notion-recipes

name: notion-recipes description: Use this skill when adding, querying, or updating recipes in Cay's Notion (the notion-wife MCP, OR the OAuth mcp__notion__* MCP when $USER is cay). Covers the Recipes data source schema, tag conventions, the recipes-helper.sh script for fast tag/recipe operations via curl, and the rule that new tags must be confirmed with the user before creation.

Cay's Notion Recipes

For working with Cayleigh's Notion workspace. Pair with notion-rest-tricks for the underlying API patterns when using the token-based MCP.

Which MCP to use

• If $USER is cay: she connects to her own Notion via the OAuth mcp__notion__* server. Use those tools (mcp__notion__notion-search, notion-fetch, notion-create-pages, notion-update-page, notion-create-comment, etc.). The schema, tag conventions, and "ask before creating new tags" rule below all still apply — only the transport changes.
• Otherwise (e.g. Alex driving from his account): use the token-based mcp__notion-wife__API-* MCP and recipes-helper.sh (which depends on NOTION_TOKEN_WIFE).

The schema/tag/workflow content below is workspace-specific and applies regardless of transport. Tool-name examples are written for the token MCP; translate to OAuth equivalents when $USER=cay. The recipes-helper.sh script and notion-rest-tricks skill are token-only — skip them under OAuth.

The Recipes database

Body content is page block children (ingredients as bulleted_list_item, instructions as paragraphs or numbered lists). Set Comments only for short metadata; put the recipe itself in the body.

Tag conventions

Tags fall into rough buckets — pick liberally from existing tags. Common groupings observed:

• Course: Dessert, Dinner, Lunch, Snack, Side, Appetizer, Sandwich, Soup, Stew, Salad, Wrap
• Difficulty / time: Easy, Slow, Cold
• Cuisine: Korean, Japanese, Russian, Canadian, Swiss, Indian, Malaysian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Spanish, Caribbean
• Protein: Chicken, Beef, Pork, Fish, Tuna, Salmon, Crab, Shrimp, Tofu, Egg, Ground Meat, Sausage, Turkey, Steak, Bacon, Ham, Wings
• Veg / produce: Potatoe, Carrots, Beets, Cabbage, Cucumber, Spinach, Zucchini, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Tomato, Onion, Garlic, Avocado, Mushroom, Asparagus, Eggplant, Lettuce, Endive, Sprouts, Corn, Leek, Celery, Beans, Chickpea, Lentils, Edamame
• Dairy: Cheese, Feta, Brie, Cottage Cheese, Yogurt, Quark, Goat, Cream, Ricotta, Milk
• Cocktail: Cocktail, shaken, plus spirit/ingredient tags (Mezcal, tequila, Whiskey, Aperol, Campari, sweet/dry vermouth, Lillet/Cocchi, Chartreuse, St-Germain, Benedictine, Frangelico, Absinthe, Orange Liqueur, Angostura, Egg white, Donn's Mix #1, Death and Co, …)
• Other: Recipe, Resource, Basics, Christmas, Summer, BBQ, Baking, Marinade, Dressing, Sauce, Pesto

Be aware some tags have typos (Potatoe, Alochol, suace). Use them as-is — don't rename them; that risks losing the relation on existing recipes.

RULE: don't use the Made tag

Do not add the Made tag to recipes. To mark a recipe as cooked, set the Recipe Cooked checkbox property to true instead.

• Why: Made and Recipe Cooked are redundant; Cay tracks cooked-status via the checkbox, and the tag is legacy/noise. Per-user preference (Cay, 2026-05-07).
• How to apply: When tagging a recipe Cay has cooked, omit Made from the Tags list and set Recipe Cooked: __YES__ (token API) / "Recipe Cooked": "__YES__" (OAuth update_properties). Same applies to retroactive cleanup if you spot Made on a recipe you're editing — drop it.

RULE: new tags require user permission

Do not create new tags without asking the user first. Assigning existing tags to recipes is fine.

• Why: New tags expand a shared ontology. Cay curates this; ad-hoc additions create duplicates ("Lime" vs "Limes"), typos, and ontology drift. The user wants final say on what gets added to the canonical list.
• How to apply: Before any multi_select write that includes an unknown option, pause and confirm with the user. If they approve, prefer recipes-helper.sh add-tag (which preserves the existing list — see "Common pitfall" in notion-rest-tricks).

If a tag almost matches an existing one (e.g. you want "Lime" and "Lime" already exists), use the existing one. Use recipes-helper.sh list-tags <substring> to check before assuming a tag is missing.

recipes-helper.sh

Lives at ~/.claude/skills/notion-recipes/recipes-helper.sh (symlinked from this dotfile). Hits the Notion REST API directly via curl + jq, much smaller responses than MCP for tag/recipe lookups.

Requires NOTION_TOKEN_WIFE in env. Commands:

recipes-helper.sh list-tags [substring]    # all tags, optionally filtered (case-insensitive)
recipes-helper.sh find-recipe <substring>  # search recipes by Name (returns id + title)
recipes-helper.sh show-recipe <page-id>    # print page body as plain text
recipes-helper.sh add-tag <name> [color]   # add new tag (USER PERMISSION REQUIRED FIRST)

add-tag performs a safe read-modify-write: fetches current options, appends the new one with the chosen color, and PATCHes the data source. This avoids the wipe-existing-tags trap when using update-data-source directly.

Color must be one of: default, gray, brown, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, red.

Workflow: adding a recipe

Token MCP (Alex / non-cay user)

1. Search first — recipes-helper.sh find-recipe <name> to confirm it doesn't already exist.
2. Pick tags — start from the conventions above; use list-tags <substring> to verify spellings. If a needed tag is missing, stop and ask the user before adding.
3. Create the page via mcp__notion-wife__API-post-page with parent {type: "database_id", database_id: "9730ecb7-e605-4da8-989c-5e95edd423fa"}, an emoji icon, Name + Tags + (optionally Link, Status).
4. Append the body via mcp__notion-wife__API-patch-block-children — ingredients as bulleted_list_item, method as bullets or paragraphs, notes section at the end.
5. Return the URL so the user can review/edit.

OAuth MCP ($USER=cay)

1. Search first — mcp__notion__notion-search for the recipe name to confirm it doesn't already exist. To list/check existing tags, mcp__notion__notion-fetch the Recipes data source URL/ID and inspect the Tags schema (or use the search-within-data-source flow).
2. Pick tags — same conventions as above. If a needed tag is missing, stop and ask the user before adding (and use mcp__notion__notion-update-data-source with the full options list to add it — same wipe-existing-tags trap as the token API).
3. Create the page via mcp__notion__notion-create-pages with the Recipes data source as parent. The OAuth server accepts Markdown-frontmatter style properties — set Name, Tags, Link, Status there.
4. Body content can be passed as Markdown in the same notion-create-pages call (the OAuth server speaks Notion-flavoured Markdown), or appended afterward with notion-update-page.
5. Return the URL so the user can review/edit.