[Feature Request] Add per-message timestamp option to CLI output
Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Feb 25, 2026 by etrzanupgrade Closed Mar 26, 2026
Bug Description
Feature Request: Per-message timestamp option
Would love a setting to prefix each Claude Code output message with a high-precision timestamp, e.g.:
2026-02-25 15:55:20.012 Done. The new diff covers all changes...
This could be customizable if possible.
Use cases:
- Session auditing and debugging
- Time-tracking how long each response takes
- Correlating Claude output with external logs
- Reviewing session transcripts with temporal context
Proposed implementation (any of these would work):
- CLI flag: claude --show-timestamps
- settings.json option: { "showTimestamps": true, "timestampFormat": "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS" }
- Environment variable: CLAUDE_SHOW_TIMESTAMPS=1
The transcript .jsonl already has timestamps per API call — this would just surface them in the terminal output. Current workarounds (terminal pipe, post-processing .jsonl) break interactive features or are after-the-fact only.
Environment Info
- Platform: darwin
- Terminal: iTerm.app
- Version: 2.1.50
- Feedback ID: aa2c9f23-4d03-444d-8fbf-1c7cceb54fcb
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