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Date & Time

OpenClaw defaults to host-local time for transport timestamps and user timezone only in the system prompt. Provider timestamps are preserved so tools keep their native semantics (current time is available via session_status).

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Message envelopes (local by default)

Inbound messages are wrapped with a timestamp (minute precision):
This envelope timestamp is host-local by default, regardless of the provider timezone. You can override this behavior:
  • envelopeTimezone: "utc" uses UTC.
  • envelopeTimezone: "local" uses the host timezone.
  • envelopeTimezone: "user" uses agents.defaults.userTimezone (falls back to host timezone).
  • Use an explicit IANA timezone (e.g., "America/Chicago") for a fixed zone.
  • envelopeTimestamp: "off" removes absolute timestamps from envelope headers.
  • envelopeElapsed: "off" removes elapsed time suffixes (the +2m style).

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Examples

Local (default):
User timezone:
Elapsed time enabled:

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System prompt: Current Date & Time

If the user timezone is known, the system prompt includes a dedicated Current Date & Time section with the time zone only (no clock/time format) to keep prompt caching stable:
When the agent needs the current time, use the session_status tool; the status card includes a timestamp line.

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System event lines (local by default)

Queued system events inserted into agent context are prefixed with a timestamp using the same timezone selection as message envelopes (default: host-local).

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Configure user timezone + format

  • userTimezone sets the user-local timezone for prompt context.
  • timeFormat controls 12h/24h display in the prompt. auto follows OS prefs.

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Time format detection (auto)

When timeFormat: "auto", OpenClaw inspects the OS preference (macOS/Windows) and falls back to locale formatting. The detected value is cached per process to avoid repeated system calls.

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Tool payloads + connectors (raw provider time + normalized fields)

Channel tools return provider-native timestamps and add normalized fields for consistency:
  • timestampMs: epoch milliseconds (UTC)
  • timestampUtc: ISO 8601 UTC string
Raw provider fields are preserved so nothing is lost.
  • Slack: epoch-like strings from the API
  • Discord: UTC ISO timestamps
  • Telegram/WhatsApp: provider-specific numeric/ISO timestamps
If you need local time, convert it downstream using the known timezone.