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Date and Time Tool

Obtain the current date, time, or datetime in a model-chosen format.

Overview

The datetime toolset exposes one read-only tool, get_datetime. It reads the current clock on each call and returns only the formatted string. No shell or external service is needed. It works in native and browser builds.

Configuration

agents:
  root:
    model: openai/gpt-5-mini
    instruction: Use get_datetime for the current date or time.
    toolsets:
      - type: datetime

No toolset-specific configuration is required. The model chooses the format and optional timezone in each tool call.

Tool arguments

Argument Required Description
format Yes A Go time layout based on the reference time Mon Jan 2 15:04:05 MST 2006.
timezone No An IANA timezone such as Europe/Paris, America/New_York, or UTC. Defaults to the host's local timezone; Local also selects it.

Choose a layout containing only the parts needed:

Desired output format Example result
Date 2006-01-02 2026-10-07
Time 15:04:05 23:04:05
12-hour time 3:04 PM 11:04 PM
RFC3339 datetime 2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00 2026-10-07T23:04:05Z
Long date Monday, January 2, 2006 Wednesday, October 7, 2026

For example:

{"format":"2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00","timezone":"UTC"}

The result is plain text, for example 2026-10-07T23:04:05Z, with no label or JSON wrapper.

Use Go layouts, not strftime directives (%Y-%m-%d) or tokens such as YYYY-MM-DD. Literal text in the layout is preserved. See the Go time layout documentation for more formats. Empty or whitespace-only formats and unknown timezones return tool errors.

The tool has no side effects and carries ReadOnlyHint. Approval still depends on the session's safety mode and permission rules.

See the example configuration.