# Recipe Manager — Project Vision

**Project Name:** Recipe Manager  
**Owner:** Paul Huliganga  
**Created:** 2026-03-23  
**Status:** Planning → MVP Development

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## Vision

Build a **self-hosted, privacy-first recipe management app** that Anne and Elizabeth can use to organize, import, and cook from their recipes—replacing CopyMeThat with full data ownership and extensibility.

### Why Build This?

1. **Data sovereignty** — We control our data, not a SaaS provider
2. **Agentic engineering practice** — Perfect scope for autonomous agent-driven development
3. **Extensibility** — Future AI features (meal planning, cost tracking via Fintrove integration)
4. **Learning** — Hands-on experience with modern web stack + agent collaboration

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## Success Criteria

### MVP (v0.1) — "Anne and Elizabeth can use it"
- ✅ Manual recipe entry (title, ingredients, instructions, source URL, notes)
- ✅ Recipe viewing/editing/deletion
- ✅ Basic organization (tags/collections)
- ✅ Search (text-based)
- ✅ Cook mode (ingredient checkboxes, step tracking, wake lock)
- ✅ Self-hosted deployment (Docker Compose on paje.ca)

### v1.0 — "Feature parity with CopyMeThat"
- Recipe scraping (browser extension or bookmarklet)
- Multi-device sync
- Print styles
- Scaling (adjust serving sizes)
- Random recipe suggestion

### v2.0 — "AI-enhanced"
- Ingredient substitution suggestions
- Meal planning
- Shopping list generation
- Integration with Fintrove (recipe cost tracking)

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## Constraints

### Technical
- **Stack:** Node.js + TypeScript + React + SQLite
- **Deployment:** Docker Compose, self-hosted on paje.ca
- **Storage:** Local-first (SQLite), cloud sync optional in v1
- **Browser support:** Modern evergreen browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)

### Development
- **Agent-driven:** Sub-agents build, test, document autonomously
- **Version control:** Git with conventional commits
- **Testing:** Unit tests for core logic, E2E tests for critical flows
- **Documentation:** Auto-generated architecture decision records (ADRs)

### Timeline
- **MVP:** 48-72 hours of agent work (overnight runs)
- **v1.0:** 1-2 weeks (incremental agent iterations)
- **v2.0:** TBD (depends on AI integration complexity)

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## Non-Goals (for MVP)

- ❌ Mobile apps (web-first, PWA later)
- ❌ User authentication (single household deployment)
- ❌ Recipe sharing/community features
- ❌ Video support
- ❌ Nutrition tracking (maybe v2)

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## Key Decisions

### Why SQLite?
- Local-first, zero-config, portable
- Perfect for single-household deployment
- Can sync via file replication (Syncthing, Dropbox) if needed

### Why React?
- Agent familiarity (Codex knows React cold)
- Rich ecosystem for forms, UI components
- Can evolve to Next.js if SSR needed

### Why Docker Compose?
- Consistent deployment across machines
- Easy backup/restore (just copy SQLite file)
- Can add services incrementally (reverse proxy, backup cron, etc.)

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## Agent Instructions Reference

See `AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS.md` for how agents should approach development, testing, and documentation.

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## Questions for Paul

1. **Domain/URL:** Should this live at `recipes.paje.ca` or subdirectory?
2. **Initial users:** Just Anne and Elizabeth, or open to friends/family?
3. **Data migration:** Export from CopyMeThat, or start fresh?
4. **First priority after MVP:** Scraping extension or AI features?

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_This is a living document. Agents should update it as the project evolves._