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Temporal Awareness (Date & Time)

For an AI to be truly helpful, it needs to understand the concept of time. Open WebUI ensures that models are aware of the current date, time, and timezone so they can provide contextually relevant answers (e.g., "What's on my schedule today?" or "Summarize my meetings from yesterday").

System-Level Awareness​

By default, Open WebUI injects temporal variables into the model's environment via the system prompt. Even without specialized tools, most models are aware of:

  • CURRENT_DATE: Injected as YYYY-MM-DD.
  • CURRENT_TIME: Injected as HH:MM.
  • CURRENT_WEEKDAY: (e.g., Monday, Tuesday).

These variables can be manually used in Prompts or Model Files using the {{CURRENT_DATE}} syntax.

Native Temporal Tools (Agentic)​

When using a model with Native Function Calling enabled (see the Central Tool Calling Guide), models gain granular control over time calculations and queries.

Available Time Tools:​

  • get_current_timestamp: The model can retrieve the exact current Unix timestamp (UTC) and ISO date string.
  • calculate_timestamp: The model can perform relative time arithmetic (e.g., "Calculate the date for 3 days ago" or "When is next Friday?").

Why use native tool calling for Time?​

While static variables tell the model "when it is now," native tools allow the model to reason about time.

If you ask: "Find the notes I wrote last Tuesday," a model without tools might guess the date incorrectly. A tool-equipped model will:

  1. Calculate the exact date of "last Tuesday" using calculate_timestamp.
  2. Search your notes using that specific date as a filter via search_notes.

This precision is essential for reliable agentic workflows that involve searching history, scheduling tasks, or analyzing time-sensitive data.