Models consuming projects have no idea what day it is. Three always-on
layers from mcplocal plus one from mcpd:
- initialize instructions and the begin_session briefing carry
'[context] now: <date/time> — project: <name>' (frozen at session
start by design);
- a get_current_time virtual tool (ungated catalogs only, same pattern
as read_prompts);
- every tools/call result gets a trailing '[context] now: …' content
item at the endpoint send site — the only chokepoint that also covers
virtual tools, gate intercepts and failure results, and the layer
that keeps a days-old chat session current;
- mcpd agent/project chat system blocks append the same line each turn.
Time renders as UTC plus an optional local timezone from
MCPLOCAL_AMBIENT_TZ (IANA name; both services read it; invalid or unset
means UTC only). ~15 tokens per stamp, minute precision.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
