Mealie MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables LLMs to interact with Mealie - a self-hosted recipe manager and meal planner.

Features

• Recipe Management: List, view, create, update, and delete recipes

• Recipe Import: Import recipes from URLs (supports most recipe websites)

• Ingredient Parsing: Automatic parsing of natural language ingredients (e.g., "2 cups flour")

• Image Uploads: Upload images to recipes via base64 encoding

• Meal Planning: Create and manage meal plans with date scheduling

• Shopping Lists: Full CRUD for shopping list items, plus add recipe ingredients to lists

• Organization: Manage categories and tags for recipe organization

• Food Management: List and create food items

Related MCP server: Mealie MCP Server

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/your-username/mealie-mcp.git
cd mealie-mcp

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Build
pnpm run build

Configuration

Create a .env file based on .env.example:

cp .env.example .env

Required environment variables:

Usage

With Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mealie": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mealie-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "MEALIE_URL": "http://localhost:9925",
        "MEALIE_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Remote HTTP mode (e.g. on a NAS)

For running the server on a different machine (Synology NAS, home server, etc.), use the HTTP transport. The SDK's Streamable HTTP transport lets Claude Desktop connect over the network.

Set these env vars:

MCP_TRANSPORT=http
PORT=3000
ALLOWED_HOSTS=nas.local,192.168.1.50   # Host header allowlist (DNS rebind protection)
MEALIE_URL=http://mealie:9000           # service name if on same compose network
MEALIE_API_KEY=...

Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mealie": {
      "url": "http://nas.local:3000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

With Docker

The bundled Dockerfile defaults to HTTP transport on port 3000.

docker build -t mealie-mcp .

docker run -p 3000:3000 \
  -e MEALIE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:9925 \
  -e MEALIE_API_KEY=your-api-key \
  -e ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost \
  mealie-mcp

Compose service (attach to existing Mealie stack)

  mealie-mcp:
    build: ./mealie-mcp
    container_name: mealie-mcp
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - MEALIE_URL=http://mealie:9000
      - MEALIE_API_KEY=${MEALIE_API_KEY}
      - ALLOWED_HOSTS=nas.local,192.168.1.50
    depends_on:
      - mealie

Available Tools (25 total)

Recipes (6 tools)

Recipe Import (2 tools)

Meal Planning (4 tools)

Shopping Lists (6 tools)

Organization (4 tools)

Foods (2 tools)

Debugging (1 tool)

Important: Group Context

Mealie scopes data by group and household. When you create an API token, it inherits the group context of your current session. If recipes or other items you create via the API aren't visible in your browser:

1. Use the get_current_user tool to see which group the API token is associated with

2. Ensure your browser session is viewing the same group (check the URL path)

3. If needed, switch groups in Mealie's UI, then generate a new API token

Development

# Run in development mode
pnpm run dev

# Lint
pnpm run lint

# Format
pnpm run format

# Build
pnpm run build

Local Mealie Instance

Start a local Mealie instance for testing:

docker-compose up -d

This starts Mealie at http://localhost:9925.

License

MIT