Cook App

Try Cook App in WordPress Playground · Try it with demo data · Try it in OpenStation, the same app opened in desktop mode with the OpenStation plugin.

Cook App gives your WordPress site a private recipe app at /cook-app/. Recipes are stored as WordPress content, with structured ingredients, instructions, categories, cuisines, tags, photos, serving sizes, prep and cook times, source URLs, and notes.

It is built for day-to-day cooking rather than public recipe blogging: save recipes from the web, scale portions while you cook, convert between metric and imperial units, track what you have cooked, plan meals for the week, and build a shopping list from the recipes you choose.

Recipe storage

Each recipe is stored as a cb-recipes custom post type with recipe taxonomies for category, cuisine, tag, and ingredient. Shopping lists, week plans, and cooking history are stored as user-authored WordPress content so they remain tied to the signed-in user.

Import recipes from the web

org Recipe data expressed as JSON-LD, Microdata, or RDFa. It supports recipe sections, ingredient groups, instruction sections, and recipe images where the structured data exposes them. If automatic parsing is not enough, paste recipe text and preview the detected title, ingredients, and instructions before saving.

Recipe parsers are extensible through the cook_app_load_recipe_parsers action. Optional parser plugins can add support for other source formats without changing Cook App.

Photos can be sideloaded into the WordPress media library and used as the recipe’s featured image.

Cook with scaled ingredients

Recipe pages include live portion scaling. Enter the number of servings you want and Cook App rescales parsed ingredient amounts immediately. Unit display can be switched between metric and imperial globally in settings or per recipe while viewing it.

Cooking mode and history

Cooking mode gives you a focused view with a large active step, step navigation, ingredient and instruction checkoffs, browser-saved progress, and screen wake lock where supported. When you finish, Cook App can save that you cooked the recipe. You can also add dated “cooked this” entries from recipe pages.

Meal planning and shopping

Use the week planner to place recipes into breakfast, lunch, and dinner slots. Add a recipe’s scaled ingredients, or a full week’s planned recipes, to your personal shopping list. The shopping list combines compatible duplicate items and includes a focused shop mode with large tap targets, undo, and quick add.

Ingredients and variations

Cook App can help you find recipes by ingredients you have on hand, allowing a configurable number of missing ingredients. Ingredient tools let you browse ingredient pages, replace an ingredient from a recipe view, and merge, group, or rename ingredient terms.

Recipe variations let you link adapted recipes to their originals. Use “Edit as variation” to create a prefilled child recipe from an existing one.

Browser extension import

Cook App integrates with the Friends browser extension. After authorizing the extension for your site, use the “Save as Recipe” action on a recipe page and Cook App will import the current page HTML.

AI and automation

When the WordPress Abilities API is available, Cook App registers abilities for recipes, week plans, and managing ingredients, categories, cuisines, and tags. This allows compatible AI assistants and automations to work with your saved recipes in a structured way.

Features

• Store personal recipes in WordPress

• Import recipes from URLs or pasted recipe text

• Sideload recipe photos into the media library

• Categorize by category, cuisine, tag, and ingredient

• Support structured ingredients, instructions, and named recipe sections

• Scale servings live on recipe pages

• Convert between metric and imperial units

• Use cooking mode with step navigation and checkoffs

• Track cooking history

• Build a personal shopping list from scaled recipes

• Plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the week

• Find recipes by ingredients on hand

• Merge, group, rename, and replace ingredients

• Create and browse recipe variations

• Import from the Friends browser extension

• Integrate with Static Archive for portable recipe exports

• Translatable with the cook-app text domain

Developer Notes

App URLs

URL

Page

/cook-app/

All recipes

/cook-app/new

Create a recipe

/cook-app/import

Import a recipe from a URL or pasted text

/cook-app/shopping-list

Personal shopping list

/cook-app/planner

Weekly meal planner

/cook-app/cooked

Cooking history

/cook-app/by-ingredients

Find recipes by ingredients on hand

/cook-app/manage-ingredients

Merge, group, and rename ingredients

/cook-app/settings

Unit preferences

Abilities API

When available, Cook App registers these abilities:

• cookbook/search-recipes

• cookbook/get-recipe

• cookbook/save-recipe

• cookbook/import-recipe

• cookbook/create-recipe-variation

• cookbook/get-week-plan

• cookbook/save-week-plan

• cookbook/list-recipe-terms

• cookbook/merge-recipe-terms

• cookbook/update-recipe-term

• cookbook/delete-recipe-terms

The four term abilities take type as ingredients, categories, cuisines, or tags. Merging ingredients updates saved ingredient IDs while keeping each recipe’s original wording. Deletion accepts only unused entries.

Static Archive Integration

Cook App integrates with Static Archive by making recipe posts available for archive generation and by rendering structured recipe meta as Static Archive HTML and Markdown.