How can I install the MCP Time Server?

You can install it via uvx mcp-server-time, pip install mcp-server-time followed by python -m mcp_server_time, or by using the prebuilt mcp/time Docker image.

Does the server fetch time from a network source like NTP?

No, the server does not fetch times from NTP or a network clock. Its accuracy is only as good as the machine's own local clock.

Can the server parse natural language dates or handle scheduling?

No, the server is a minimal primitive that does not parse natural-language dates, perform date arithmetic, or handle scheduling logic on its own.

MCP Time Server

Official MCP reference server for current time and IANA timezone conversion.

Free· Free and open source (MIT-licensed reference server maintained by the Model Context Protocol project).MCP Servers

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In short

This tool exposes two MCP tools to retrieve current time in any IANA timezone and convert times between zones. It is best for developers integrating reliable temporal data into AI assistants to prevent hallucinated dates.

Best for

Developers wiring MCP-aware assistants (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Zed, VS Code) that need grounded current-time and timezone-conversion answers without adding a paid API.

Skip if

Teams needing calendar scheduling, recurring-event logic, natural-language date parsing, or high-precision NTP-synchronized time -- this server is intentionally minimal.

MCP Time Server is a small reference Model Context Protocol server, written in Python and maintained inside the official modelcontextprotocol/servers repository, that gives LLM clients a reliable way to answer time-and-timezone questions without hallucinating dates. It exposes two tools over MCP: get_current_time, which returns the current wall-clock time in any IANA timezone (with a DST flag), and convert_time, which converts a 24-hour time from one IANA zone to another and reports the offset difference. The server auto-detects the host's local timezone and lets you override it with a --local-timezone flag, which is useful in containers and CI where the system TZ is UTC. It is trivially installable three ways: uvx mcp-server-time (recommended), pip install mcp-server-time then python -m mcp_server_time, or the prebuilt mcp/time Docker image. Configuration snippets are documented for Claude Desktop, VS Code, Zed, Cursor, and any other MCP-aware client that speaks stdio. It is intended for developers building agents or chat assistants that need grounded temporal answers, meeting-scheduling assistants that shuffle across timezones, and anyone tired of watching a model confidently invent a time in Tokyo. It will not fetch times from NTP or a network clock, will not parse natural-language dates, and does no scheduling on its own -- it is a deliberately minimal primitive that other tools and prompts compose with.

Editor's take

One of the highest-value-per-line-of-code MCP servers in the reference set. The fact that frontier models still fumble 'what time is it in Berlin right now?' makes this a near-mandatory install for any agent that touches scheduling, logs, or user-facing timestamps. Pair it with a calendar or search MCP for real utility.

— The AI Tool Bible editorial team

Pros

✅ Fixes a real, common LLM failure mode: guessing the current time or botching a timezone conversion
✅ Zero-config for most users -- uvx mcp-server-time works instantly on any MCP client
✅ Ships as an official reference server, so it stays in step with MCP protocol changes
✅ Three install paths (uv, pip, Docker) cover local dev, servers, and sandboxed agents
✅ Uses IANA timezone names and reports DST status, so results are unambiguous
✅ Tiny surface area (two tools) makes it safe to grant blanket permission to

Cons

⚠️ Only two tools -- no date arithmetic, no natural-language parsing, no recurring-event math
⚠️ Relies on the host's tzdata; stale OS images can return incorrect DST results
⚠️ No network time source -- accuracy is only as good as the machine's own clock
⚠️ Documentation is a README; no hosted docs site, changelog, or version-support policy
⚠️ Python-only implementation means an extra runtime if your stack is otherwise Node or Go

Use cases

Grounding current-time answers in a chat assistantTimezone conversion for distributed team schedulingMeeting-time suggestions across regionsLog-timestamp interpretation during incident triageTravel-planning assistantsCron and scheduled-job explanationDST-aware reminders in agent workflowsCorrecting model timestamps in RAG citations

Frequently asked

What specific tools does the MCP Time Server provide?: It exposes two tools: get_current_time, which returns the current wall-clock time in any IANA timezone with a DST flag, and convert_time, which converts a 24-hour time between IANA zones and reports the offset difference.
How can I install the MCP Time Server?: You can install it via uvx mcp-server-time, pip install mcp-server-time followed by python -m mcp_server_time, or by using the prebuilt mcp/time Docker image.
Does the server fetch time from a network source like NTP?: No, the server does not fetch times from NTP or a network clock. Its accuracy is only as good as the machine's own local clock.
Which AI clients are supported by this server?: Configuration snippets are documented for Claude Desktop, VS Code, Zed, Cursor, and any other MCP-aware client that speaks stdio.
Can the server parse natural language dates or handle scheduling?: No, the server is a minimal primitive that does not parse natural-language dates, perform date arithmetic, or handle scheduling logic on its own.