Docs/Sources/Daylight Duration Grounding Data

Daylight Duration Grounding Data

Calculate daylight hours for any location

OperationalCredits 2 per callp50 211msMath/Calculations

Overview

Returns detailed information including day of year, sunrise/sunset times, and formatted daylight duration, perfect for solar energy, agriculture, and travel applications.

Live Test Daylight Duration Grounding Data Source →

The tool

Once your client is connected to the VerveContext server, this appears in its tool list as DaylightDurationGroundingData. It is read-only and open-world — it fetches and never mutates anything on your side — so most clients call it without asking you to confirm.

Tool call
{
  "name": "DaylightDurationGroundingData",
  "arguments": {
    "latitude": "40.7128",
    "longitude": "-74.006"
  }
}

You do not name the tool yourself; the model picks it. Asking about 40.7128 in the terms this source covers is enough for it to reach for DaylightDurationGroundingData on its own — naming it explicitly also works, and is the way to force the call.

Connecting

One server URL covers every source in the catalog, including this one. Authorization is OAuth: the client opens a browser once, and there is no key to paste into a config file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vervecontext": {
      "url": "https://api.vervecontext.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Per-client setup — Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT — is on the MCP setup page.

Arguments

These are the properties on the tool's inputSchema, so a well-behaved client validates them before the call is made. Premium arguments are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

ArgumentTypeDescription
latitudeRequirednumberLatitude of the location
range -90–90
longitudeRequirednumberLongitude of the location
range -180–180
dateOptionalPremiumstringDate in YYYY-MM-DD format (defaults to today)
date

What the model gets back

The result carries a structuredContent object matching the tool's declared outputSchema, so a client reads fields without parsing prose. status is "ok" and error is null on success; a null field means the value was not available for that input, not that the call failed.

Result
{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "date": "2024-06-21",
    "location": {
      "latitude": 40.7128,
      "longitude": -74.006
    },
    "condition": "Normal",
    "description": "Standard sunrise and sunset",
    "sunrise": "09:25:09",
    "sunset": "24:30:44",
    "daylight_duration": {
      "total_minutes": 905.58,
      "hours": 15,
      "minutes": 5,
      "formatted": "15:05:00"
    },
    "day_of_year": 173,
    "is_valid": true
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

FieldTypeExampleDescription
datestring2024-06-21The requested date for daylight calculation
locationobject{…}
location.latitudenumber40.7128Location latitude coordinate used for calculation
location.longitudenumber-74.006Location longitude coordinate used for calculation
conditionPremiumstringNormalSpecial solar condition at location, e.g., polar day
descriptionstringStandard sunrise and sunsetHuman-readable description of solar conditions
sunrisestring09:25:09Sunrise time in HH:MM:SS format
sunsetstring24:30:44Sunset time in HH:MM:SS format
daylight_durationobject{…}
daylight_duration.total_minutesPremiumnumber905.58Total daylight duration in minutes with decimal precision
daylight_duration.hoursnumber15Daylight hours component as integer
daylight_duration.minutesnumber5Remaining daylight minutes component after hours
daylight_duration.formattedstring15:05:00Formatted daylight duration as HH:MM:SS string
day_of_yearnumber173Julian day number of the year, one to 366
is_validbooleantrueIndicates whether calculation is valid for location

Why ground on it

A model can produce something that looks like this answer from its training data, and be confidently out of date or simply wrong. This source returns the current value in a shape you can check, which is the difference between an answer you can cite and one you have to hedge.

Point an evaluation at description: it is the field most worth pinning a claim to, and it is either present and current or absent — never plausibly invented.

Failure modes

Errors come back as tool errors carrying a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code. Error handling covers the full list.

StatusWhat it means
400 / 422The arguments did not validate. The message names the offending one.
401The OAuth session is invalid or expired — reconnect the server.
403Blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Never a bad identity.
404This source is not part of VerveContext. Check the catalog.
429Out of credits, or a brief rate limit. The message tells them apart.

A call costs 2 credits each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Use cases

Solar Optimization
Calculate daylight hours for solar panel optimization and energy production forecasting based on geographic location
Activity Planning
Plan outdoor activities and events based on accurate sunset and sunrise times for any location and date
Weather Apps
Build weather and astronomy applications with precise daylight duration calculations and solar position data
Photography Scheduling
Schedule photography sessions based on golden hour timing, blue hour, and optimal natural lighting conditions

Other ways to use Daylight Duration Grounding Data

Set up Daylight Duration Grounding Data on VerveContext, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveContext account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

Call it as a REST APIOne HTTPS endpoint and an x-api-key header, with SDKs for Node, Python and .NET.APIVerve →Reference →
Give it to an AI agentConnect over MCP and your agent calls it as a native tool — Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT.VerveKit →Reference →
Google Sheets or ExcelA =VERVE() formula fills a column — no script, no export, recalculates in place.VerveSheets →Reference →

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