MCP Time Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides current time from internet time servers with timezone support.

Features

- Fetches accurate time from NTP servers (pool.ntp.org)
- Supports custom timezone configuration via environment variable
- Graceful error handling for network issues and invalid timezones
- Compatible with Claude Desktop

Installation

1. Install the required dependencies:

pip install mcp ntplib pytz

2. Install the server in Claude Desktop with your preferred timezone:

mcp install timeserver.py -e TIMEZONE=America/New_York

Locate the claude_desktop_config.json and add (or change as mcp command generates it) to "mcpServers" the "Time Server":

{

  "mcpServers": {

    "Time Server": {

      "command": "/path/to/python",

      "args": [

        "/path/to/timeserver.py"

      ],

      "env": {

        "TIMEZONE": "America/New_York"

      }

    }

  }

}

You can set any valid timezone name from the IANA Time Zone Database. Some common examples:
- 'America/New_York'
- 'Europe/London'
- 'Asia/Tokyo'
- 'US/Pacific'
- 'UTC' (default if no timezone is specified)

Usage

Once installed, you can ask Claude to use the get_current_time tool to fetch and display the current time in your configured timezone. The tool will:
- Connect to pool.ntp.org to get the accurate current time
- Convert the time to your specified timezone (or UTC if none specified)
- Return a formatted string with the current date, time, and timezone

Error Handling

The server handles several types of errors gracefully:
- Network connectivity issues when reaching the NTP server
- Invalid timezone specifications (falls back to UTC)
- General exceptions with informative error messages

Dependencies

- mcp: Model Context Protocol SDK
- ntplib: NTP client library
- pytz: Timezone database and utilities