CookCLI

Command line tools for working with Cooklang recipes. Full reference: CookCLI documentation.

🎯 Quick Install

# macOS/Linux (Homebrew)
brew install cookcli

# Download binary (all platforms)
# Visit: https://github.com/cooklang/CookCLI/releases

📋 Table of Contents

• What is CookCLI?
• Getting Started
• Installation
• Commands
• Documentation
• Configuration
• Tips
• Contributing
• Contributors
• License
• Support

📖 What is CookCLI?

CookCLI provides a suite of commands to create shopping lists, reports and maintain recipes. We've built it to be simple and useful for automating your cooking and shopping routine with existing UNIX command line and scripting tools. It can also function as a webserver for your recipes, making them browsable on any device with a web browser.

Try the web interface live at demo.cooklang.org

✨ Features

• 🔧 UNIX Philosophy - Integrate your Cooklang recipes with other tools
• 📝 Meal Planning - Script meal planning and shopping
• 📊 Reports - Evaluate your recipes or menus with custom reports
• 🌐 Web Interface - Browse recipes from any device
• 🛒 Smart Shopping - Generate organized shopping lists
• 🔍 Recipe Search - Find recipes quickly
• 📦 Pantry Tracking - Manage inventory and expiration dates
• ☁️ Sync - after cook login, cook server keeps your recipe folder in step with your phone and desktop through Cook Cloud sync (Cook Basic)

🚀 Getting Started

First, install CookCLI using one of the methods below. CookCLI comes with a few sample recipes to play with. cook seed populates its target directory with recipe files and folders, so create a dedicated directory for them first:

$ mkdir my-recipes && cd my-recipes
$ cook seed ./
$ cook recipe "Neapolitan Pizza.cook"

This displays the recipe in a human-readable format:

Neapolitan Pizza

source: https://www.stadlermade.com/how-to-pizza-dough/neapolitan/
servings: 6

Ingredients:
  semolina
  Pizza Dough              (recipe: Shared/Pizza Dough)     6 balls
  flour
  semolina
  San Marzano tomato sauce                                  5 tbsp
  basil leaves
  mozzarella cheese                                         100 grams

Cookware:
  outdoor oven
  spatula

Steps:
 1. Preheat your outdoor oven so it’s around 450/500°C (842/932°F).
     [-]
 2. Prepare your pizza toppings because from now on you wanna work fast.
    Sprinkle some semolina on your work surface.
     [semolina]
 ...

Create a shopping list from multiple recipes:

$ cook -v shopping-list "Neapolitan Pizza.cook" "./Breakfast/Easy Pancakes.cook""

Plan your meals with a menu file (Weekly Plan.menu):

---
servings: 2
---

==Saturday==

Breakfast: \
- @oats{1%cup} with @milk{1/2%cup} and @honey{1%tbsp}

Lunch: \
- @./lamb-chops{}

Dinner: \
- @./Neapolitan Pizza{}

==Sunday==

Breakfast: \
- @./Breakfast/Easy Pancakes{} with @maple syrup{2%tbsp}

Lunch: \
- @./Salads/Caprese{}

Dinner: \
- @./Risotto{}

Menu files let you reference recipes and inline ingredients, plan by day and meal, and generate a combined shopping list for the whole plan.

Or start the web server to browse your recipes:

$ cook server --open
Listening on http://127.0.0.1:9080
Serving Web UI on http://localhost:9080
Serving recipe files from: "/Users/chefalexey/recipes"

📦 Installation

Download Binary

Download the latest release for your platform from the releases page and add it to your PATH.

Archives are named cook-<version>-<os>-<arch>[-<libc>], with a .sha256 next to each:

Platform	Archive
Linux x86_64 (static, any distribution)	cook-<version>-linux-x86_64-musl.tar.gz
Linux x86_64 (glibc)	cook-<version>-linux-x86_64-gnu.tar.gz
Linux x86 (32-bit)	cook-<version>-linux-i686-musl.tar.gz
Linux ARM 64-bit (Raspberry Pi 3+ on a 64-bit OS)	cook-<version>-linux-aarch64-musl.tar.gz
Linux ARM 32-bit hard-float (Raspberry Pi OS 32-bit)	cook-<version>-linux-armhf-musl.tar.gz
macOS Apple Silicon / Intel	cook-<version>-macos-aarch64.tar.gz / cook-<version>-macos-x86_64.tar.gz
Windows x86_64 / x86 / ARM64	cook-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip / -windows-i686.zip / -windows-aarch64.zip
FreeBSD x86_64	cook-<version>-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz

Once installed, cook update keeps it current.

macOS/Linux

Using Homebrew:

brew install cookcli

Fedora / RPM-based Linux

Every release ships RPMs built in Fedora containers (x86_64 and aarch64). Download the one for your Fedora version and install it:

sudo dnf install ./cookcli-<version>-1.fcXX.x86_64.rpm

The package installs the cook binary and shell completions. To build the RPM yourself (or to set up a COPR repository), see packaging/fedora.

Debian / Ubuntu

Every release ships .deb packages for amd64 and arm64. They install on Debian 12+ and Ubuntu 22.04+:

sudo apt install ./cookcli_<version>-1_amd64.deb

The package installs the cook binary and shell completions. To build it yourself, see packaging/debian.

Install with Cargo

If you have Rust installed:

cargo install cookcli --locked

--locked builds against the dependency versions we tested and released with, rather than re-resolving to the newest compatible ones.

Note that this compiles CookCLI and all its dependencies from source, which needs a few GB of RAM and disk. If you are on a Raspberry Pi, an Armbian board, or anything else memory-constrained, prefer the prebuilt binaries — we publish aarch64 and armhf Linux builds.

cargo install places its build directory under $TMPDIR. On Armbian, /tmp is mounted on zram — a RAM-backed device sized to half your RAM — so a multi-gigabyte build will exhaust memory and fail, sometimes with a confusing failed to load bitcode of module ... error.

Point the build somewhere on real storage:

CARGO_TARGET_DIR=~/.cache/cookcli-build cargo install cookcli --locked

If memory is still tight, disable link-time optimisation for the build:

CARGO_PROFILE_RELEASE_LTO=false \
CARGO_TARGET_DIR=~/.cache/cookcli-build \
  cargo install cookcli --locked

Build from Source

You'll need Rust and Node.js installed. Then:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/cooklang/CookCLI.git
cd CookCLI

# Install frontend dependencies
npm install

# Build CSS and JS (required for web UI; the build fails without them)
npm run build-css
npm run build-js

# Build the CLI with web UI
cargo build --release

# Binary will be at target/release/cook

Building without Node.js

static/css/output.css and static/js/editor.bundle.js are generated by Tailwind and esbuild and are not checked into git, so they are missing from clones and from GitHub's auto-generated tag archives — and cargo build refuses to start without them.

If Node.js is unavailable or its native toolchain has no build for your platform, use a source drop that ships those two files prebuilt:

# cook-<version>-source.tar.gz is attached to each GitHub release.
# Set VERSION to the one you want: https://github.com/cooklang/CookCLI/releases
VERSION=0.34.0

curl -LO "https://github.com/cooklang/CookCLI/releases/download/v$VERSION/cook-$VERSION-source.tar.gz"
tar xzf "cook-$VERSION-source.tar.gz"
cd "cookcli-$VERSION"
cargo build --release --locked

The crates.io package (cargo install cookcli --locked) includes them too.

Cargo features

The optional commands are behind Cargo features, all enabled by default. Turning them off cuts the dependency graph roughly in half (412 crates → 225) and the binary from ~23 MB to ~9 MB — useful for CI/CD, package managers, or small machines where you only want the core recipe tooling.

Feature	Command	Notes
server	cook server	Web UI (axum + tower). cook build still works without it.
import	cook import	Scrape a recipe from a website.
lsp	cook lsp	Language server for editor integrations.
sync	cook login / cook logout	Recipe sync. Implies server — the sync loop runs inside it.
self-update	cook update	In-place binary upgrade.

# Core CLI only: recipe, shopping-list, search, doctor, pantry, report, build, seed
cargo build --release --no-default-features

# Core plus the web server
cargo build --release --no-default-features --features server

Everything not listed above — parsing, scaling, shopping lists, search, pantry, reports and the static site builder — is always compiled in.

Development Setup

For development with hot-reload of CSS changes:

# Install dependencies
npm install

# In one terminal, watch CSS changes
npm run watch-css

# In another terminal, run the development server
cargo run -- server ./seed

# Or use the Makefile
make dev_server  # Builds CSS and starts server

🛠 Commands

CookCLI follows the UNIX philosophy: each command does one thing well.

cook recipe

Parse and display recipe files. You can view them in different formats and scale quantities.

# View a recipe
cook recipe "Pasta Carbonara.cook"

# Scale a recipe to 2x
cook recipe "Pizza.cook:2"

# Output as JSON
cook recipe "Soup.cook" -f json

# Save as Markdown
cook recipe "Cake.cook" -f markdown > cake.md

cook shopping-list

Generate shopping lists from one or more recipes. Ingredients are automatically combined and organized by store section.

# Single recipe
cook shopping-list "Dinner.cook"

# Multiple recipes with scaling
cook shopping-list "Pasta.cook:3" "Salad.cook"

# All recipes in a directory
cook shopping-list *.cook

cook server

Run a web server to browse your recipes from any device.

# Start on localhost
cook server

# Allow access from other devices on your network
cook server --host

# Only if you open it by host name instead of IP address: name that origin,
# or the server refuses to answer it
cook server --host --cors-origin http://raspberrypi.local:9080

# Use a different port
cook server --port 8080

# Open browser immideately
cook server --open

# Require sign-in before anyone can change recipes (asks for a password)
cook server user add alice

Without users, anyone who can reach the server can change your recipes. Once you add one, visitors can still browse, but creating, editing or deleting recipes and changing the pantry or the shopping list need a signed-in user. Manage users with cook server user add|passwd|remove|list; a running server picks up the changes on its own. See Signing in to make changes.

Sign-in in a container

The container image runs cook server /recipes --host, so the server is open to everyone who can reach the container. To require sign-in:

1. Give the container a configuration directory. The image's user has no home directory, so without one there is nowhere to keep the users file or the key that signs session cookies. In docker-compose.yml:

   services:
     cookcli:
       image: ghcr.io/cooklang/cookcli:latest
       environment:
         COOK_CONFIG_DIR: /config
       ports:
         - "9080:9080"
       volumes:
         - ./recipes:/recipes
         - ./config:/config
   

   Create the folder yourself before the first start (mkdir config): a folder Docker creates belongs to root, and the container runs as UID 1000, which cannot write to it. If your own UID is not 1000, set user: as the comment in docker-compose.yml explains.

2. Add the first user. Before starting the container:

   docker compose run --rm cookcli cook server user add alice
   docker compose up -d
   

   If it is already running, add the user inside it and restart it once. Sign-in turns on when the server starts with a users file, so only this first user needs a restart:

   docker compose exec cookcli cook server user add alice
   docker compose restart cookcli
   

3. Manage users in the running container. No restart needed: the server reloads the users file when it changes. Removing a user or changing their password signs them out everywhere.

   docker compose exec cookcli cook server user add bob
   docker compose exec cookcli cook server user passwd bob
   docker compose exec cookcli cook server user remove bob
   docker compose exec cookcli cook server user list
   

The password prompt does not echo what you type. docker compose exec and run give the command a terminal; with plain docker, pass -it (docker exec -it <container> cook server user add bob). From a script, with no terminal, pipe the password in and pass -T:

printf '%s\n' "$PASSWORD" | docker compose exec -T cookcli cook server user add bob

cook build web

Generate a self-contained static website from your recipes. Hostable anywhere or browsable via file://.

# Build into ./_site from the current directory
cook build web

# Build a specific collection into a custom output
cook build web dist --base-path ~/my-recipes

# Build for hosting under a subpath
cook build web --base-url /recipes/

# Link back to the recipe repository from the footer
cook build web --repo-url https://github.com/user/my-recipes

cook search

Find recipes by searching through ingredients, instructions, and metadata.

# Search for recipes with chicken
cook search chicken

# Find quick recipes
cook search "30 minutes"

# Search in specific directory
cook search -b ~/recipes pasta

cook import

Import recipes from websites and convert them to Cooklang format. Requires OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable set. Or convert a recipe to Cooklang on cook.md (Cook Basic).

# Import a recipe
cook import https://www.example.com/recipe > recipe.cook

# Import without conversion
cook import https://www.example.com/recipe --skip-conversion

cook doctor

Check your recipe collection for issues and maintain consistency.

# Validate all recipes and display parsing errors
cook doctor validate

# Check aisle configuration for shopping lists
cook doctor aisle

# Check pantry configuration
cook doctor pantry

# Run all checks
cook doctor

cook seed

Add sample recipes to explore Cooklang features. This populates the target directory with recipe files and folders, so point it at an empty or dedicated directory.

# Add to current directory
cook seed ./

# Add to specific directory
cook seed ~/my-recipes

cook report

Generate custom outputs using templates (experimental feature).

# Generate a recipe card
cook report -t recipe-card.md.jinja recipe.cook

# Create nutrition label
cook report -t nutrition.html.jinja recipe.cook

cook pantry

Manage your pantry inventory, track low stock items, expiring ingredients, and find recipes you can make.

# Show items that are low or out of stock
cook pantry depleted

# Check expiring items in the next 7 days
cook pantry expiring

# Find recipes you can make with available ingredients
cook pantry recipes

# Include partial matches (recipes where most ingredients are available)
cook pantry recipes --partial --threshold 60

# Output in machine-readable formats
cook pantry -f json depleted
cook pantry -f yaml expiring --days 14

📚 Documentation

Detailed documentation for each command is available in the docs/ directory:

• Recipe command - viewing and converting recipes
• Shopping lists - creating shopping lists
• Server - web interface
• Build - generate a static website
• Search - finding recipes
• Import - importing from websites
• Doctor - validation and maintenance
• Seed - example recipes
• Report - custom outputs
• Pantry - inventory management and tracking
• Completions - shell completion scripts

⚙️ Configuration

CookCLI looks for configuration files in:

• ./config/ - in your recipe directory (highest priority)
• the global configuration directory (fallback):
  • ~/.config/cook/ - on Linux
  • ~/Library/Application Support/cook/ - on macOS
  • %APPDATA%\cook\config\ - on Windows

Configuration files:

• aisle.conf - Organizes ingredients by store section
• pantry.conf - Tracks your ingredient inventory with quantities

COOK_CONFIG_DIR

Set COOK_CONFIG_DIR to use a different global configuration directory. It replaces the platform default above for everything CookCLI keeps there — aisle.conf, pantry.conf, your CookCloud session, the sync database, and cook server's users file, session key and signed-out sessions — so it gives you a self-contained CookCLI:

COOK_CONFIG_DIR=~/kitchen/cook-config cook shopping-list dinner.cook

A local ./config/ still takes priority. An empty value means "unset", and the platform default applies.

This is also how the test suite keeps itself away from your real session: HOME and XDG_CONFIG_HOME cannot do the job, because the Windows configuration directory is resolved through the Known Folder API and ignores both.

COOK_CORS_ORIGIN

Set COOK_CORS_ORIGIN to name the origins cook server accepts browser requests from, and so the host names it answers at, separated by commas — the same values as --cors-origin, which overrides the variable:

COOK_CORS_ORIGIN=https://cook.example.com cook server --host

It exists for containers, where passing a flag means restating the image's whole command. An empty value means "unset". --no-csrf-check has no equivalent variable and has to be passed on the command line.

COOK_USERS_FILE

Names the users file cook server reads to require sign-in, in place of users.toml in the configuration directory. cook server user edits the same file. --users-file overrides it, and an empty value means "unset". See Signing in to make changes.

COOK_USERS_FILE=/etc/cook/users.toml cook server --host

Aisle Configuration (aisle.conf)

Organizes ingredients by store section for shopping lists. Items not in any category will appear under "Other".

// In the order you walk the store
[produce]
tomatoes|tomato
basil|basil leaves // fresh, not dried
garlic
onions

[dairy]
milk
cheese
yogurt
butter

[pantry]
flour
sugar
pasta
rice
olive oil

[meat]
chicken
beef
pork

[bakery]
bread
rolls

Each [name] line starts a section, and each line under it is one ingredient, with its other names after |. Comments start with //, on a line of their own or at the end of one. Unlike pantry.conf, this file is not TOML: a line starting with # or -- is read as an ingredient, and cook doctor aisle points such lines out.

Pantry Configuration (pantry.conf)

Tracks your ingredient inventory with quantities, expiration dates, and low stock thresholds. Items in your pantry are excluded from shopping lists automatically.

[freezer]
ice_cream = "1%L"
frozen_peas = "500%g"
spinach = { bought = "05.05.2024", expire = "05.06.2024", quantity = "1%kg" }

[fridge]
milk = { expire = "10.05.2024", quantity = "2%L", low = "500%ml" }
cheese = { expire = "15.05.2024" }
butter = "250%g"

[pantry]
rice = { quantity = "5%kg", low = "1%kg" }
pasta = { quantity = "1%kg", low = "200%g" }
flour = { quantity = "5%kg", low = "1%kg" }
olive_oil = { quantity = "1%L", low = "250%ml" }
salt = "1%kg"

Pantry items can be specified in two formats:

• Simple: item = "quantity"
• Detailed: item = { quantity = "amount", expire = "date", bought = "date", low = "threshold" }

Attributes:

• quantity - Current amount in stock
• low - Threshold for low stock warnings (same units as quantity)
• expire - Expiration date
• bought - Purchase date

Items listed in your pantry will be automatically excluded from shopping lists, helping you track what you already have at home. Use cook pantry depleted to see low stock items and cook pantry expiring to check expiration dates.

Using Configuration Files

# Shopping list will organize by aisle and exclude pantry items
cook shopping-list "Pasta.cook"

# Check which ingredients aren't categorized
cook doctor aisle

# Use specific config directory
cook shopping-list "Recipe.cook" --aisle ./my-config/aisle.conf

# Example: Recipe calls for salt, pepper, chicken, tomatoes
# With pantry.conf containing salt and rice in your inventory:
# Shopping list will only show: pepper, chicken, tomatoes

💡 Tips

Logging

CookCLI has different level of logging. You can pass -v to show info messages, -vv for debug and -vvv for trace. Use it if you want to submit bug report because it will help us to better understand what's going on.

Scaling Recipes

Use the : notation to scale any recipe:

cook recipe "Pizza.cook:2"              # Double
cook shopping-list "Pasta.cook:0.5"     # Half

Combining with UNIX Tools

CookCLI works great with pipes and standard tools:

# Find all recipes with chicken and create a shopping list
cook search chicken | xargs cook shopping-list

# Convert all recipes to Markdown
for r in *.cook; do
  cook recipe "$r" -f markdown > "docs/${r%.cook}.md"
done

⭐ Give us a star

Why not? It will help more people discover this tool and Cooklang.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Areas where we'd love help:

• Bug fixes and testing
• Documentation improvements
• New features
• Recipe collections
• Translations
• UI/UX improvements

👥 Contributors

Thanks to all the people who have contributed to CookCLI!

📄 License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Some source files include code from cooklang-chef, also under MIT license.

🔗 Links

• CookCLI documentation - every command, the server, and guides
• Cooklang Specification - the recipe markup language
• Cooklang Apps - iOS and Android apps

💬 Support

• Issue Tracker - report bugs
• Twitter - updates and news
• Playground
• Discord server, ask for help or say hello fellow cooks
• Spec discussions, suggest a new idea or give your opinion on future development
• Awesome Cooklang Recipes, find inspiration or share your recipes with the community.