# Helper - Smart dates

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/helper-smart-dates/344984
**Category:** Site Management
**Tags:** how-to, ai, ai-helper
**Created:** [December 31, 2024, 3:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/helper-smart-dates/344984 "2024-12-31T03:04:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Saif](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/saif/32/318253_2.png) [@Saif](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Saif)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2024, 3:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/helper-smart-dates/344984/1 "2024-12-31T03:04:34Z")

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> 🔖 This guide explains how to enable and configure Smart dates, which is part of the [Helper](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-helper/283943) feature of [Discourse AI](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai/259214) plugin.
> 
> 🙋 Required user level: Administrator

Smart dates allow the conversion of human-typed times and dates to Discourse-compatible, timezone-friendly dates.

> ℹ Note: In this demonstration, there was already written content in the composer.

## Features

- Detect Smart dates from text containing time, date and timezone
- Ability to confirm or discard changes
- Option to retry detection

## Enabling Smart dates

### Prerequisites

You must configure at least _one_ Large Language Model (LLM) from a provider.

To get started you can configure them through the [Discourse AI - Large Language Model (LLM) settings page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-large-language-model-llm-settings-page/319903).

- [OpenAI](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-openai-configure-api-keys/280783)
- [Anthropic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-anthropic-configure-api-key/280936)
- [Azure OpenAI](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-azure-openai-configure-api-keys/282442)
- AWS Bedrock with Anthropic access
- HuggingFace Endpoints with Llama2-like model
- [Self-Hosting an OpenSource LLM](https://meta.discourse.org/t/self-hosting-an-opensource-llm-for-discourseai/290923)
- [Google Gemini](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configure-api-keys-for-google-gemini/289556)
- Cohere

### Configuration

1. Go to Admin → Plugins → Discourse AI → Features → Helper
2. Enable the Helper feature by checking `AI helper enabled`
3. Go to `AI helper enabled features` and make sure `context_menu` is selected so the AI button shows up in the composer
4. Optionally, configure which LLM to use for Smart dates via the `AI helper smart dates agent` setting. By default, a built-in agent is used, and it will use the site’s default LLM.
5. We recommend setting `Composer AI helper allowed groups` to specific user groups so they can use Helper’s composer features including Smart dates

## Technical FAQs

**Why is Smart dates not working properly?**

- This can depend on numerous factors including the LLM used, overall text context, and the way the time and dates are written out so the LLM can comprehend and convert. LLMs can make mistakes so it’s important to double-check the output.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Arkshine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/arkshine/32/298682_2.png) [@Arkshine](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Arkshine)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/helper-smart-dates/344984/2 "2024-12-31T03:18:48Z")

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Smart and super convenient, love it! 👏