Cooklang
A markup language for writing recipes in plain text, making ingredients, cookware, and timers machine-readable.
Cooklang is an open-source markup language designed specifically for recipes. Instead of storing recipes in complex databases, Cooklang lets you write them as plain text files with simple annotations.
How it works
In Cooklang, you write recipes as natural steps and mark up key elements:
- Ingredients are prefixed with
@:@salt{2%tsp} - Cookware is prefixed with
#:#pot - Timers are prefixed with
~:~{15%minutes}
Example
Boil @water{1%liter} in a #large pot.
Add @pasta{400%g} and cook for ~{12%minutes}.
Drain and toss with @olive oil{2%tbsp}.
Why it matters
Because Cooklang recipes are plain text, they're easy to version control, share, and parse programmatically. Apps like Fond use Cooklang under the hood to automatically extract ingredient lists, generate shopping lists, and power features like recipe scaling and cook mode.
Cooklang in Fond
Fond is built on Cooklang under the hood, so every recipe you save is automatically structured — ingredients, quantities, timers, all of it. You never have to think about it.
