How to use Actual Recipe

Use the search box in the header from any page. It searches recipe names, descriptions, ingredients, and articles—not only exact titles.

The dedicated Recipes page also has its own search box. Searches of the imported collection tolerate small spelling mistakes; community recipes match the words you enter. Search for an author name, or select By [author] on a recipe to browse that author's recipes. ActualAlex is the author of the site's original collection.

If you know what you have but not what to cook, open the Ingredients page. Type an ingredient name and select it from the list to see recipes that use it.

You can select more than one ingredient. Under Match ingredients, choose All (the default) for recipes containing every selected ingredient, or Any for recipes containing at least one. With nothing selected, both modes show all recipes. This applies to the imported collection, community recipes, and your private recipes.

Choose Load more recipes to see another group of matches. Your choices appear under Selected ingredients. Select an ingredient there to remove it, or use Clear all to start over.

Ingredient names inside recipes are links too. Follow one to move through the collection and discover other ways to use it.

Each recipe puts the working information first:

1. Ingredients lists what you need and the suggested amounts.
2. Directions gives the cooking steps in order.
3. Notes adds context, substitutions, or lessons learned.

Amounts and cooking times are practical starting points. Use your judgment when equipment, ingredient size, or kitchen conditions differ.

Select Favorite recipe near the top of a recipe page. If you are not signed in, the site will take you to the sign-in page first.

Your saved recipes appear under Account → Favorites and remain available when you sign in on another device.

Create an account if you do not already have one.

While signed in, find Personal annotations below a public recipe and choose Add annotation. Each account can keep one annotation per recipe, up to 5,000 characters. Choose Save annotation to display it below the recipe. Use Edit to make changes, Cancel to discard a draft, or Delete to remove a saved annotation after confirmation.

Only you can see your annotation. It is not included in exports, publication submissions, reviewer feedback, or public search. If another tab has changed it, reload before saving. Annotations on an unpublished recipe remain stored and return if that recipe is published again.

Open one of your private recipes and find Submit for publication. Check the saved recipe, choose your public author name, confirm the publication agreement, and select Submit for review. Make sure the recipe contains no private information.

Reviewers see a saved copy. Editing your private original does not change that submission. You can withdraw a pending version from Account → My submissions. Only one version of a recipe can await review at a time.

If a reviewer rejects it, open your submission to read their feedback. Correct the private original and submit a new version; the same reviewer can check it again. Previous versions and feedback remain in the history.

Approval creates a public recipe credited to your chosen author name. Later edits need a new review; the current public version stays available until its replacement is approved. Deleting the private original or ending a subscription does not remove the public version. Use Contact to request removal.

Moderators and admins can use Account → Review publications to approve, reject with feedback, or unpublish community recipes. Moderators cannot review their own recipes; another moderator or an admin must do so.

Obsidian stores notes as ordinary Markdown files inside a folder called a vault. Actual Recipe's source collection follows an Obsidian-based system in which recipes link to ingredient notes and carry a small amount of structured information.

Choose Export → As Obsidian Recipe on any recipe to download a note using that same structure. The file includes YAML properties, a recipe heading, wikilinked ingredients, an Intro section, and numbered Directions. Its share property is set to False so importing it elsewhere does not accidentally mark it for publication.

You can place the downloaded .md file anywhere in an existing vault and open it as a normal Obsidian note. Ingredient names such as [[onion]] will appear as links and can become ingredient notes in that vault.

Every account can add recipes for personal use. A private recipe starts out visible only to its author. You can deliberately share it with a Kitchen or submit a copy for public review.

Choose Create recipe on the Recipes page. If you are signed out, the create page prompts you to create an account or sign in. Choose Account → My recipes to search your private collection or open a recipe to edit or delete it.

Free accounts can store up to 10 private recipes. Paid accounts can store up to 250. Your account page shows your plan, usage, and allowance. Creating more recipes is blocked at the allowance, including while your collection exceeds it during a grace period.

Choose Subscribe on Account for the $2 USD monthly plan, plus applicable tax, and agree to the displayed terms and retention policy. Stripe through Link handles payments. Choose Manage subscription to update billing or cancel; Link also provides purchase management. Paid access continues until a scheduled cancellation takes effect. A failed renewal can end paid access; payment recovery restores it.

Keep recipes after paid access ends

If your collection exceeds the free allowance, the 10 most recently edited recipes are automatically kept. Excess recipes receive a 30-day grace period before permanent deletion. Open Account → Choose recipes to keep, select exactly 10 recipes, and choose Save kept recipes to replace that selection. A custom allowance, if shown on your account, replaces 10.

During the grace period you can read, edit, export, share, and delete all your recipes. Editing and changing the selection do not restart the deadline. If you delete a kept recipe, another fills the free slot. Account and affected recipe pages show the deletion deadline; we also send an initial email and a reminder at least seven days before deletion. If notices are delayed, the deadline is postponed.

Use Export → As Obsidian Recipe or As PDF to save excess recipes elsewhere, or resubscribe before the deadline to cancel scheduled deletion. Deleted recipes and their Kitchen shares and favorites are removed permanently. Resubscribing afterward cannot restore them.

Each recipe can contain up to 100 ingredients and 30,000 characters in total. Individual fields also have practical limits: 120 characters for the title and each ingredient name, 200 for each amount, 2,000 for notes, 20,000 for directions, and 500 for tags.

A Kitchen is a private group for family, friends, roommates, or anyone else you cook with. Everyone keeps an individual account while sharing selected recipes with the group.

Create and invite

1. Open Account → Kitchens and choose a name.
2. Open the new Kitchen and enter the email address of someone you want to invite.
3. The recipient opens the emailed link and signs in using the invited address.
4. They choose Join Kitchen. Invitation links expire after seven days.

The person who creates a Kitchen is its owner. Owners can send or revoke invitations and remove members. Other members can leave voluntarily. An owner cannot leave without first transferring or closing the Kitchen; those controls are not available yet.

Share a recipe

1. Open one of your private recipes.
2. Find Share with a Kitchen beneath the recipe.
3. Select a Kitchen to share immediately. Clear the selection to unshare it.

Kitchen members can view, favorite, and export a shared recipe. Only its author can edit, unshare, delete, or submit it for publication.

If an author leaves or is removed, that author's recipes are withdrawn from the Kitchen automatically. The recipes remain safely in the author's private collection. Likewise, unsharing a recipe removes only the Kitchen connection—it does not delete the recipe.

Kitchen privacy

Only current members can open a Kitchen or its shared recipes. Members see one another's display names; the owner can also see member email addresses for membership management. Do not forward invitation links, and revoke an invitation if it was sent to the wrong address.