Mealie MCP Server
Mealie MCP Server connects Claude to a Mealie recipe database: search, import, meal plans and shopping lists.
- 161 ★ on the repository
- Last commit
- MIT
Extended access
Why this level
- The agent creates, changes and deletes recipes and lists in your Mealie under an API key; HTTP mode has no built-in authentication.
Install
- Works in
Manual install
git clone https://github.com/rldiao/mealie-mcp-server.git
cd mealie-mcp-server
uv sync --locked
uv run mcp install src/server.py --with-editable . \
--env-var MEALIE_BASE_URL=https://your-mealie-instance.com \
--env-var MEALIE_API_KEY=your-mealie-api-keyThe README's recommended option: install into Claude Desktop with the Python SDK's `mcp` command.
Access and checks
How we reviewExtended accessThe tool runs code or makes network calls and only reads external data.
- The agent creates, changes and deletes recipes and lists in your Mealie under an API key; HTTP mode has no built-in authentication.
This is third-party code. Review the repository files before installing.
What it does
Mealie MCP Server links an AI assistant to your Mealie instance, a self-hosted recipe database. The agent creates, reads, edits, imports, duplicates and deletes recipes, searches them by text, categories, tags and tools, uploads images and sets per-serving nutrition. The server parses free-text ingredients against Mealie's food and unit vocabulary, manages shopping lists, adds a recipe's ingredients with quantity scaling and handles the meal plan, including a made-today mark. Categories, tags, foods and units have their own editing tools.
Who it is for. Owners of a home Mealie instance who want to manage recipes, meal plans and shopping through conversation with Claude.
Good fit when
- A recipe from a website needs importing into Mealie with ingredients matched to the vocabulary.
- A week's meal plan is wanted and the shopping list is built from the chosen recipes.
- Unused categories and tags have piled up in the database and need finding and removing.
- A recipe's serving count changes and shopping list quantities are rescaled.
Not a fit when
- There is no Mealie instance of your own, and the server works only with one.
- The HTTP endpoint would be exposed to the internet without an authenticating reverse proxy.
- Recipes should be read only and editing and deleting are unacceptable.
Example request
Find recipes tagged dinner in Mealie, draw up a five-day meal plan and build a shopping list from those recipes.MCP
- Transport
- stdio, http, sse
- Authentication
- API key
Environment variables
MEALIE_BASE_URLrequired- Base URL of your Mealie instance with protocol and port
MEALIE_API_KEYrequired, secret- API key from your Mealie account settings
MEALIE_ENABLE_AI_IMPORT- Set to true to enable AI-assisted recipe import
MCP_TRANSPORT- Transport: stdio, streamable-http or sse; stdio by default
Limitations
Python 3.12, the `uv` manager, a running Mealie and an API key from account settings are required. HTTP transports have no built-in authentication: anyone who reaches the port gets access to recipes under your key, so keep the port on the local interface or behind an HTTPS proxy. The agent can delete and change recipes, so back up the Mealie database before bulk operations. AI recipe import is off and switches on with `MEALIE_ENABLE_AI_IMPORT`.
How to disable. Remove the server from the client configuration and restart it. If you ran a container, stop it with `docker rm -f mealie-mcp` and revoke the API key in Mealie.
FAQ
Can I connect without cloning?
Add a launch through `uvx --from git+https://github.com/rldiao/mealie-mcp-server mealie-mcp-server` to the client configuration and pass `MEALIE_BASE_URL` and `MEALIE_API_KEY`.
Which transports exist?
`stdio` by default. `MCP_TRANSPORT` switches on `streamable-http` or legacy `sse`, with the address `127.0.0.1:8765` and the `/mcp` path by default.
Is there Docker support?
Yes. The repository has a `Dockerfile` and the README shows a Compose service to run beside Mealie.
What does MEALIE_ENABLE_AI_IMPORT do?
It enables AI-assisted recipe import. The default value is `false`.
How do I secure HTTP access?
Keep the port on `127.0.0.1` or behind a reverse proxy with authentication and HTTPS. HTTP transports have no built-in authentication.
Discussion
No questions or reviews yet.
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README in short
The server installs through `mcp install` from a clone or runs through `uvx` from GitHub. For networks there are HTTP modes and a Docker container, but neither has built-in authentication.