Show HN: I gave Claude a sundial and it built a calendar

Summary

"Passage of Time" Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server 🕐 An MCP server that gives language models temporal awareness and time calculation abilities. Teaching LLMs the significance of the passage of time through collaborative tool development. 📖 The Story This project emerged from a philosophical question: "Can AI perceive the passage of time?" What started as an exploration of machine consciousness became a practical solution to a real problem - LLMs can't reliably calculate time differences. Instead of publishing a paper about how "silly" these models are at mental math, we decided to do what we've done for ourselves: equip them with a calculator for time. Through human-LLM collaboration, we discovered that with proper temporal tools, models can uncover surprising insights about conversation patterns, work rhythms, and the human experience of time. Read the full story on Medium → 🚀 Quick Start Prerequisites Python 3.12+ pipenv (or pip) An MCP-compatible client (Claude.ai, Continue.dev, etc.) Installation Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/jlumbroso/passage-of-time-mcp.git cd passage-of-time-mcp Install dependencies: pipenv install # or with pip: pip install fastmcp pytz Run the server: pipenv run server # or directly: pipenv run python passage_of_time_mcp.py The server will start on http://0.0.0.0:8000/sse . Connecting to Claude.ai In Claude.ai, go to Settings → Integrations Click "Add integration" and select "Custom" Enter the server URL (e.g., https://your-server.ngrok-free.app/sse if using ngrok, make sure to add /sse at the end) Save and enable all the time-related tools Note: For local development, you'll need to expose your server using ngrok or deploy it to a public URL. 🛠️ Available Tools Core Functions current_datetime(timezone="America/New_York") Returns the current date and time. The foundation of temporal awareness. Returns: "2024-01-15 14:30:45 EST" time_difference(timestamp1, timestamp2, unit="auto") Calculates the duration between two ...