feat(core): Make sub-agents aware of the current time on instance AI (no-changelog) (#28809)

packages/@n8n/instance-ai/src/agent/sub-agent-factory.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { Agent } from '@mastra/core/agent';
 import type { ToolsInput } from '@mastra/core/agent';
 
+import { getDateTimeSection } from './system-prompt';
 import { buildAgentTraceInputs, mergeTraceRunInputs } from '../tracing/langsmith-tracing';
 import type { InstanceAiTraceRun, ModelConfig } from '../types';
 
@@ -17,6 +18,9 @@ export interface SubAgentOptions {
 	modelId: ModelConfig;
 	/** Optional trace run to annotate with the sub-agent's static config */
 	traceRun?: InstanceAiTraceRun;
+	/** IANA time zone for the current user — used to render the datetime section so
+	 *  the sub-agent resolves "now" consistently with the orchestrator. */
+	timeZone?: string;
 }
 
 /** Hard protocol injected into every sub-agent — cannot be overridden by orchestrator instructions. */
@@ -44,8 +48,9 @@ Keep diagnostics to 2-3 sentences maximum. Omit entirely when the task succeeded
 
 export { SUB_AGENT_PROTOCOL };
 
-function buildSubAgentPrompt(role: string, instructions: string): string {
+function buildSubAgentPrompt(role: string, instructions: string, timeZone?: string): string {
 	return `${SUB_AGENT_PROTOCOL}
+${getDateTimeSection(timeZone)}
 
 You are a sub-agent with the role: ${role}.
 
@@ -54,9 +59,9 @@ ${instructions}`;
 }
 
 export function createSubAgent(options: SubAgentOptions): Agent {
-	const { agentId, role, instructions, tools, modelId, traceRun } = options;
+	const { agentId, role, instructions, tools, modelId, traceRun, timeZone } = options;
 
-	const systemPrompt = buildSubAgentPrompt(role, instructions);
+	const systemPrompt = buildSubAgentPrompt(role, instructions, timeZone);
 
 	const agent = new Agent({
 		id: agentId,

packages/@n8n/instance-ai/src/agent/system-prompt.ts

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ interface SystemPromptOptions {
 	branchReadOnly?: boolean;
 }
 
-function getDateTimeSection(timeZone?: string): string {
+export function getDateTimeSection(timeZone?: string): string {
 	const now = timeZone ? DateTime.now().setZone(timeZone) : DateTime.now();
 	const isoTime = now.toISO({ includeOffset: true });
 	const tzLabel = timeZone ? ` (timezone: ${timeZone})` : '';

packages/@n8n/instance-ai/src/tools/orchestration/delegate.tool.ts

@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ export async function startDetachedDelegateTask(
 					tools: tracedTools,
 					modelId: context.modelId,
 					traceRun: traceContext?.actorRun,
+					timeZone: context.timeZone,
 				});
 
 				registerWithMastra(subAgentId, subAgent, context.storage);
@@ -293,6 +294,7 @@ export function createDelegateTool(context: OrchestrationContext) {
 					tools: tracedTools,
 					modelId: context.modelId,
 					traceRun,
+					timeZone: context.timeZone,
 				});
 
 				registerWithMastra(subAgentId, subAgent, context.storage);

packages/@n8n/instance-ai/src/types.ts

@@ -859,6 +859,9 @@ export interface OrchestrationContext {
 	/** Summaries of currently running background tasks in this thread.
 	 *  Used to give sub-agents thread-state awareness (what else is happening). */
 	getRunningTaskSummaries?: () => Array<{ taskId: string; role: string; goal?: string }>;
+	/** IANA time zone for the current user (e.g. "Europe/Helsinki"). Propagated to sub-agents
+	 *  so they can resolve "now" consistently with the orchestrator. */
+	timeZone?: string;
 }
 
 // ── Agent factory options ────────────────────────────────────────────────────

packages/cli/src/modules/instance-ai/instance-ai.service.ts

@@ -1292,6 +1292,7 @@ export class InstanceAiService {
 			abortSignal,
 			taskStorage,
 			researchMode,
+			timeZone: this.defaultTimeZone,
 			browserMcpConfig: this.instanceAiConfig.browserMcp
 				? { name: 'chrome-devtools', command: 'npx', args: ['-y', 'chrome-devtools-mcp@latest'] }
 				: undefined,
@@ -1611,6 +1612,7 @@ export class InstanceAiService {
 			// Make the current user message available to sub-agents (e.g. planner)
 			// since memory.recall() only returns previously-saved messages.
 			orchestrationContext.currentUserMessage = message;
+			orchestrationContext.timeZone = timeZone ?? this.defaultTimeZone;
 
 			// Thread attachments into the domain context so parse-file can access them
 			if (attachments && attachments.length > 0) {