Time and Timezone MCP server

The Time MCP Server provides time and timezone conversion capabilities for Large Language Models. With this server, LLMs can access current time information and convert times between different timezones using standard IANA timezone names, while automatically detecting your system's timezone.

Installation Options

Using uv (Recommended)

If you have uv installed, you can run the server directly without installation using uvx:

uvx time-mcp-local

Using pip

Alternatively, install the package via pip:

pip install time-mcp-local

Then run it as a Python module:

python -m time_mcp_local

Configuration

For Claude.app

Add the following to your Claude settings:

Using uvx

"mcpServers": {
  "time": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["time-mcp-local"]
  }
}

Using pip installation

"mcpServers": {
  "time": {
    "command": "python",
    "args": ["-m", "time_mcp_local"]
  }
}

For Zed Editor

Add to your Zed settings.json:

Using uvx

"context_servers": [
  "mcp-server-time": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["time-mcp-local"]
  }
],

Using pip installation

"context_servers": {
  "mcp-server-time": {
    "command": "python",
    "args": ["-m", "time_mcp_local"]
  }
},

Customizing System Timezone

By default, the server automatically detects your system's timezone. To override this:

{
  "command": "python",
  "args": ["-m", "time_mcp_local", "--local-timezone=America/New_York"]
}

Using the Server

The server provides two main tools:

1. Getting Current Time

Use the get_current_time tool to retrieve the current time in a specific timezone:

{
  "name": "get_current_time",
  "arguments": {
    "timezone": "Europe/Warsaw"
  }
}

Sample response:

{
  "timezone": "Europe/Warsaw",
  "datetime": "2024-01-01T13:00:00+01:00",
  "is_dst": false
}

2. Converting Time Between Timezones

Use the convert_time tool to convert time between different timezones:

{
  "name": "convert_time",
  "arguments": {
    "source_timezone": "America/New_York",
    "time": "16:30",
    "target_timezone": "Asia/Tokyo"
  }
}

Sample response:

{
  "source": {
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
    "datetime": "2024-01-01T12:30:00-05:00",
    "is_dst": false
  },
  "target": {
    "timezone": "Asia/Tokyo",
    "datetime": "2024-01-01T12:30:00+09:00",
    "is_dst": false
  },
  "time_difference": "+13.0h",
}

Debugging

You can debug the server using the MCP inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx time-mcp-local

Or for development installations:

cd path/to/servers/src/time
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run time-mcp-local

Example Questions for Claude

• "What time is it now?" (uses system timezone)
• "What time is it in Tokyo?"
• "When it's 4 PM in New York, what time is it in London?"
• "Convert 9:30 AM Tokyo time to New York time"

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "time" '{"command":"uvx","args":["time-mcp-local"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "time": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "time-mcp-local"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "time": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "time-mcp-local"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect