Build a Recipe Agent: The 7 Tools in Forktastic's MCP Server
Reference for the 7 tools in Forktastic's MCP server — plus three example agent designs: weekly planner, pantry-aware finder, Markdown export formatter.
Once your Forktastic library is connected to Claude or Cursor via MCP, the next question is what to build with it. This post is the reference for the seven tools the Forktastic MCP server exposes, with example queries and example agent designs.
The seven tools
search_recipes
Purpose: Full-text search across your recipe library.
Inputs: query (string, required), limit (int, optional, default 20), offset (int, optional, default 0).
Output: Array of recipe summaries (id, title, photo URL, source URL, dietary tags).
Use case: "Find my Italian recipes" — Claude calls search_recipes with query="italian".
get_recipe
Purpose: Fetch full recipe by ID, including ingredients, steps, notes, nutrition.
Inputs: recipe_id (UUID, required).
Output: Full recipe object.
Use case: "Read me the steps for that pasta recipe" — Claude calls get_recipe with the ID from a prior search.
list_cookbooks
Purpose: List your cookbooks.
Inputs: limit, offset (optional).
Output: Array of cookbook summaries (id, name, recipe count, last updated).
Use case: "What cookbooks do I have?"
search_cookbooks
Purpose: Search cookbooks by name.
Inputs: query (string).
Output: Array of cookbook summaries.
get_cookbook
Purpose: Fetch a cookbook with its recipes.
Inputs: cookbook_id (UUID).
Output: Cookbook with array of recipe summaries.
Use case: "Show me everything in my 'Grandma's Kitchen' cookbook."
get_trending
Purpose: Get currently-trending recipes across the platform (not just yours).
Inputs: limit (optional).
Output: Array of trending recipe summaries.
Use case: "What's popular right now?" — useful for discovery.
get_family
Purpose: Get your family group info (members, shared cookbooks).
Inputs: None (uses the PAT's account).
Output: Family group with members and shared cookbook list.
Use case: "Who's in my Forktastic family group?"
Three example agent designs
1. The weekly meal-planner agent
Prompt: "Each Sunday, query Forktastic for recipes I've cooked in the last quarter. Pick 3 based on: variety of cuisines, recipes I haven't repeated recently, and what's in season. Output as Markdown for my notes app."
Tools used: search_recipes, get_recipe, list_cookbooks.
2. The pantry-aware finder
Prompt: "I have chicken, broccoli, rice, garlic, and soy sauce in my fridge. Find recipes from my Forktastic library that use 3+ of those ingredients."
Tools used: search_recipes (for ingredient match), get_recipe (to verify ingredient list).
3. The export-to-Markdown formatter
Prompt: "Pull the recipe with ID X from Forktastic and format it as Markdown suitable for pasting into a Slack message. Include source URL, ingredients as a checklist, and steps as a numbered list."
Tools used: get_recipe.
Rate limits to know about
60 requests per minute and 5,000 per day per token. For most agent workloads this is plenty; for high-frequency operations, batch your queries. Rate limits and pagination reference.
Pagination
List endpoints (search_recipes, list_cookbooks, get_trending) use offset-based pagination with limit/offset parameters. Default limit 20, max 100. Offset overshoots return empty arrays (not errors).
Where to go next
For setup, Claude connection walkthrough or Cursor setup. For rate limits, rate limits reference. For the MCP pillar, MCP pillar guide.