop_config.json -- on macOS at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, on Windows at %APPDATA%\Claude\:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "currentdt": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@strix-ai/currentdt-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in a workspace, or under "mcp" in user settings.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "currentdt": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@strix-ai/currentdt-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json, same mcpServers shape as Cursor.

Installed globally instead

If you prefer a fixed install over npx, run npm install -g @strix-ai/currentdt-mcp and use "command": "currentdt-mcp" with no args in any of the configs above.

Real-World Usage Examples

1. SQL Migration Files

User: "Create a migration to add user preferences table"
Result: Migration file named 2025-08-26-143000_add_user_preferences.sql with current timestamp

MCP Tool Call Example:

{
  "tool": "get_current_datetime",
  "arguments": {
    "format": "YYYY-MM-DD-HHmmss",
    "provider": "local"
  }
}

2. Timestamped Logging

User: "Generate a logger that includes timestamps"
Result: Logger implementation with current ISO datetime format

3. Dated Documentation

User: "Update the changelog with today's date"
Result: Changelog entry with current date: ## [Unreleased] - 2026-09-16

API Reference

Tool: `get_current_datetime`

Parameters:

format (optional): "iso" (default) or a token pattern like "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss"
timezone (optional): IANA name, e.g. "Asia/Tokyo". Sets the zone for local, offset, timezone and any token format. Defaults to the host's zone. iso/utc are always UTC regardless.
provider (optional): "local" (default) or "remote"

Returns: the formatted string as text content, plus structuredContent stating the same instant from every clock -- so there is never any doubt whether a value is UTC or local:

{
  "formatted": "2026-09-16 16:01:08",
  "iso":       "2026-09-16T14:01:08.624Z",
  "utc":       "2026-09-16T14:01:08.624Z",
  "local":     "2026-09-16T16:01:08.624+02:00",
  "offset":    "+02:00",
  "timezone":  "Europe/Berlin",
  "epochMs":   1789567268624,
  "provider":  "local"
}

Invalid input (a token-less format, an unknown timezone, a failed provider) comes back as a tool error (isError: true) with a message written to be read by the model.

Tool: `convert_timezone`

Re-states a time in another zone, DST-correct for the date -- the case where a remembered offset is most likely wrong.

Parameters:

time (required): ISO 8601. With an offset ("2026-03-29T01:30:00+01:00", "...Z") it pins an instant. Without one it is a wall-clock reading and from is required.
from (optional): IANA zone the wall-clock time was read in.
to (required): IANA zone to convert into.
format (optional): token pattern for the text result, rendered in to.

Returns: the same structured shape as above (minus provider), plus from and dstTransition -- true when the instant is within an hour of a DST changeover in to.

{
  "tool": "convert_timezone",
  "arguments": { "time": "2026-07-15T09:00:00", "from": "America/New_York", "to": "Europe/Berlin" }
}

Result: local: "2026-07-15T15:00:00.000+02:00". The same call for a January date yields +01:00, because the offset follows the calendar, not a constant.

A wall-clock time that never exists (the spring-forward gap) resolves to the instant after the gap; one that exists twice (the autumn repeat) resolves to the first. An offset-less time with no from is refused rather than guessed.

Example:

{
  "tool": "get_current_datetime",
  "arguments": {
    "format": "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss",
    "provider": "local"
  }
}

Configuration (Optional)

Create currentdt-config.json for custom settings:

{
  "defaultFormat": "iso",
  "defaultProvider": "local",
  "providers": {
    "local": { "name": "local", "priority": 1 },
    "remote": {
      "name": "remote",
      "priority": 2,
      "config": {
        "url": "https://worldtimeapi.org/api/timezone/UTC",
        "timeout": 5000
      }
    }
  },
  "debug": false,
  "logLevel": "error"
}

Environment variables override the file: CURRENTDT_FORMAT, CURRENTDT_PROVIDER, CURRENTDT_DEBUG, CURRENTDT_CONFIG.

Common Format Patterns

Timezone: "iso" returns UTC. Every token pattern renders the wall clock in timezone (default: the host's zone). Add the Z token to emit the real UTC offset -- never write a literal Z into a pattern, since that would label local digits as UTC.

For timezone: "Europe/Berlin" (UTC+02:00 in summer), at the instant 2025-08-26T14:30:00.123Z:

format	output	zone
`"iso"`	`2025-08-26T14:30:00.123Z`	UTC
`"YYYY-MM-DD"`	`2025-08-26`	local
`"YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss"`	`2025-08-26 16:30:00`	local
`"MM/DD/YYYY"`	`08/26/2025`	local
`"YYYY-MM-DD-HHmmss"`	`2025-08-26-163000`	local
`"YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.SSSZ"`	`2025-08-26T16:30:00.123+02:00`	local + offset

Tokens: YYYY MM DD HH mm ss SSS Z (+02:00) ZZ (+0200). Named patterns: filename, logdate, simple.

A pattern must contain at least one token. Free text such as "what time is it" is rejected rather than echoed back.

Troubleshooting

Tool Not Available

# Verify installation
npm list -g @strix-ai/currentdt-mcp

# Test server directly
npx @strix-ai/currentdt-mcp --test

Debug Mode

export CURRENTDT_DEBUG=true
npx @strix-ai/currentdt-mcp

Development

git clone https://github.com/biswajitpanday/CurrentDT-mcp.git
cd currentdt-mcp
npm install
npm run dev

npm Scripts

npm run build - Build TypeScript
npm test - Run all tests
npm run lint - ESLint check
npm run format - Prettier format

Contributing

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
Commit changes: git commit -m 'Add amazing feature'
Push to branch: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
Open a Pull Request

Support & Links

Issues: GitHub Issues
Documentation: GitHub Repository
npm Package: @strix-ai/currentdt-mcp
Author: Biswajit Panday - AI-Assisted Development Enthusiast
Contributor: Abdullah Saleh Robin robinabdullah@yahoo.com

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Made with ❤️ by Biswajit Panday

Keywords

mcp

mcp-server

model-context-protocol

time

date

datetime

FAQs

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Package last updated on 16 Sep 2026

@strix-ai/currentdt-mcp