By name: current-datetime
description: Use before depending on or presenting the current date or time in any context — writing timestamps into files (Last updated headers, document metadata), stating the date or time in responses, calculating staleness or deadlines, or any reasoning where 'right now' is a fact you need. The system prompt date is a snapshot from conversation start and may be stale; always verify with date. Also use for time zone conversions, scheduling across regions, Unix timestamps, date arithmetic, and determining what day a date falls on.
license: MIT
allowed-tools: Bash(date:*)
metadata:
adapted_from: Matt Hodges' temporal-awareness skill (MIT)
original_repo: https://github.com/hodgesmr/temporal-awareness
Current Date/Time
RULE 0: Always Verify
Run date BEFORE:
- Writing any date or time value into a file (
Last updated, document metadata, timestamps in code) - Stating the current date or time in a response
- Calculating staleness, age, or time remaining
- Any reasoning where "right now" is a fact you depend on
Never assume. The system prompt date is a snapshot from conversation start — it may be stale. The system prompt has NO time at all. Trust date output, not memory or inference.
Most Common Command
date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M" # 2026-03-17 14:39 — for Last updated headers
Quick Reference: Date
| Task | GNU date (Linux) | BSD date (macOS) |
|---|---|---|
| Current date | date +%Y-%m-%d |
date +%Y-%m-%d |
| Day of week | date +%A |
date +%A |
| Specific date's day | date -d "2025-03-15" +%A |
date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d" "2025-03-15" +%A |
| Add days | date -d "+7 days" +%Y-%m-%d |
date -v +7d +%Y-%m-%d |
| Days between | echo $(( ($(date -d "2025-12-31" +%s) - $(date -d "2025-01-01" +%s)) / 86400 )) |
echo $(( ($(date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d" "2025-12-31" +%s) - $(date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d" "2025-01-01" +%s)) / 86400 )) |
Quick Reference: Time
| Task | GNU date (Linux) | BSD date (macOS) |
|---|---|---|
| Current time (24h) | date +%H:%M:%S |
date +%H:%M:%S |
| Full datetime | date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" |
date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" |
| ISO 8601 | date -Iseconds |
date +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z |
| Unix timestamp | date +%s |
date +%s |
| From timestamp | date -d @1704067200 |
date -r 1704067200 |
| Add hours | date -d "+3 hours" |
date -v +3H |
| Time in other TZ | TZ="America/New_York" date |
TZ="America/New_York" date |
Common Time Zones
| Region | TZ Identifier | UTC Offset |
|---|---|---|
| Pacific (US/Canada) | America/Los_Angeles |
UTC-8/-7 |
| Mountain (US/Canada) | America/Denver |
UTC-7/-6 |
| Central (US/Canada/Mexico) | America/Chicago |
UTC-6/-5 |
| Eastern (US/Canada) | America/New_York |
UTC-5/-4 |
| South America East | America/Sao_Paulo |
UTC-3 |
| Western Europe (UK/PT) | Europe/London |
UTC+0/+1 |
| Central Europe (DE/FR/IT/ES) | Europe/Paris |
UTC+1/+2 |
| Eastern Europe (RO/BG/GR/UA/FI) | Europe/Bucharest |
UTC+2/+3 |
| Gulf (UAE/Oman) | Asia/Dubai |
UTC+4 |
| South Africa | Africa/Johannesburg |
UTC+2 |
| India | Asia/Kolkata |
UTC+5:30 |
| Southeast Asia (SG/MY/PH) | Asia/Singapore |
UTC+8 |
| China / Hong Kong | Asia/Shanghai |
UTC+8 |
| Japan / Korea | Asia/Tokyo |
UTC+9 |
| Australia East | Australia/Sydney |
UTC+10/+11 |
| New Zealand | Pacific/Auckland |
UTC+12/+13 |
Use TZ="identifier" date to get time in any zone.
Localization
Day/month names (%A, %B) use system locale. Force English when needed:
LC_TIME=C date +%A # Thursday (not "joi", "giovedì", etc.)