90 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
90 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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summary: "Timezone handling for agents, envelopes, and prompts"
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read_when:
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- You need to understand how timestamps are normalized for the model
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- Configuring the user timezone for system prompts
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---
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# Timezones
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Clawdbot standardizes timestamps so the model sees a **single reference time**.
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## Message envelopes (local by default)
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Inbound messages are wrapped in an envelope like:
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```
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[Provider ... 2026-01-05 16:26 PST] message text
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```
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The timestamp in the envelope is **host-local by default**, with minutes precision.
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You can override this with:
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```json5
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{
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agents: {
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defaults: {
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envelopeTimezone: "local", // "utc" | "local" | "user" | IANA timezone
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envelopeTimestamp: "on", // "on" | "off"
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envelopeElapsed: "on" // "on" | "off"
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}
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}
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}
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```
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- `envelopeTimezone: "utc"` uses UTC.
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- `envelopeTimezone: "user"` uses `agents.defaults.userTimezone` (falls back to host timezone).
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- Use an explicit IANA timezone (e.g., `"Europe/Vienna"`) for a fixed offset.
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- `envelopeTimestamp: "off"` removes absolute timestamps from envelope headers.
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- `envelopeElapsed: "off"` removes elapsed time suffixes (the `+2m` style).
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### Examples
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**Local (default):**
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```
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[Signal Alice +1555 2026-01-18 00:19 PST] hello
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```
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**Fixed timezone:**
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```
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[Signal Alice +1555 2026-01-18 06:19 GMT+1] hello
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```
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**Elapsed time:**
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```
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[Signal Alice +1555 +2m 2026-01-18T05:19Z] follow-up
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```
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## Tool payloads (raw provider data + normalized fields)
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Tool calls (`channels.discord.readMessages`, `channels.slack.readMessages`, etc.) return **raw provider timestamps**.
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We also attach normalized fields for consistency:
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- `timestampMs` (UTC epoch milliseconds)
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- `timestampUtc` (ISO 8601 UTC string)
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Raw provider fields are preserved.
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## User timezone for the system prompt
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Set `agents.defaults.userTimezone` to tell the model the user's local time zone. If it is
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unset, Clawdbot resolves the **host timezone at runtime** (no config write).
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```json5
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{
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agents: { defaults: { userTimezone: "America/Chicago" } }
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}
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```
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The system prompt includes:
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- `Current Date & Time` section with local time and timezone
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- `Time format: 12-hour` or `24-hour`
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You can control the prompt format with `agents.defaults.timeFormat` (`auto` | `12` | `24`).
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See [Date & Time](/date-time) for the full behavior and examples.
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