Time

Time MCP Server provides time and timezone conversion capabilities via a Model Context Protocol interface. It enables you to retrieve the current time in a specific timezone or the system timezone and to convert times between IANA timezones, all with automatic system timezone detection for convenience.

How to use

Use the Time MCP Server through your MCP client to access two core capabilities: get_current_time and convert_time. Get the current time by specifying a target IANA timezone, or perform conversions between timezones by giving a source timezone, a time, and a target timezone. The server returns timezone-aware datetimes and whether a timezone is observing daylight saving time.

Practical usage patterns include asking for the current time in a specific zone, converting a time you already have to another zone, and composing time-related logic in your workflows or chat-based assistants. The tools are designed to be straightforward to call from your MCP client, with clear input parameters and predictable, structured responses.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Python 3.8+ and pip to install the server via Python packaging, or you can run a prebuilt runtime with uvx or Docker if you prefer containerized execution.

pip install mcp-server-time

After installation, start the server directly with Python for a local run. This runs the MCP server in place and makes it available for your MCP clients to connect to on the default port.

python -m mcp_server_time

As an alternative, you can run the server without a local Python install by using uvx to execute the MCP server directly from its package, which bypasses a separate install step.

uvx mcp-server-time

Configuration examples

Configure the server within clients that manage MCP servers. The following examples show how to register the time server under Claude.app using uvx and, alternatively, using Docker. These blocks are exact configurations you can copy into your MCP settings.

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

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

If you prefer running via Python directly after installation, the following block shows how to start the server with Python CLI, aligning with the pip installation method.

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

Customization and system timezone

By default, the server automatically detects your system's timezone. You can override this behavior by adding a local timezone parameter to the startup arguments.

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

Example interactions

Get current time in a specific timezone, for example Europe/Warsaw, and receive the corresponding ISO datetime and daylight saving status.

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

Tools and responses

Convert a time between timezones by providing the source timezone, the time in 24-hour format, and the target timezone. The response includes both the source and target times with their respective timezones and offsets, plus the time difference.

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

Available tools

get_current_time

Get the current time in a specific timezone or the system timezone by providing a valid IANA timezone name.

convert_time

Convert time from a source IANA timezone to a target IANA timezone for a given 24-hour time.