⏱ Message Timestamps for Claude Code
See the time on every message in Claude Code — and let Claude know it too.
Illustration of the plugin in action — each reply is prefixed with the local time, and Claude can reason about elapsed time.
[09:12:54] Here's the plan: I'll start by …
Claude Code doesn't show when anything happened. Long sessions blur together: you
can't tell how long a build took, when you asked something, or point a teammate to
"the part around 09:15." This plugin fixes that in two ways, and installs in 15 seconds.
Why this exists
Timestamps are one of the most-requested missing features in Claude Code. At least
11 issues ask for some form of it:
#2441 · #60711 · #44763 · #30745 · #21051 · #63488 · #61672 · #52944 · #56855 · #49084 · #60492
This plugin is a working solution today, while we wait to see if it ships natively.
Why you want this (the 10-second version)
| Without it | With it |
|---|
| "How long did that step take?" — no idea | Read it off the timestamps |
| "When did I ask that?" — scroll and guess | It's right there on the message |
| "Look at the part around 9am" — good luck | Every message is time-labeled |
| Claude has no sense of elapsed time | Claude knows when each prompt was sent and can reason about it |
No tracking, no telemetry, no account, no network calls. It just reads your computer's
clock. Runs in a few milliseconds per message.
Install (copy, paste, done)
In Claude Code, run these two lines:
/plugin marketplace add zoharbabin/claude-code-message-timestamps
/plugin install message-timestamps@zoharbabin-claude-tools
Restart Claude Code. That's it — timestamps now appear on every message, in every
project. ✅
Prefer the terminal? claude plugin marketplace add zoharbabin/claude-code-message-timestamps
then claude plugin install message-timestamps@zoharbabin-claude-tools.
To remove it: /plugin uninstall message-timestamps@zoharbabin-claude-tools.
Requirements
- Claude Code 2.1.152 or newer — that version added the
MessageDisplay hook
used for the on-screen timestamps. (Older versions still get the "Claude knows the
time" half.)
jq on your PATH:
- macOS:
brew install jq
- Linux:
sudo apt-get install jq / sudo dnf install jq
- Windows:
winget install jqlang.jq or choco install jq
- Windows only: the hooks are bash scripts, so you need Git Bash (bundled with
Git for Windows). Claude Code runs
command hooks via
Git Bash automatically when it's installed.
If jq is missing the plugin fails safe — it adds no timestamp rather than breaking
anything, so you never lose a message. It also shows a one-time message at session start
telling you exactly how to install jq. Install it, restart, and timestamps light up.
Platform support — what to expect on each OS
The hooks are small Bash scripts that call date (for local time) and jq (to build
JSON safely). Claude Code runs command hooks through a shell: sh -c on macOS/Linux,
and Git Bash on Windows (falling back to PowerShell if Git Bash isn't installed).
Here's exactly how that plays out:
| macOS | Linux | Windows |
|---|
| Shell used for hooks | sh / system bash | sh / system bash | Git Bash (auto-detected) |
date (local time) | built in | built in | provided by Git Bash |
jq | brew install jq | apt/dnf install jq | winget/choco install jq |
On-screen [HH:MM:SS] | ✅ (Claude Code 2.1.152+) | ✅ (2.1.152+) | ✅ (2.1.152+, with Git Bash) |
| Claude knows the time | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (with Git Bash) |
| If Git Bash is absent | n/a | n/a | scripts can't run — install Git Bash |
If jq is absent | one-time notice, no timestamps | one-time notice, no timestamps | one-time notice, no timestamps |
Why it works without fuss:
