Raspberry Pi Kitchen Server

A Raspberry Pi running CookCLI serves your recipes to every device on your home network. No cloud, no subscription — just a $35 board drawing less power than a LED bulb.

Recipe Collection
Recipe Collection
Recipe View
Recipe View
Shopping List
Shopping List
Pantry Management
Pantry Management

What You Need

  • Raspberry Pi 3B+ or newer (2GB+ RAM)
  • MicroSD card (16GB+)
  • Power supply and network connection

Quick Start

1. Prepare the Pi

Flash Raspberry Pi OS Lite to your SD card. Enable SSH and configure WiFi during imaging.

ssh pi@raspberrypi.local
# Change the default password immediately

2. Install CookCLI

# For 64-bit Pi OS (Pi 3B+, Pi 4, Pi 5)
wget https://github.com/cooklang/cookcli/releases/latest/download/cook-aarch64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
tar -xzf cook-aarch64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
chmod +x cook
sudo mv cook /usr/local/bin/

# For 32-bit Pi OS (older models)
# wget https://github.com/cooklang/cookcli/releases/latest/download/cook-arm-unknown-linux-musleabihf.tar.gz

cook --version

3. Add Recipes and Start the Server

mkdir ~/recipes
echo "Boil @water{2%cups}. Add @tea{1%bag}." > ~/recipes/tea.cook

cook server ~/recipes --host --port 9080

Access from any device: http://raspberrypi.local:9080

Running as a Service

Create a systemd service so the server starts automatically and survives reboots:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/cooklang.service
[Unit]
Description=CookLang Recipe Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=pi
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/recipes
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/cook server --host --port 9080
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable cooklang.service
sudo systemctl start cooklang.service

# Check status
sudo systemctl status cooklang.service

Network Setup

Static IP

Reserve a consistent IP so your bookmark always works:

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf
interface wlan0
static ip_address=192.168.1.100/24
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1

Mobile Access

Add a home screen shortcut on your phone:

  • iOS: Safari > Share > "Add to Home Screen"
  • Android: Chrome > Menu > "Add to Home screen"

Firewall

sudo apt install ufw -y
sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow 9080/tcp
sudo ufw enable

Syncing Recipes

Git

Version control your recipes and sync across devices:

cd ~/recipes
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial recipe collection"
git remote add origin git@github.com:yourusername/recipes.git
git push -u origin main

Pull changes from other devices with a cron job:

crontab -e
# Add:
*/15 * * * * cd /home/pi/recipes && git pull --quiet

Backups

#!/bin/bash
# /home/pi/backup-recipes.sh
BACKUP_DIR="/home/pi/backups"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/recipes_$DATE.tar.gz" -C /home/pi/recipes .

# Keep only last 7 backups
ls -t "$BACKUP_DIR"/recipes_*.tar.gz | tail -n +8 | xargs -r rm
crontab -e
# Add daily backup at 2 AM:
0 2 * * * /home/pi/backup-recipes.sh

Optional: Nginx Reverse Proxy

Serve on port 80 with caching and compression:

sudo apt install nginx -y
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/cooklang
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name recipes.local;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:9080;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;

        gzip on;
        gzip_types text/plain application/json text/css application/javascript;
    }
}
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/cooklang /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

SD Card Optimization

Reduce write wear for longer card life:

# Disable swap
sudo dphys-swapfile swapoff
sudo systemctl disable dphys-swapfile

# Move logs to RAM
echo "tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults,noatime,nosuid,size=50m 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
echo "tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,nosuid,size=100m 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

What to Expect

  • Page load: <100ms on local network
  • Concurrent users: 10-15 comfortably
  • Recipe capacity: 10,000+
  • Power: 5W ($5/year electricity)
  • Cost: ~$75 for Pi 4 (2GB) + SD card + power + case

Troubleshooting

Can't connect from other devices: Check sudo ufw status — port 9080 must be allowed. Verify the Pi's IP with ip addr show.

Server stops when SSH closes: Use the systemd service above, or nohup cook server ~/recipes --host & as a quick fix.

Slow loading: Check SD card health with sudo hdparm -t /dev/mmcblk0 (should be >20 MB/sec). Monitor resources with htop.

Wrong architecture binary: Run uname -m to check — aarch64 needs the 64-bit binary, armv7l needs 32-bit.

See Also