Mealie MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Mealie -- the self-hosted recipe manager and meal planner. Gives LLMs full access to manage recipes, meal plans, shopping lists, and more through your Mealie instance.

Tools

Recipes

Tool	Description
get_recipes	Search and list recipes with filtering by categories, tags, tools, and advanced query filters
get_recipe_detailed	Get full recipe details including ingredients, instructions, and metadata
get_recipe_concise	Get a summary of a recipe (name, servings, time, ingredients, rating)
create_recipe	Create a new recipe with name, ingredients, and instructions
update_recipe	Replace the ingredients and instructions of an existing recipe
patch_recipe	Partially update recipe metadata (name, description, times, servings, rating, etc.)
duplicate_recipe	Duplicate an existing recipe
delete_recipe	Delete a recipe permanently
mark_recipe_last_made	Mark a recipe as made today
get_recipe_suggestions	Get recipe suggestions based on available foods and tools on hand
create_recipe_from_url	Import a recipe by scraping it from a URL
create_recipes_from_url_bulk	Import multiple recipes from URLs at once
test_scrape_url	Preview scraped recipe data from a URL without saving
set_recipe_image_from_url	Set a recipe's image by scraping it from a URL
upload_recipe_image_file	Upload a local image file for a recipe
upload_recipe_asset_file	Upload a document/asset file for a recipe

Meal Plans

Tool	Description
get_all_mealplans	Get meal plans with optional date range filtering
get_todays_mealplan	Get today's meal plan entries
get_mealplan	Get a specific meal plan entry by ID
create_mealplan	Create a meal plan entry (breakfast, lunch, dinner, side, snack, drink, dessert)
create_mealplan_bulk	Create multiple meal plan entries at once
create_random_mealplan	Create a meal plan entry with a randomly selected recipe
update_mealplan	Update a meal plan entry
delete_mealplan	Delete a meal plan entry

Shopping Lists

Tool	Description
get_shopping_lists	Get all shopping lists
get_shopping_list	Get a specific shopping list with all items
create_shopping_list	Create a new shopping list
delete_shopping_list	Delete a shopping list
add_recipe_to_shopping_list	Add a recipe's ingredients to a shopping list
remove_recipe_from_shopping_list	Remove a recipe's ingredients from a shopping list

Shopping List Items

Tool	Description
get_shopping_list_items	Get all shopping list items with search and pagination
get_shopping_list_item	Get a specific shopping list item
create_shopping_list_item	Create a new item in a shopping list
create_shopping_list_items_bulk	Create multiple shopping list items at once
update_shopping_list_item	Update a shopping list item (check/uncheck, modify, assign label)
update_shopping_list_items_bulk	Update multiple shopping list items at once
delete_shopping_list_item	Delete a shopping list item
delete_shopping_list_items_bulk	Delete multiple shopping list items at once

Categories

Tool	Description
get_categories	Get all recipe categories
get_category	Get a category by ID
get_category_by_slug	Get a category by slug
get_empty_categories	Get categories with no recipes
create_category	Create a new category
update_category	Update a category
delete_category	Delete a category

Tags

Tool	Description
get_tags	Get all recipe tags
get_tag	Get a tag by ID
get_tag_by_slug	Get a tag by slug
get_empty_tags	Get tags with no recipes
create_tag	Create a new tag
update_tag	Update a tag
delete_tag	Delete a tag

Foods

Tool	Description
get_foods	Get all foods (ingredients in the database)
get_food	Get a specific food by ID
create_food	Create a new food
update_food	Update a food's details
delete_food	Delete a food
merge_foods	Merge one food into another (updates all references)

Units

Tool	Description
get_units	Get all measurement units
get_unit	Get a specific unit by ID
create_unit	Create a new unit
update_unit	Update a unit's details
delete_unit	Delete a unit
merge_units	Merge one unit into another (updates all references)

Tools (Kitchen Equipment)

Tool	Description
get_tools	Get all kitchen tools/equipment
get_tool	Get a tool by ID
get_tool_by_slug	Get a tool by slug
create_tool	Create a new tool
update_tool	Update a tool
delete_tool	Delete a tool

Labels

Tool	Description
get_labels	Get all multi-purpose labels (for shopping list item categorization)
get_label	Get a label by ID
create_label	Create a new label
update_label	Update a label's name or color
delete_label	Delete a label

Cookbooks

Tool	Description
get_cookbooks	Get all cookbooks (curated recipe collections)
get_cookbook	Get a cookbook by ID
create_cookbook	Create a new cookbook with optional query filter
update_cookbook	Update a cookbook
delete_cookbook	Delete a cookbook

Comments

Tool	Description
get_recipe_comments	Get all comments on a recipe
create_comment	Add a comment to a recipe
update_comment	Update a comment
delete_comment	Delete a comment

Ingredient Parser

Tool	Description
parse_ingredient	Parse a single ingredient string into structured data (quantity, unit, food)
parse_ingredients	Parse multiple ingredient strings at once

User & Household

Tool	Description
get_current_user	Get the current user's profile info
get_user_favorites	Get the current user's favorite recipes
get_user_ratings	Get the current user's recipe ratings
add_favorite	Add a recipe to favorites
remove_favorite	Remove a recipe from favorites
set_recipe_rating	Rate a recipe (0-5) and/or set favorite status
get_household_statistics	Get household stats (total recipes, categories, tags, etc.)

Prompts

Prompt	Description
weekly_meal_plan	Interactive weekly meal planning workflow that searches your recipes and builds a balanced 7-day plan

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
MEALIE_BASE_URL	Yes	Base URL of your Mealie instance (e.g., https://mealie.example.com)
MEALIE_API_KEY	Yes	API key for authenticating with Mealie (generate in Mealie under User > API Tokens)
LOG_LEVEL	No	Logging level (default: INFO)
MCP_TRANSPORT	No	Transport mode: stdio (default) or sse

Setup

Requires Python 3.12+ and uv.

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/GraysonCAdams/mealie-mcp.git
cd mealie-mcp

# Install dependencies
uv sync

# Set environment variables
export MEALIE_BASE_URL="https://mealie.example.com"
export MEALIE_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Or create a .env file in the project root:

MEALIE_BASE_URL=https://mealie.example.com
MEALIE_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

Running

stdio mode (for direct MCP client connections)

uv run src/server.py

HTTP mode with mcp-proxy

mcp-proxy --port 8004 -- uv run src/server.py

Claude Desktop configuration

Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mealie": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/mealie-mcp", "src/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "MEALIE_BASE_URL": "https://mealie.example.com",
        "MEALIE_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

License

MIT