mcp-mealie

MCP server for Mealie — exposes a Mealie instance's REST API to MCP clients (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, etc.) so an LLM can read, search, scrape, edit, and delete recipes (and meal plans, shopping lists, cookbooks, taxonomy) on your behalf.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.14+
• uv
• A reachable Mealie instance (self-hosted or otherwise)
• A Mealie API token: in Mealie, click your avatar → Profile → API Tokens → Generate. The token inherits the issuing user's permissions, so for automation prefer a dedicated non-admin user.

Setup

uv sync

Configuration

Two environment variables are required:

Variable	Purpose
MEALIE_BASE_URL	Root URL of your Mealie instance, no trailing path
MEALIE_API_TOKEN	Long-lived bearer token from Profile → API Tokens

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mealie": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-mealie"],
      "env": {
        "MEALIE_BASE_URL": "https://mealie.example.com",
        "MEALIE_API_TOKEN": "eyJhbGc..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add mealie \
  -e MEALIE_BASE_URL=https://mealie.example.com \
  -e MEALIE_API_TOKEN=eyJhbGc... \
  -- uvx mcp-mealie

Tools

Diagnostics

Tool	Description
get_about	Server version / health (no auth path)
whoami	Confirm the token works

Recipes (full CRUD + scrape + rating + content)

Tool	Description
list_recipes	Paginated list with search and ordering
get_recipe	Full recipe by slug
create_recipe	Empty recipe by name
create_recipe_from_url	Scrape from a URL
update_recipe	Patch common metadata fields
set_recipe_ingredients	Replace ingredient list (raw text, no food/unit binding)
set_recipe_ingredients_parsed	Replace ingredient list, parsing each line and binding food/unit IDs
parse_recipe_ingredients	Re-parse the recipe's existing free-text ingredients in place
set_recipe_instructions	Replace step list (JSON array of lines)
set_recipe_notes	Replace notes (JSON array of {title,text})
set_recipe_rating	Per-user rating / favorite
delete_recipe	Delete by slug

Cookbooks (full CRUD)

Tool	Description
list_cookbooks	Saved recipe filters
get_cookbook	By UUID
create_cookbook	name, description, query_filter_string, public
update_cookbook	Patch
delete_cookbook	Delete

Meal plans (full CRUD)

Tool	Description
list_mealplans	Range-filtered list
get_mealplan	By id
create_mealplan	date + entry_type, plus recipe_id or title/text
update_mealplan	Patch
delete_mealplan	Delete

Meal-plan rules (full CRUD)

Used by Mealie's random-meal generator.

Tool	Description
list_mealplan_rules	List rules
get_mealplan_rule	By UUID
create_mealplan_rule	day, entry_type, query_filter_string
update_mealplan_rule	Patch
delete_mealplan_rule	Delete

Shopping lists (CRUD + recipe attach)

Tool	Description
list_shopping_lists
get_shopping_list	Includes items
create_shopping_list
update_shopping_list	Rename
delete_shopping_list
add_recipe_to_shopping_list	Add a recipe's ingredients (with scale)
remove_recipe_from_shopping_list	Reverse the above

Shopping items (full CRUD)

Tool	Description
list_shopping_items	Optionally filter by list_id
get_shopping_item
create_shopping_item	Free-form note or structured (food/unit)
create_shopping_items_bulk	JSON-array bulk create
update_shopping_item	Includes check/uncheck
delete_shopping_item

Parser

Tool	Description
parse_ingredient	One string → quantity/unit/food
parse_ingredients	JSON array of strings → list of parsed results

Taxonomy (full CRUD per resource)

Categories, tags, and kitchen tools share a uniform {name} create surface.

Resource	Tools
Categories	list_categories, get_category, create_category, update_category, delete_category
Tags	list_tags, get_tag, create_tag, update_tag, delete_tag
Kitchen tools	list_tools, get_tool, create_tool, update_tool, delete_tool
Foods	list_foods, get_food, create_food, update_food, delete_food
Units	list_units, get_unit, create_unit, update_unit, delete_unit
Labels	list_labels, get_label, create_label, update_label, delete_label

Development

uv sync
uv run pytest tests/ -x -q
uv run ruff check src/ tests/
uv run pyright src/