Getting started

Sign in with your email — we'll send a magic link, no password needed. First time? You'll go through a short onboarding conversation where the Wizard learns your cooking experience, dietary preferences, favorite cuisines, and what's in your pantry.

Chatting with the Wizard

Type what you have ("chicken thighs and rice"), what you're in the mood for ("something spicy and Italian"), or just say "Surprise me!" The Wizard suggests 4 recipes as compact cards above the chat. Click any card to see the full recipe.

• Chat + Saved — Wizard may re-suggest your saved favorites alongside new ideas
• Chat only — only brand new recipes
• Saved only — search your saved collection without using a generation
• Show/Hide recipes — the toggle button above the recipe cards collapses or expands them to free up space for the chat

Cooking for

The "Cooking for" line above the chat input shows who the meal is being prepared for. It defaults to all household members. The Wizard updates it automatically during conversation:

• "Karl won't be home tonight" — Karl is removed, servings adjust
• "We're having 3 friends over" — guest count is added, Wizard asks about dietary needs
• "Just cooking for myself" — only the current user, servings = 1

All household members' allergies and preferences are respected. Guest dietary needs are handled conversationally. Servings = household members eating + guests.

Recipe display

Recipes open in a two-column layout: ingredients on the left, instructions on the right. Both columns have checkboxes so you can track progress while cooking.

• Kitchen mode — click the "Kitchen mode" button for a full-screen, large-font view designed for cooking with the laptop on the counter
• Viewing as — switch between household members to see instructions at the right experience level (beginners get term definitions and safety notes; experienced cooks get concise steps)
• Column resizer — drag the divider between ingredients and instructions to adjust the split
• Nutrition — each recipe includes estimated nutrition per serving (calories, protein, carbs, fat, fiber, sodium) based on USDA reference data
• Wine pairing — if enabled in your profile, each recipe includes a wine suggestion

Ingredients and shopping

Each ingredient in the recipe shows a pantry icon:

• ✅ = you have this in your pantry. Click to mark as used up.
• 🛒 = you may need to buy this. Click to confirm you have it.
• Copy shopping list — copies just the items you need to buy. The list updates live if you toggle items.

Food photos

Recipe cards can show food photos from Unsplash. This is off by default — enable it in Settings under "Show food photos on recipe cards." Photos are matched by recipe title and may not always be a perfect match for the dish.

Saving and sharing recipes

Click the star on any recipe card to save it. Saved recipes are always accessible — even on the free tier, you'll never lose access to recipes you've saved.

• Share — share a saved recipe with another Recipe Wizard user by email or display name
• Download — export a single recipe or all saved recipes as text or JSON

Pantry

Open the sidebar (☰ menu icon in the header) to see and manage your pantry. The Wizard uses your pantry to suggest recipes with what you already have.

• Add items — type in the input at the top and press +
• Edit items — click any item name to edit it inline. Press Enter to save, Escape to cancel.
• Search — type in the search field to filter items instantly (e.g., "vinegar" shows all vinegar variants)
• Categories — hover over an item to see the category dropdown. Assign categories like protein, produce, spices, dairy, etc.
• Filter by category — use the All/Show/Hide buttons above the list. "Show" displays only checked categories. "Hide" hides checked categories. "All" resets.
• Confidence — the badge (have/likely/maybe) cycles when clicked, indicating how sure you are the item is on hand
• Remove — click the × button to remove an item

Households

Recipe Wizard supports multi-person households. Invite family members via Settings — they'll get their own account and share your pantry, saved recipes, and preferences. Each person has their own private chat history and cooking experience level.

• Residents — add household members who don't use the app themselves (kids, elderly relatives). Their allergies and preferences are tracked and honored when you include them in "Cooking for."
• Subscription benefit — if any household member has a Pro subscription, all members get unlimited access

Free tier

Everyone gets 10 free recipe generations per month. The counter resets on the 1st of each month. Searching saved recipes, browsing, and managing your pantry don't count toward the limit. When you hit the limit, you'll see an upgrade prompt — or just wait for next month.

Pro subscription

$2/month or $20/year for unlimited recipe generations. Cancel anytime — your subscription stays active until the end of the billing period, and your saved recipes are always accessible. Manage your subscription on the Subscribe page.

What's New

When new features are added, you'll see a "What's New" popup on your next visit. It only appears once per update — dismiss it and it won't come back until there's something new.