📌Overview

Purpose: To provide a datetime formatting service as an MCP server specifically for the Claude Desktop Application, enabling the generation of datetime strings in multiple formats.

Overview: The mcp-datetime framework serves as a powerful tool for formatting datetime strings, supporting various international formats, including Japanese. It is designed to seamlessly integrate with the Claude Desktop Application, offering reliable timezone handling and optimized formats suitable for file naming.

Key Features:

• Support for Various Datetime Formats: Offers multiple standard, Japanese, and ISO formats for flexibility in usage.

• Accurate Timezone Handling: Ensures precise datetime generation that accounts for different time zones, increasing usability across regions.

• Seamless Integration with Claude Desktop App: Easily configurable to work alongside the Claude Desktop Application, enhancing its datetime functionalities.

• Filename Optimization: Provides specific datetime formats optimized for naming files, which aids in better file organization and identification.

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mcp-datetime

A datetime formatting service implemented as an MCP server for the Claude Desktop Application. Supports generation of datetime strings in various formats.

Note: This package has been tested only on macOS. Windows compatibility has not been verified.

Prerequisites

Before using mcp-datetime, ensure you have the following tools installed:

• Python 3.12 or later
• uv (Python package installer)
• uvx (Python package runner)

Features

• Support for various datetime formats
• Japanese language support
• Optimized formats for filename generation
• Accurate timezone handling
• Seamless integration with Claude Desktop App

MCP Server Components

Tools

The server implements one tool:

• get_datetime: Get current date and time in various formats
  • Takes "format" as a required string argument
  • Returns formatted datetime string based on specified format
  • Supports multiple format types including standard, Japanese, and ISO formats

Usage with Claude Desktop App

Add the following to your config file:

Config file location (macOS):
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

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

Installation

You can install the package via PyPI or from the GitHub source:

• Install from PyPI

  pip install mcp-datetime
  

• Install from GitHub Source

  git clone https://github.com/ZeparHyfar/mcp-datetime.git
  cd mcp-datetime
  pip install -e .
  

Example claude_desktop_config.json for manual installation:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-datetime": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "mcp_datetime"],
      "env": {
        "PYTHON": "/path/to/your/python"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace "/path/to/your/python" with your actual Python interpreter path, e.g., /usr/local/bin/python3 or /Users/username/.pyenv/versions/3.12.0/bin/python3.

Basic Examples

• Command format

  # Standard datetime format
  call datetime-service.get_datetime {"format": "datetime"}
  # Result: 2024-12-10 00:54:01
  
  # Japanese format
  call datetime-service.get_datetime {"format": "datetime_jp"}
  # Result: 2024年12月10日 00時54分01秒
  
  # Filename format
  call datetime-service.get_datetime {"format": "filename_md"}
  # Result: 20241210005401.md
  

• Claude Desktop App prompt examples

  • User

    Please tell me the current time in date_slash format
    

  • Claude

    I'll get the current date in date_slash format.
    
    The current date is 2024/12/12
    

Supported Formats

Format Name	Example	Description
date	2024-12-10	Standard date format
date_slash	2024/12/10	Date with slashes
date_jp	2024年12月10日	Japanese date format
datetime	2024-12-10 00:54:01	Standard datetime
datetime_jp	2024年12月10日 00時54分01秒	Japanese datetime
datetime_t	2024-12-10T00:54:01	DateTime with T separator
compact	20241210005401	Compact format for IDs
compact_date	20241210	Compact date only
compact_time	005401	Compact time only
filename_md	20241210005401.md	Markdown filename
filename_txt	20241210005401.txt	Text filename
filename_log	20241210005401.log	Log filename
iso	2024-12-10T00:54:01+0900	ISO 8601 format
iso_basic	20241210T005401+0900	Basic ISO format
log	2024-12-10 00:54:01.123456	Log format with microseconds
log_compact	20241210_005401	Compact log format
time	00:54:01	Time only
time_jp	00時54分01秒	Japanese time format

Debugging

Since MCP servers run over stdio, debugging can be challenging. It is recommended to use the MCP Inspector:

• Using PyPI package

  npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx mcp-datetime
  

• Using downloaded source code from GitHub

  git clone https://github.com/ZeparHyfar/mcp-datetime.git
  npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx --directory ./mcp-datetime run mcp-datetime
  

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.