Creating Cookbooks

CookCLI exports a recipe as LaTeX or Typst, which you compile into a professional PDF. Ingredients, cookware, and timers are color-coded automatically.

Two things to know before you start:

cook recipe -f latex exports one recipe as a complete, standalone document (\documentclass{article} through \end{document}). It is not a fragment, so you cannot simply concatenate several exports into one file.
To build a whole cookbook — chapters, title page, table of contents, index, images — use the cookbook-creator script (sample PDF). It calls cook recipe -f latex per recipe and assembles the results. If you'd rather assemble the book yourself, see Building a cookbook by hand.

Prerequisites

CookCLI installed (Installation guide)
A typesetter. Typst is a single ~40 MB binary and needs nothing else, so reach for it first unless you specifically want LaTeX:
```
# macOS
brew install typst

# Ubuntu/Debian - see https://github.com/typst/typst/releases
```
For LaTeX, install a subset, not the full distribution. texlive-full is 7.9 GB on Debian; the packages CookCLI's export actually needs come to 495 MB:
```
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends texlive-latex-extra lmodern

# macOS - BasicTeX (~100 MB) plus the packages the export uses
brew install --cask basictex
sudo tlmgr update --self
sudo tlmgr install enumitem titlesec microtype

# Windows - MiKTeX (https://miktex.org/) installs packages on demand
```
texlive-latex-extra pulls in texlive-latex-base and texlive-latex-recommended, which together cover every package the export loads. Omitting --no-install-recommends triples the install to 1.4 GB for documentation and GUI tools you don't need. If a compile still stops at a missing .sty, install just that package rather than escalating to texlive-full.

Your recipes organized in folders (folders become chapters):

recipes/
├── breakfast/
│   ├── pancakes.cook
│   └── french-toast.cook
├── dinner/
│   ├── roast-chicken.cook
│   └── pasta-carbonara.cook
└── desserts/
    └── chocolate-cake.cook

Exporting a Single Recipe

# Generate LaTeX output
cook recipe &#34;Neapolitan Pizza&#34; -f latex &gt; pizza.tex

# Compile to PDF
pdflatex pizza.tex
open pizza.pdf

# Or pipe directly
cook recipe &#34;Neapolitan Pizza&#34; -f latex | pdflatex -jobname=&#34;pizza-recipe&#34;

Page setup is controlled with two options that apply to latex and typst output:

# US Letter paper with a 2 cm margin
cook recipe &#34;Neapolitan Pizza&#34; -f latex --paper-size letter --margin 2 &gt; pizza.tex

--paper-size accepts a4 (default), letter, a5, and legal. --margin takes centimetres (default 2.5) and applies to all four sides.

Use the cookbook-creator script. It walks your recipe directory, turns each subdirectory into a chapter, and generates a book document with a title page, table of contents, a tag-based recipe index, and recipe images.

git clone https://github.com/cooklang/cookbook-creator
cd cookbook-creator

# Generate the LaTeX file from your recipes directory
python3 scripts/create_cookbook.py ~/recipes cookbook.tex \
  --title &#34;Family Recipes&#34; --author &#34;Jane Doe&#34;

# Compile to PDF (three passes resolve the TOC and index)
pdflatex cookbook.tex
makeindex cookbook.idx
pdflatex cookbook.tex
pdflatex cookbook.tex

The script requires Python 3 and a cook binary on your PATH. Options:

Option	Description
`--title TITLE`	Cookbook title (default: `My Cookbook`)
`--author AUTHOR`	Author name for the title page
`--no-index`	Skip the recipe index
`--no-toc`	Skip the table of contents

Including Images

Place an image next to each recipe with a matching base name and cookbook-creator will include it:

recipes/
├── pasta-carbonara.cook
├── pasta-carbonara.jpg
├── chocolate-cake.cook
└── chocolate-cake.png

Supported formats: PNG, JPG, JPEG. Note that images are added by cookbook-creator, not by cook recipe -f latex — the CookCLI export itself never emits \includegraphics.

Building a Cookbook by Hand

If you want your own layout, extract the recipe body from each export and wrap the bodies in a document of your own. Every LaTeX export marks its body with comments:

% BEGIN_RECIPE_CONTENT
...        % the part you want
% END_RECIPE_CONTENT

Within that block, % BEGIN_TITLE/% END_TITLE wraps the recipe title (drop it if you emit your own \section), and % TAGS:, % SERVINGS:, and % SOURCE: comments carry metadata you can reuse.

Extract the bodies, one chapter per directory:

: &gt; body.tex
for dir in recipes/*/; do
  printf &#39;\\chapter{%s}\n&#39; &#34;$(basename &#34;$dir&#34;)&#34; &gt;&gt; body.tex
  for recipe in &#34;$dir&#34;*.cook; do
    cook recipe -f latex &#34;$recipe&#34; \
      | sed -n &#39;/% BEGIN_RECIPE_CONTENT/,/% END_RECIPE_CONTENT/p&#39; \
      | sed &#39;1d;$d&#39; &gt;&gt; body.tex
    echo &gt;&gt; body.tex
  done
done

Your wrapper document must define everything the extracted bodies rely on — the same packages and the three \ingredient, \cookware, \timer commands the exporter would otherwise have defined itself:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{book}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{textcomp}     % \textdegree in temperatures
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage{multicol}     % ingredient lists
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{hyperref}

\geometry{left=2.5cm,right=2.5cm,top=2.5cm,bottom=2.5cm}

% Colors used by the exported bodies
\definecolor{ingredientcolor}{RGB}{204, 85, 0}
\definecolor{cookwarecolor}{RGB}{34, 139, 34}
\definecolor{timercolor}{RGB}{220, 20, 60}

% Commands the exported bodies call
\newcommand{\ingredient}[1]{\textcolor{ingredientcolor}{\textbf{#1}}}
\newcommand{\cookware}[1]{\textcolor{cookwarecolor}{\textbf{#1}}}
\newcommand{\timer}[1]{\textcolor{timercolor}{\textbf{#1}}}

\title{Family Recipes}
\author{Your Name}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\tableofcontents

\input{body.tex}

\end{document}

Compile:

pdflatex cookbook.tex
pdflatex cookbook.tex     # Second pass fills in the table of contents

Dropping multicol or textcomp is the most common cause of a failed build — the exported bodies use \begin{multicols} for ingredient lists and \textdegree for temperatures.

For an index, add \usepackage{makeidx}, \makeindex, and \printindex to your wrapper and emit an \index{...} line per recipe in the loop above. The CookCLI export does not generate index entries on its own.

Customization

Scaling for Events

Export scaled versions for different occasions:

# Party-size lasagna (12 servings)
cook recipe -f latex &#34;dinner/lasagna.cook:12&#34; &gt; lasagna-party.tex

Different Versions

Point cookbook-creator at different directories to build different books:

# Full family cookbook
python3 scripts/create_cookbook.py recipes family-cookbook.tex --title &#34;Family Recipes&#34;

# Gift version with selected favorites
python3 scripts/create_cookbook.py recipes/favorites gift-cookbook.tex --title &#34;Our Favorites&#34;

Recipe Metadata

Add metadata to your .cook files for richer output:

---
description: A classic Italian pasta dish
tags: italian, pasta, quick
servings: 4
prep time: 15 minutes
cook time: 20 minutes
---

Tags become index entries in cookbook-creator, and servings appear under the recipe title.

Typst Instead of LaTeX

cook recipe -f typst produces the same layout for Typst, which compiles in a fraction of the time and needs no TeX distribution:

cook recipe &#34;Neapolitan Pizza&#34; -f typst &gt; pizza.typ
typst compile pizza.typ

Typst output is standalone too, and carries the same // BEGIN_RECIPE_CONTENT markers, so the by-hand approach above works the same way.

Other Output Formats

CookCLI also exports to Markdown, YAML, JSON, and Schema.org. For web-based cookbooks, Markdown or HTML via the report system may be simpler than LaTeX.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
"LaTeX command not found"	Install the packages listed under Prerequisites — you do not need `texlive-full`
`File 'foo.sty' not found`	Install the one package that provides it (`sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends texlive-...` or `sudo tlmgr install foo`), rather than the full distribution
`Environment multicols undefined`	Add `\usepackage{multicol}` to your wrapper preamble
`Command \textdegree unavailable`	Add `\usepackage{textcomp}` to your wrapper preamble
`Undefined control sequence \ingredient`	Define `\ingredient`, `\cookware`, and `\timer` in your wrapper preamble
`Can be used only in preamble`	You concatenated whole exports — extract the `% BEGIN_RECIPE_CONTENT` block instead
Table of contents empty	Run `pdflatex` a second time
Index not generated	Run `makeindex` between compilations, and check you emit `\index{}` entries
Images not showing	Ensure image files sit next to the recipe with a matching base name