Recipe GOAT — find the best version of any recipe across 37 trusted sites, with offline cookbook, pantry match, substitution lookup, meal planning, and USDA-backed nutrition.
Quick Start
1. Install
See Install above.
2. Set Up Credentials
Get your API key from your API provider's developer portal. The key typically looks like a long alphanumeric string.
export USDA_FDC_API_KEY="<paste-your-key>"
You can also persist this in your config file at ~/.config/recipe-goat-pp-cli/config.toml.
3. Verify Setup
recipe-goat-pp-cli doctor
This checks your configuration and credentials.
4. Try Your First Command
recipe-goat-pp-cli foods list
Usage
Run recipe-goat-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.
Commands
foods
USDA FoodData Central — ingredient nutrition lookups
recipe-goat-pp-cli foods get - Get a specific food by FDC ID
recipe-goat-pp-cli foods list - List foods paginated
recipe-goat-pp-cli foods search - Search USDA FoodData Central for foods matching a query
Output Formats
# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
recipe-goat-pp-cli foods list
# JSON for scripting and agents
recipe-goat-pp-cli foods list --json
# Filter to specific fields
recipe-goat-pp-cli foods list --json --select id,name,status
# Dry run — show the request without sending
recipe-goat-pp-cli foods list --dry-run
# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
recipe-goat-pp-cli foods list --agent
Agent Usage
This CLI is designed for AI agent consumption:
- Non-interactive - never prompts, every input is a flag
- Pipeable -
--json output to stdout, errors to stderr
- Filterable -
--select id,name returns only fields you need
- Previewable -
--dry-run shows the request without sending
- Read-only by default - this CLI does not create, update, delete, publish, send, or mutate remote resources
- Offline-friendly - sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
- Agent-safe by default - no colors or formatting unless
--human-friendly is set
Exit codes: 0 success, 2 usage error, 3 not found, 4 auth error, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.
Health Check
recipe-goat-pp-cli doctor
Verifies configuration, credentials, and connectivity to the API.
Configuration
Config file: ~/.config/recipe-goat-pp-cli/config.toml
Environment variables:
Troubleshooting
Authentication errors (exit code 4)
- Run
recipe-goat-pp-cli doctor to check credentials
- Verify the environment variable is set:
echo $USDA_FDC_API_KEY
Not found errors (exit code 3)
- Check the resource ID is correct
- Run the
list command to see available items
HTTP Transport
This CLI uses Chrome-compatible HTTP transport for browser-facing endpoints. It does not require a resident browser process for normal API calls.
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