README

tiecook

Home page: https://tiestudio.ca/tiecook/

A small, self-contained recipe manager: import recipes into a local library of plain-text files, browse them in a terminal, and export a static website you can put online — no HTML or database knowledge needed.

Built in Free Pascal (FPC 3.2.2). One source compiles natively on Linux and cross-compiles to Windows.

Download

Prebuilt binaries are on the latest release:

• Windows: tiecook-setup.exe (installer).
• Linux: tiecook-x86_64.AppImage — chmod +x it and run it from a terminal (it's a terminal app); OpenSSL is bundled so Tandoor import works.

Or build from source (below).

Build

make            # native binary: ./tiecook
make win        # Windows binary: tiecook.exe + OpenSSL DLLs
make installer  # Windows installer: tiecook-setup.exe (needs makensis)
make appimage   # Linux AppImage: tiecook-x86_64.AppImage (needs appimagetool)
make test       # run the unit tests

Requires FPC 3.2.2+ with the standard units (video, keyboard, mouse, Process, IniFiles, fphttpclient, opensslsockets, fpjson).

The Tandoor importer links OpenSSL, so the native build needs OpenSSL installed, and make win copies three OpenSSL 1.1 DLLs (libssl-1_1-x64.dll, libcrypto-1_1-x64.dll, libssp-0.dll) beside tiecook.exe — ship all four files together. Those DLLs come from a mingw-w64 OpenSSL 1.1 package; adjust MINGW_SYSROOT in the Makefile if yours lives elsewhere.

Commands

tiecook                                   browse, edit and delete recipes (TUI)
tiecook list [--library DIR]              list every recipe
tiecook search [--library DIR] <words>    search titles/keywords/text
tiecook import mealmaster [--library DIR] <file|dir>...
tiecook import tandoor [--library DIR] [--url URL] [--token TOKEN] [--limit N]
tiecook export html [--library DIR] <output-dir>

--library DIR overrides the library location for one run; otherwise the value from the config file is used.

Import

import mealmaster reads Meal-Master .mmf files (a single file may hold many recipes) and writes one plain-text file per recipe into the library. Amounts become fractions (0.50 → 1/2), unit codes expand (ts → tsp), categories become keywords, and the directions become numbered steps. Meal-Master directions are hard-wrapped, so lines that follow each other are joined into one step; put a blank line between steps to keep them separate. Extra header lines such as Source: are ignored, and ingredient lines whose columns are off (common in hand-typed files) are still read correctly. Trailing attribution lines (Recipe by …, Recipe FROM: <url>, Source: …) are dropped from the steps, and any source URL is captured as the recipe's source link. Re-importing the same source updates the existing file instead of duplicating it.

import tandoor pulls recipes from a Tandoor instance over its REST API, downloading each recipe's photo. Give it --url and --token (a read-scope API token), or set them in the [tandoor] section of the config. --limit N imports only the first N recipes (handy for a first run). Re-importing updates recipes in place by their Tandoor id.

Export

export html regenerates a complete static site from the library: an index.html with a live search box, a personal section and alphabetical groups, one page per recipe, a shared style.css, and copied images. It writes only into a directory it created (marked with .tiecook-site) and refuses to overwrite anything else, so it can't clobber an existing site. Each run also prunes pages and images left behind by recipes you've since deleted or renamed, so re-exporting over a previous site stays clean — you don't need to empty the directory first.

Browse

Run tiecook with no arguments.

The mouse works throughout: the wheel scrolls, clicking selects (and a second click opens/edits), and the labels on the bottom status bar are clickable. A click also dismisses the title screen.

Recipe list

• Type to search (matches every word against titles, keywords and text), Backspace to edit.
• Up/Down/PgUp/PgDn/Home/End to move; the mouse selects and the wheel scrolls.
• Enter (or click the selected recipe) opens it.
• F4 edits the highlighted recipe, F8 deletes it (with a confirmation).
• F5 imports Meal-Master .mmf files: type a file or folder path when prompted.
• F7 adds a new recipe: type a title, then fill in the editor (below). Nothing is saved until you press F2, so cancelling leaves no file. A recipe typed by hand has no source or imported lines.
• F10 quits.

Recipe view

• Up/Down/PgUp/PgDn/Home/End (or the wheel) scroll.
• e edits the recipe, d deletes it (with a confirmation).
• o opens the recipe's source URL, i opens its photo, in your default app.
• p sets or replaces the recipe's photo — type/paste an image path (.jpg/.jpeg/.png/.webp, ~ is expanded); a blank entry removes it.
• q, Esc, or Left goes back to the list; F10 (or Ctrl-Q) quits.

Edit opens a structured editor: a form of fields (title, keywords, servings, time, source, image) and lists (ingredients, steps). The Image field attaches a photo the same way (copied into the library on save). Move with Up/Down, Enter edits the current field or item, a adds an item after the current one, d deletes it, [ and ] move it up or down, F2 saves, F10 cancels (discarding changes). Click a row to select it, click it again to edit it, and the wheel scrolls. Longer prose — a step's text or the description — opens in your editor (config [editor] command, else $VISUAL / $EDITOR / nano / notepad) on just that text. When you edit (or add) a step, each line you type becomes its own numbered step, so you can break a wall of text into steps right in your editor just by pressing Enter between them. Step numbers are generated automatically for display; you never type them. The recipe is always written in a clean canonical layout; in the description, wrapped lines flow together and a blank line makes a paragraph break.

Delete removes the recipe file and its photo; there is no undo, hence the confirmation.

Non-ASCII characters are transliterated to ASCII for the terminal display (the console is one byte per cell); the library files and the exported HTML keep full UTF-8.

Configuration

On first run tiecook writes a config file you can edit:

• Linux: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/tiecook/config.ini (usually ~/.config/tiecook/config.ini)
• Windows: %APPDATA%\tiecook\config.ini

Put comments on their own line starting with ; — the INI reader treats anything after key= (including a trailing ; ...) as part of the value.

[library]
; recipe library location (blank = default data dir)
dir=

[tandoor]
; used by "import tandoor"; a read-scope API token
url=
token=

[site]
; used by "export html"
title=My Recipes
intro=
footer=
; path to a banner image, copied into the site
header_image=
; path to a page background, copied into the site
background_image=
; recipes with this keyword form a highlighted section
personal_keyword=
; recipes with this keyword are highlighted
favorite_keyword=Favorite

[editor]
; editor for the browser's edit command (blank = $VISUAL / $EDITOR / default)
command=

[ui]
; show the ASCII-art title screen on launch
splash=true

Recipe photos: give a recipe an image: line naming a file next to it in the library, or just drop <slug>.jpg (or .jpeg/.png/.webp) beside the recipe file — export picks it up and the browser can open it.

Project layout

tiecook.pas       entry point / command dispatch
urecipe.pas        recipe model + plain-text file format
uconfig.pas        config file (INI)
ulibrary.pas       scan / index / search the library
uimp_mealmaster.pas  Meal-Master (.mmf) importer
uexport_html.pas   static-site generator
urender.pas        wrap + recipe-to-display-lines (pure, tested)
uutf8.pas          UTF-8 -> ASCII transliteration for the console
uopen.pas          open a URL/file in the default app
uui.pas            terminal browser (video/keyboard/mouse)
test/              unit tests (make test)

License

MIT — see LICENSE.