# Knowledge Cutoff Awareness

> Retrieve the current system date and time to anchor the agent in present reality. Use for questions involving today, current time, recent events, or information newer than the model's training data to prevent knowledge-cutoff errors and fictionalization of real facts.

- Skill: `imkohenauser/knowledge-cutoff-awareness` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add imkohenauser/knowledge-cutoff-awareness`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/imkohenauser/knowledge-cutoff-awareness/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: imkohenauser (https://skillmd.com/u/imkohenauser)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/imkohenauser/knowledge-cutoff-awareness

---


# knowledge-cutoff-awareness

This skill allows you to get the current date and time, and perform date calculations.
It uses the system's `date` command via a wrapper script to provide consistent current time output.

For when to use this skill, when not to use it, agent instructions, examples, and reliability notes, see [references/examples.md](references/examples.md).

## Usage

### Get Current Date/Time
To get the current date and time in ISO 8601 format (recommended for machine parsing):

```bash
node scripts/get_date.js
# Output: 2026-02-16T16:55:00+09:00
```

To get a human-readable format:

```bash
node scripts/get_date.js --human
# Output: Mon Feb 16 2026 16:55:00 GMT+0900 (JST)
```

### Relative Dates & Calculations
You can easily calculate relative dates using simple arguments. The output will be in ISO 8601 format by default.

- **Get tomorrow:**
  ```bash
  node scripts/get_date.js +1d
  ```

- **Get date 2 weeks ago:**
  ```bash
  node scripts/get_date.js -2w
  ```

- **Get date 1 month from now:**
  ```bash
  node scripts/get_date.js +1m
  ```

- **Get yesterday (keyword):**
  ```bash
  node scripts/get_date.js yesterday
  ```

**Supported units:** `d` (days), `w` (weeks), `m` (months), `y` (years).

### Help
To see all available options:

```bash
node scripts/get_date.js --help
```

## Limitations

- **System Time Dependency**: This skill relies on the underlying system time. If the system clock is incorrect, the output will be incorrect.
- **Timezone**: The ISO 8601 output includes the local timezone offset of the machine running the script.