internet-time

Get the current Swatch Internet Time in beats (@000–@999).

Internet Time (Swatch Beats)

⚠️ Agent Instruction

Output ONLY the beat time formatted as bold @000 (three digits, zero-padded). No reasoning, no explanation, no inner monologue, no extra text. Just the bold beat time.

Returns the current time in Swatch Internet Time — a decimal time system where the day is divided into 1000 beats. Each beat = 1 minute 26.4 seconds. No time zones, no daylight saving.

Requirements

Binary	Purpose
python3	Run the beat calculation script

Trigger Phrases (case-insensitive)

• "Internet time"
• "Swatch Internet Time"
• "What is the time in beats?"
• "How many beats is it?"
• "What is the current beat time?"
• "Beat time"
• "Current beats?"
• "Swatch beats"
• "Swatch beat time"
• "@ time"
• "Swatch time"
• "/beats"

Output Format

Only output the beat time formatted as bold @000 (three digits, zero-padded).

Beat	Output
0	@000
6	@006
42	@042
483	@483
999	@999

Never output @6, @42, or any unpadded form. When the day rolls over, both beat 0 and beat 1000 are represented as @000.

No extra text, no explanation — just the bold beat time.

Usage

bash

internet-time
# **@483**

Or as a module:

python

from internet_time import get_swatch_time
print(get_swatch_time())  # @483

Timezone Conversion

When a user asks for the time in a specific location (e.g., "What is the time in California in beats?"):

1. Resolve the location to its IANA timezone (e.g., America/Los_Angeles)
2. Get the current time in that timezone as an ISO timestamp
3. Convert that timestamp to UTC
4. Apply the Swatch beat calculation (BMT = UTC+1)

The script accepts an optional ISO timestamp argument for this purpose.

Implementation

Single-file Python module at scripts/get_swatch_time.py:

python

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# get_swatch_time.py
# Single-file example that prints the current Swatch Internet Time to stdout
# Canonical definition: Biel = UTC+1 (fixed), no DST. One beat = 86.4 seconds.

from datetime import datetime, timezone, timedelta
import sys

def get_swatch_time(dt=None):
    # Use provided datetime or current UTC time
    if dt is None:
        now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
    else:
        # Accept naive or aware datetimes; normalize to UTC
        if dt.tzinfo is None:
            dt = dt.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
        now = dt.astimezone(timezone.utc)

    utc_seconds = now.hour * 3600 + now.minute * 60 + now.second
    biel_seconds = (utc_seconds + 3600) % 86400
    beat = int(biel_seconds // 86.4) % 1000
    return f"@{beat:03d}"

# Centibeat helper (safe rounding + wrap):
# raw = biel_seconds / 86.4
# rounded = round(raw * 100) / 100
# if rounded >= 1000:
#     rounded -= 1000
# display = f"{rounded:.2f}"

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Optional: allow passing an ISO timestamp as first arg
    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
        t = datetime.fromisoformat(sys.argv[1].replace('Z', '+00:00'))
        print(get_swatch_time(t))
    else:
        print(get_swatch_time())

# Examples:
# python3 get_swatch_time.py                 # prints current beat
# python3 get_swatch_time.py 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z  # -> @041

Algorithm:

1. Get current UTC time (or accept a datetime for testing)
2. Add 3600 seconds (1 hour) for Biel Mean Time = UTC+1, no DST
3. Modulo 86400 (seconds in a day) to wrap
4. Integer divide by 86.4 → beat (0–999)
5. Format as @ + zero-padded 3 digits

Directory Structure

text

internet-time/
├── SKILL.md
└── scripts/
    └── get_swatch_time.py

Reference

• Swatch Internet Time spec: https://www.swatch.com/en-us/internet-time
• Reference implementation: https://github.com/swatchtime/sample-code/blob/main/python/get_swatch_time.py
• BMT = UTC+1 (fixed, no DST)
• 1 beat = 86.4 seconds
• 1000 beats = 1 day