Time MCP server for AI agents

The Time MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol server that provides time and timezone conversion capabilities for LLMs. It allows access to current time information and performs timezone conversions using IANA timezone names, with automatic system timezone detection.

Installation Options

Using uv (Recommended)

No specific installation is needed when using uv. Simply use uvx to run the server directly:

uvx mcp-server-time

Using pip

Install the server via pip:

pip install mcp-server-time

After installation, run it as a script:

python -m mcp_server_time

Configuration

For Claude.app

Add to your Claude settings:

Using uvx

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

Using docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "time": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "LOCAL_TIMEZONE", "mcp/time"]
    }
  }
}

Using pip installation

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

For Zed

Add to your Zed settings.json:

Using uvx

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

Using pip installation

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

For VS Code

For manual installation, add the following JSON block to your User Settings (JSON) file in VS Code. You can do this by pressing Ctrl + Shift + P and typing Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON).

Alternatively, add it to a file called .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace to share the configuration with others.

Using uvx

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

Using Docker

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "time": {
        "command": "docker",
        "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "mcp/time"]
      }
    }
  }
}

For Zencoder

Go to the Zencoder menu (...)
From the dropdown menu, select Agent Tools
Click on the Add Custom MCP
Add the name and server configuration from below, and make sure to hit the Install button

Using uvx

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

Customizing System Timezone

By default, the server automatically detects your system's timezone. You can override this by adding the argument --local-timezone to the args list in the configuration:

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

Available Tools

Get Current Time

Gets the current time in a specified timezone or system timezone.

Required arguments:

timezone (string): IANA timezone name (e.g., 'America/New_York', 'Europe/London')

Example request:

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

Example response:

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

Convert Time Between Timezones

Converts time between specified timezones.

Required arguments:

source_timezone (string): Source IANA timezone name
time (string): Time in 24-hour format (HH:MM)
target_timezone (string): Target IANA timezone name

Example request:

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

Example 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 use the MCP inspector to debug the server:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx mcp-server-time

Or if you've installed the package in a specific directory:

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

Example Questions

With this server configured, you can ask questions like:

"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":["mcp-server-time"]}'

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": [
                "mcp-server-time"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": [
                "mcp-server-time"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect