Connecting AI Assistants with MCP

Connect an AI assistant to work with the recipes you have saved in Recipinned. You can ask it to find dinner ideas, plan meals, or build a shopping list without copying recipes into a chat.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the connection between your assistant and Recipinned. Use this guide for an assistant that supports remote MCP servers and OAuth sign-in. For your own scripts, see Using API Tokens.

Note: MCP support is experimental. Available tools may change. You need a verified Recipinned email and an active trial or subscription. Your assistant’s plan and workspace settings also control whether you can add a custom connection.

Connect Your Assistant

Steps

  1. Copy the Server URL

    • Use https://app.recipinned.com/mcp.

  2. Add Recipinned to Your Assistant

    • Name the connection Recipinned and paste the server URL.
    • Use OAuth authentication so you can sign in to Recipinned and review the requested access.
    • Claude: Open Customize > Connectors to add a custom connector. Follow Claude’s custom connector guide for the current setup and workspace requirements.
    • ChatGPT on the web: Add a custom MCP server through Plugins, then install and select it in your conversation. Follow the official OpenAI setup guide for the current controls and workspace requirements.

  3. Sign In and Review Access

    • Sign in to Recipinned when the authorization page opens.
    • Review the requested permissions, then select Allow access if you want to grant them.
    • Return to your assistant and enable the connection for your conversation.

This connection uses the Recipinned sign-in flow. You do not need to create a personal API token.

Try Your First Conversation

Start with a request that reads your saved recipes:

Use Recipinned to find three recipes with chicken that I have already saved. Show me their links without changing anything.

If your assistant can browse the web, it can also help find something new and save it to a cookbook:

Find recipes on the web similar to my saved lemon chicken recipe. Show me three options with their source links. After I choose one, save it to my Weeknight Dinners cookbook in Recipinned.

The assistant uses its own web search to find and read recipes, then saves the selected recipe through Recipinned’s MCP tools with a link to its source. Use a cookbook you can edit and check the saved ingredients and instructions.

Once that works, try a workflow that makes changes:

Use my saved Recipinned recipes to suggest dinners for November 2–6, 2026. Show me the recipes and dates first. Wait for my approval before adding them to my meal plan.

After the meals are on your plan, ask for a shopping list:

Create a new Recipinned shopping list called “Weeknight dinners” and add the ingredients for those meals on November 2–6, 2026.

You can also ask the assistant to inspect recipes that need attention:

Check my Recipinned Tidy Up findings and show me five recipes with missing information. Do not edit them yet.

These are example requests, and your assistant decides how to carry them out. Review the resulting recipes, dates, servings, and quantities in Recipinned.

Understand What Your Assistant Can Access

The permission screen distinguishes viewing data from changing it. Depending on the access you grant, your assistant can:

  • Search and read recipes and cookbooks, or create, edit, and delete recipes.
  • Read your meal plan, or add, change, and remove its entries.
  • Read shopping lists, or create lists and change their contents.

Connections that request no specific permissions receive read-only access by default. To make changes, the application must request write access and you must approve it. Reconnect through your assistant if you need to approve different permissions.

Your assistant can access shared family recipes as well as your own. It can only view or change cookbooks you already have permission to use, and it can only use features included in your Recipinned plan.

Disconnect an Application

Steps

  1. Open Connected Applications

    • Return to Settings > Integrations > MCP Server.
    • Find the application under Connected Applications. Each entry shows its name, redirect host, and access summary.

  2. Disconnect the Application

    • Click its trash icon.
    • Confirm with Disconnect.

Disconnecting immediately revokes that application’s access. You can reconnect later. An Unverified badge means the application is not a verified client; check its redirect host as well as its name before trusting it.

Troubleshooting

The assistant cannot connect: Check that you used the full server URL ending in /mcp, completed sign-in, verified your Recipinned email, and have an active trial or subscription. Check your assistant’s custom connection requirements using its guide above.

The assistant cannot find Recipinned tools: Enable or select the Recipinned connection in the conversation. Refresh its tools or reconnect if the assistant offers those options.

It can read recipes but cannot change anything: Check the application’s access summary in Connected Applications. Write operations require write permissions. Your account must also have permission to edit the particular recipe or cookbook.

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