Embeddable countdown
An embeddable countdown is a web widget that displays time remaining to a specific future date — typically as four digit blocks for days, hours, minutes, and seconds — and which can be rendered inside a third-party page via an iframe. Use cases include product launches, conference dates, personal milestones (birthdays, weddings), and deadline tracking. WidgetCraft's countdown widget is customizable (label, target date, theme, typography) and embeds in Notion, Obsidian, OBS, WordPress, Ghost, and any iframe-capable site.
How do embeddable countdowns work?
The widget calculates the delta between the current moment and a target date — configured via URL parameter (`?date=2026-12-31`) — then re-renders every second. No server polling required; the calculation happens client-side with `Date.now()`. Because the state is in the URL, the same countdown URL shows the same countdown on any device.
Where can I embed a countdown?
Anywhere that accepts an iframe: Notion (paste URL), Obsidian (HTML mode), OBS (Browser Source for live streams), WordPress (via the WidgetCraft Embeds plugin or oEmbed), Ghost, Framer, Webflow, personal HTML pages.
What happens after the target date passes?
WidgetCraft countdowns display a graceful 0d 0h 0m 0s with the label still visible — keeping the widget as a record of the completed event. Users sometimes want to preserve a post-event countdown as a trophy (e.g., 'we launched on this day'); swapping in a new target requires creating a new widget URL.
Can a countdown be created by an AI agent?
Yes. The WidgetCraft MCP server exposes a `create_countdown` tool that AI agents (like Claude) can invoke. A prompt like 'make me a countdown to December 31' results in the agent calling the tool with the right parameters and returning a ready-to-paste widget URL. No manual configuration by the user.