Pure-Python module + 14 unit tests proving the centerpiece works:
test_rice_mixed:
in: [(2 cup, rice), (1.25 lb, rice)]
out: 2.25 lb rice (one line, properly mass+volume combined via density)
test_butter_mixed:
in: [(0.5 cup, butter), (4 oz, butter)]
out: ~227g butter (~8oz / 0.5 lb)
test_three_recipes:
feeds 9 ingredients across 3 recipes through the aggregator;
rice (cup + lb) collapses, garlic (cloves) sums, eggs count, salt as 'pinch'
bucketed as to-taste. All on one shopping list.
Algorithm in cauldron/aggregator.py:
1. Bucket ingredients by canonical food (foods_lookup callable injected — no DB coupling)
2. Within each food, classify each unit (mass / volume / count / vague / unknown)
3. CASE 1: only one unit class present → simple sum, display in canonical store-friendly unit
4. CASE 2: mass + volume (the killer) → use density_g_per_ml to combine to grams
5. CASE 3: count + (mass | volume) → use common_size_g to convert count to grams
6. CASE 4: anything that can't reconcile (no density, mixed unknown) → split into 1 line per class with is_split=True
7. vague (pinch, dash, to taste) → annotate as 'plus to-taste'
8. unknown units → emit verbatim with the original text
Display: store-friendly unit picker:
<30g → grams
<500g → ounces (nearest 0.5)
<2kg → pounds (nearest 0.25)
>2kg → big pounds
The aggregator is dependency-injection-friendly — foods_lookup(name) is
the only external call. Tests pass a stub dict; production will pass
foods.search_food(db, name). Decouples math from data quality.
Tests run via:
python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -v
|
||
|---|---|---|
| cauldron | ||
| scripts | ||
| tests | ||
| .env.example | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| compose.yml | ||
| Dockerfile | ||
| LICENSE | ||
| README.md | ||
| requirements.txt | ||
cauldron
Mealie-backed AI meal planner + shopping list for the family. LAN-only,
internal tool. Mealie at recipes.sulkta.com is the source of truth for
recipes / meal plans / shopping lists; cauldron is the AI layer + Abby's
branded UI on top.
Status
v0.1 — backend bones (current). Ingredient sterilizer endpoint working. No UI yet; bearer-auth API only. Frontend + Authentik OIDC arrives in v0.2. Native Kotlin Android in v0.5.
Surface (v0.1)
GET /healthz liveness + clawdforge upstream
GET /api/recipes list Mealie recipes (paginated)
POST /api/sterilize/preview/<slug> dry-run AI parse, return proposals
POST /api/sterilize/apply/<slug> write parses back to Mealie
All routes except /healthz require Authorization: Bearer <ADMIN_BEARER>.
Architecture
Abby's phone (later: Kotlin app)
│
▼
cauldron (Flask, port 7790, LAN-only)
├─ Mealie API client ─── recipes.sulkta.com (source of truth)
├─ clawdforge client ─── 192.168.0.5:8800 (claude -p runner)
└─ Authentik OIDC (v0.2)
cauldron does NOT hold its own database in v0.1 — all state lives in Mealie. A small Postgres/MariaDB schema lands in v0.2 for Abby-specific prefs + chat history.
Ingredient sterilizer
Mealie's CRF parser is mediocre. Cobb's hand-typed recipes have lots of free-form quantity strings ("about 2 cups cooked white rice", "1 small handful kale", "a pinch of salt") that don't aggregate cleanly into a shopping list.
The sterilizer batches all ingredients of one recipe into a single Sonnet call (via clawdforge), gets back parallel structured parses, then on apply links each parse to existing Mealie food/unit records (creating any missing by name) and PUTs the recipe back.
Preview is non-destructive — review proposals before apply.
# Dry-run preview
curl -sS -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $ADMIN_BEARER" \
http://192.168.0.5:7790/api/sterilize/preview/spaghetti-bolognese | jq .
# Apply (creates missing foods/units by default)
curl -sS -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $ADMIN_BEARER" \
http://192.168.0.5:7790/api/sterilize/apply/spaghetti-bolognese | jq .
Deploy
ssh lucycd /mnt/user/appdata && git clone <gitea-url> cauldron && cd cauldron/build(or wherever the deploy convention lands)- Drop
.envat/mnt/cache/appdata/secrets/cauldron.env(chmod 600 root:root)CLAWDFORGE_TOKENis already populated by the bootstrap (seememory/2026-04-28.md)MEALIE_API_TOKEN— mint atrecipes.sulkta.com→ user → API tokensADMIN_BEARER— pick 32 bytes of entropySECRET_KEY— 32 bytes for Flask sessions
docker compose up -d --build- Smoke:
curl http://192.168.0.5:7790/healthz
Roadmap
- v0.1 ✓ — sterilizer backend + Flask shell
- v0.2 — Authentik OIDC, Abby-branded web UI, palette CSS, postgres for prefs
- v0.3 — meal plan generator (week → Mealie meal plan write)
- v0.4 — shopping list aggregator (read meal plan → consolidated grocery list)
- v0.5 — native Kotlin + Compose Android app (read-only shopping list + plan view)
Repo layout
cauldron/
├─ cauldron/
│ ├─ config.py env-driven config
│ ├─ forge.py clawdforge HTTP client
│ ├─ mealie.py Mealie API client
│ ├─ sterilizer.py ingredient parse + apply pipeline
│ └─ server.py Flask app
├─ Dockerfile
├─ compose.yml
├─ requirements.txt
└─ .env.example