MCP-NTP Time Service

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) NTP time service that gives language models accurate network time.

Features

• Fetch accurate network time from an NTP server

• Support both stdio and sse transports

• Expose a get_current_time tool for models to query the current time

• Configure the NTP server via environment variable or request header

• Return detailed time information and NTP protocol metrics

Related MCP server: Time MCP Server

Install

Requires Python 3.10 through 3.14. The service pins MCP Python SDK 2.2.0.

# Install dependencies with uv
uv sync

Configuration

Environment variable (stdio)

Set NTP_DOMAIN_URL:

export NTP_DOMAIN_URL="pool.ntp.org"

Regional option (China): ntp.aliyun.com.

Request header (sse)

Include the ntp_url header:

ntp_url: pool.ntp.org

Usage

stdio

export NTP_DOMAIN_URL="pool.ntp.org"
python -m app

Or use the helper scripts: start-ntp-stdio.sh / start-ntp-stdio.ps1.

sse

python -m app --transport sse --port 8080

# Smoke-test the SSE endpoint
curl -H "ntp_url: pool.ntp.org" http://localhost:8080/sse

Or use: start-ntp-sse.sh / start-ntp-sse.ps1.

MCP client settings

See mcp_settings.template.json for Cursor/compatible MCP client examples (uv local debug, SSE debug, and uvx production).

Tool: get_current_time

Get the current time from an NTP server.

Parameters:

• ntp_server (optional): NTP server address. If omitted, uses the environment variable or request header.

Example response:

{
  "ntp_server": "pool.ntp.org",
  "ntp_timestamp": 1703123456.789,
  "ntp_time": "2023-12-21T10:30:56.789",
  "local_system_time": "2023-12-21T10:30:56.789",
  "time_offset": 0.123,
  "response_delay": 0.045
}

Debugging

export NTP_DOMAIN_URL="pool.ntp.org"
python -m app -v

Agent Skill

skills/mcp-ntp/ is an Agent Skills package. It tells an agent when to call get_current_time and how to register this server in that agent's MCP config. The skills CLI installs the same folder into Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and the rest of its supported agents (Node.js 22.20 or later):

# Claude Code, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot
npx skills add scofield5658/mcp-ntp --skill mcp-ntp \
  -a claude-code -a cursor -a github-copilot -y

# Every agent the CLI supports
npx skills add scofield5658/mcp-ntp --skill mcp-ntp --agent '*' -y

# Or copy the folder into a skills directory yourself
cp -r skills/mcp-ntp ~/.agents/skills/

After install, ask the agent to register mcp-ntp and read the current network time. The skill uses the published package (uvx mcp-ntp), not a local checkout.

Development

Project layout

mcp-ntp/
├── app/
│   ├── __init__.py      # CLI entry
│   ├── server.py        # MCP server
│   ├── client.py        # NTP client
│   └── config.py        # Configuration
├── skills/mcp-ntp/      # Installable Agent Skill
├── pyproject.toml
└── README.md

Extending NTP configuration

get_current_time in client.py can be extended for additional NTP server selection logic.

License

MIT License