Read recipes, nutrition and inventory, manage ingredients and costs, and render ReciPal labels. Hosted by usefulapi: connect it to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client.
Turn on the ReciPal connector, then ask in plain words. The AI picks the tools.
For food producers with a monthly ReciPal subscription.
Read a recipe and its ingredient lines to review nutrition, allergens and quantities. Review label accuracy before using it on products.
Review inventory and identify ingredients at risk of running out. These tools require a ReciPal inventory plan.
Create a scaled copy of a selected recipe, leaving the original unchanged. The new record counts against your vendor recipe allowance.
Changes dataAdd or update an ingredient cost. The change affects costs of recipes that use that ingredient.
Changes dataStart a PDF or PNG render, then check its status for a temporary download link. Rendering and status checks spend API quota.
Changes dataThe login page asks for your ReciPal API key.
Find it in ReciPal under Account Settings (API access). API access needs a paid ReciPal subscription, and the key works for that one account. Use a key you authorize for this connection. Recipes, formulations, costs, nutrition, labels and stock records you request pass to your chosen AI client and its LLM provider; the API key is not sent to the LLM. When requested, tools create or change recipes, ingredient lines, ingredients and costs, remove recipe lines, and start label renders. Changes can affect derived labels in other recipes. Review nutrition and allergens before using labels on products. Every request, including login and render-status checks, spends vendor quota and is never retried. Inventory needs the vendor inventory plan. Revoke or reset the key in ReciPal to stop access; a new key starts a new usage/billing identity.
Team and Enterprise: an Owner adds the connector for the organization first.
No Add custom MCP server option? It depends on your account or workspace settings: see OpenAI's guide.
Run this command, then run /mcp in Claude Code to log in:
Add to Cursor or add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"recipal": {
"url": "https://recipal.usefulapi.io/mcp"
}
}
} Add to VS Code or add this to .vscode/mcp.json:
{
"servers": {
"recipal": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://recipal.usefulapi.io/mcp"
}
}
} Run these commands. The second one opens the login page:
Windsurf, Cline, Zed and other MCP clients: add this URL as a remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP). The client then opens the login page in your browser.
Add only the URL. Do not add an Authorization header or an API key to the client config. The server signs you in with OAuth: the login page asks for your ReciPal API key. If the config has such a header, remove it: some clients then send that header instead of the login token, and every call fails with 401.
| Plan | Price | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 50 tool calls / month |
| Proper ReciPal API key | $9/mo · $90/yr | 10,000 tool calls / month |
| Pro+per ReciPal API key | $39/mo · $390/yr | 100,000 tool calls / month |
Each paid plan covers this ReciPal server only. Ask your AI to run recipal_upgrade and choose Pro or Pro+, billed monthly or yearly (it returns a Stripe Checkout link). If you already have Pro, ask to change it to Pro+. The change requires your confirmation, keeps your billing interval and charges the price difference for the rest of the period immediately. Cancel any time with recipal_cancel_subscription: your paid plan continues to the end of the paid period, with no refund for the current period, and asking to resume the same plan with recipal_upgrade before then undoes the cancel. Or write to [email protected].
recipal_list_recipesrecipal_get_reciperecipal_list_recipe_ingredientsrecipal_get_recipe_ingredientrecipal_list_ingredientsrecipal_get_ingredientrecipal_list_ingredient_costsrecipal_list_current_ingredient_costsrecipal_get_ingredient_costrecipal_get_labelrecipal_get_label_render_statusrecipal_list_inventoriesrecipal_get_inventoryrecipal_list_inventory_tagsrecipal_list_finished_goodsrecipal_get_finished_goodrecipal_list_finished_good_tagsrecipal_start_label_renderrecipal_create_reciperecipal_update_reciperecipal_scale_reciperecipal_create_recipe_from_ingredientsrecipal_create_subreciperecipal_add_recipe_ingredientrecipal_update_recipe_ingredientrecipal_remove_recipe_ingredientrecipal_create_ingredientrecipal_update_ingredientrecipal_create_ingredient_costrecipal_update_ingredient_costrecipal_usage_statusrecipal_request_featurerecipal_upgraderecipal_cancel_subscriptionReview recipe nutrition and allergens. Check raw-material stock. Copy a recipe for a larger batch. Record an ingredient price change. Render a nutrition label. See what you can do for the details.
No. usefulapi is an independent service. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by ReciPal. The server calls the ReciPal API with your own ReciPal access, so it sees only the data that your account can see.
Yes. In Claude, add this server's URL as a custom connector. In ChatGPT, add it as a custom MCP server in Plugins. Then log in once. Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code and Codex work too. See the setup steps.
The login page asks for your ReciPal API key. See Before you connect for where to find it.
No. Add only the URL. Do not add an Authorization header or an API key to the client config. The server signs you in with OAuth: the login page asks for your ReciPal API key. If the config has such a header, remove it: some clients then send that header instead of the login token, and every call fails with 401.
The login stores them encrypted in the authorization grant of your connection. The server uses them to call the ReciPal API for you and to derive a private account id for usage metering. usefulapi does not show them on any page or in any reply. To stop all access, remove the connector and change or delete these credentials in ReciPal.
Yes, if you approve it. 13 of the 30 ReciPal tools can create or change data. The other 17 are marked read-only. Most MCP clients ask you to approve a tool call before it runs.
The Free plan gives 50 tool calls / month. Pro costs $9/mo or $90/yr, with 10,000 tool calls / month. Pro+ costs $39/mo or $390/yr, with 100,000 tool calls / month. Each subscription covers this ReciPal server only. Cancel any time: your paid plan then runs to the end of the paid period. Run recipal_usage_status to see how many calls you used.
Ask the AI to run recipal_upgrade and choose Pro or Pro+, billed monthly or yearly: it returns a Stripe Checkout link. If you already have Pro, ask to change it to Pro+. After you confirm, your existing subscription changes in place, keeps its billing interval and charges the price difference for the rest of the period immediately. To cancel, run recipal_cancel_subscription. Your paid plan continues to the end of the paid period.
Tell the AI what you wanted to do. It can send the request with recipal_request_feature. We store the text with the server name, the type of AI client and the tool you tried, not with your account, and read every request when we plan new tools. You can send up to 5 requests per day.
Any client that supports remote MCP servers (Streamable HTTP) with OAuth login: Claude (web and desktop), Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and others.
This is a Model Context Protocol endpoint — meant to be connected from an AI client, not opened in a browser. An invalid_token response at the URL is the auth gate working as designed; clients authenticate automatically.
Need a tool this server does not have, or a connection to another system? We build custom integrations and MCP servers.