Webpage Timestamps MCP server for AI agents

MCP Webpage Timestamps is a powerful server tool that extracts webpage creation, modification, and publication timestamps from various sources. It leverages the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to provide comprehensive timestamp data for web scraping and temporal analysis of web content.

Installation Options

Global Installation

npm install -g mcp-webpage-timestamps

Using with npx

npx mcp-webpage-timestamps

Smithery Installation

For Claude Desktop users, you can install via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @Fabien-desablens/mcp-webpage-timestamps --client claude

Prerequisites

Node.js 18.0.0 or higher
npm or yarn

Configuring MCP Clients

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webpage-timestamps": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-webpage-timestamps"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Cline Configuration

Add to your MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webpage-timestamps": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-webpage-timestamps"]
    }
  }
}

API Reference

Extracting Timestamps from a Single Webpage

The extract_timestamps tool provides detailed timestamp information from a webpage:

{
  "name": "extract_timestamps",
  "arguments": {
    "url": "https://example.com/article",
    "config": {
      "timeout": 15000,
      "enableHeuristics": true
    }
  }
}

Configuration Options

timeout: Request timeout in milliseconds (default: 10000)
userAgent: Custom user agent string for requests
followRedirects: Whether to follow HTTP redirects (default: true)
maxRedirects: Maximum number of redirects to follow (default: 5)
enableHeuristics: Enable heuristic timestamp detection (default: true)

Batch Processing Multiple URLs

The batch_extract_timestamps tool allows processing multiple URLs at once:

{
  "name": "batch_extract_timestamps",
  "arguments": {
    "urls": [
      "https://example.com/article1",
      "https://example.com/article2",
      "https://example.com/article3"
    ],
    "config": {
      "timeout": 10000
    }
  }
}

Understanding the Response Format

The server returns timestamp data in this format:

{
  url: string;
  createdAt?: Date;
  modifiedAt?: Date;
  publishedAt?: Date;
  sources: TimestampSource[];
  confidence: 'high' | 'medium' | 'low';
  errors?: string[];
}

Each timestamp source includes:

{
  type: 'html-meta' | 'http-header' | 'json-ld' | 'microdata' | 'opengraph' | 'twitter' | 'heuristic';
  field: string;
  value: string;
  confidence: 'high' | 'medium' | 'low';
}

Timestamp Data Sources

The server extracts timestamps from multiple sources:

HTML Meta Tags: Various meta tags including article timestamps, publication dates, and Dublin Core metadata
HTTP Headers: Last-Modified and Date headers
JSON-LD Structured Data: Extracts datePublished, dateModified, and dateCreated
Microdata: Structured data timestamp information
OpenGraph: Article publication and modification times
Twitter Cards: Date information from Twitter card metadata
Heuristic Analysis: Intelligent extraction from time elements and text patterns

Advanced Usage Examples

Using the Timestamp Extractor in Code

import { TimestampExtractor } from './src/extractor.js';

const extractor = new TimestampExtractor();
const result = await extractor.extractTimestamps('https://example.com/article');

console.log('Published:', result.publishedAt);
console.log('Modified:', result.modifiedAt);
console.log('Confidence:', result.confidence);
console.log('Sources:', result.sources.length);

Custom Configuration Options

const extractor = new TimestampExtractor({
  timeout: 15000,
  userAgent: 'MyBot/1.0',
  enableHeuristics: false,
  maxRedirects: 3
});

const result = await extractor.extractTimestamps('https://example.com');

Processing Multiple URLs

const urls = [
  'https://example.com/article1',
  'https://example.com/article2',
  'https://example.com/article3'
];

const results = await Promise.all(
  urls.map(url => extractor.extractTimestamps(url))
);

Error Handling

The server provides robust error handling for various scenarios:

Network connection issues
HTTP errors (404, 500, etc.)
HTML parsing problems
Invalid configuration parameters

All errors are captured in the response's errors array, making debugging straightforward.

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 "webpage-timestamps" '{"command":"npx","args":["mcp-webpage-timestamps"]}'

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": {
        "webpage-timestamps": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-webpage-timestamps"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "webpage-timestamps": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-webpage-timestamps"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect