CookTrace v1.2.0: Ingredient-Linked Steps, Wide-Screen Desktop, Cookbook Drag-and-Drop

[thebigjoe1]

Minor release. Ingredient-to-step linking with inline Cook Mode rendering, a wide-screen desktop pass across six main pages plus the Cookbook view, real drag-and-drop cookbook reordering with a settable cover image, and a large batch of fixes accumulated since v1.1.3.

Added

• Ingredient links on recipe steps. Editor gets a collapsible "Link ingredients" panel per step with chip toggles for every named ingredient. In Cook Mode each step renders its linked ingredients inline right below the step text so quantities are visible without scrolling back to the top. Tapping an inline ingredient checks it off in the top list too, and marking a step done cascades the check to its linked ingredients. Tandoor imports carry their existing step-to-ingredient adjacency across automatically (#40).
• Wide-screen desktop layouts across the six main pages. Settings switches to a two-pane rail-plus-content shell matching NutriTrace and LiftTrace. Manage's section-swap gets a cross-fade plus a sort control and an "Unused" quick-filter chip. Shopping tiles category groups into a masonry grid with a sticky toolbar, auto-collapse for finished sections, and a progress bar. Diary switches its day list to a card grid on wide screens, with roomier Month cells and bigger Photos tiles. Pantry gets a category-chip wrap, a variant-row span for expanded generics, and an amber "Expiring soon" ribbon. Recipe view, Recipe editor, and Cookbook view also get wider ultrawide-monitor caps so nothing is left with dead space on either side.
• Cookbook view gets search, drag-and-drop reorder, and a settable cover image. Manual order supports picking a card up from anywhere on it and dropping it into a new position, with the rest of the grid sliding smoothly out of the way. Cookbook recipe cards also now match the Recipes tab's cards exactly (category badge, star rating, tags, pantry-match pill).
• Diary search + meal-type filter. Sticky toolbar gains a text search plus Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner / Snack quick chips. Each day-header shows a cook-count pill.
• Shared recipes get a category filter, scoped to only the categories that appear in what other users shared with you.
• Kitchens invite autocomplete. Type-to-narrow picker pulls from the server user list.
• Admin inline edit user. Full name and email edit in place from Settings → User Management.
• PWA update flow. In-app prompt asks to reload when a new version is out, with a configurable check cadence.
• iOS PWA viewport lock. Horizontal touch pan no longer drifts the whole page on iPhone Safari or the installed PWA.
• Server honors HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, NO_PROXY env vars, so every outbound scrape / import / AI call routes through a configured forward proxy.

Changed

• Pantry source-chip (OFF / USDA / All) is now a filter, not an append. Picking one with an active query hides the local pantry list and shows only that source's external results.
• Move/Copy dialog's toggle slides between Move and Copy instead of snapping.
• Profile page renders without its own header when opened from inside Settings.
• Recipe close button reliably returns to the Recipes list from any origin.

Fixed

• Kitchen auto-share was silently dropping every recipe created on the native Android app. Every recipe insert path now fans out uniformly. Toggling auto-share off then back on backfills any recipes created before this cut.
• File / cookbook / URL / bulk import dialogs returned "Invalid CSRF token" on PWA (#43).
• Password reset links, invite links, and the SMTP test email's embedded logo rendered as http:// behind a TLS-terminating reverse proxy, which mail providers flagged as spam (#42, thanks @clifmo).
• Data left behind in single-user mode is adopted on upgrade, and enabling user management no longer strands data written in single-user mode (TraceApps/docs#2).
• Android native app showed a blank screen when opening a recipe someone shared with you.
• Recipe step photos now persist. They were being silently dropped on every save before.
• Pantry items no longer disappear when sorted A-Z if their category slug doesn't match a current pantry-categories catalog entry (#41, thanks @xiaojwus).
• Ingredient-name suggestions on mobile no longer cover the keyboard and most of the screen. Replaced the native picker with an in-app dropdown that positions itself against the actual visible viewport.
• Clearing the Trace chat now asks for confirmation instead of wiping the conversation on a single tap.
• A dozen smaller Pantry / recipe-save / diary-photo fixes. Full list in the CHANGELOG.

Security

• fast-uri, browserslist, @xmldom/xmldom, and qs (server) bumped, closing 8 advisories (4 high, 4 moderate). npm audit clean on both client and server after.

Docker

services:
  cooktrace:
    image: ghcr.io/traceapps/cooktrace:latest  # or traceapps/cooktrace:latest
    container_name: cooktrace
    ports:
      - "3003:3001"
    volumes:
      - ./data/db:/data/db
      - ./data/uploads:/data/uploads
    environment:
      JWT_SECRET: change-me-to-a-long-random-string
      DB_PATH: /data/db/cooktrace.db
      UPLOADS_PATH: /data/uploads
    restart: unless-stopped

Full CHANGELOG: https://github.com/traceapps/cooktrace/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

Release + APK: https://github.com/traceapps/cooktrace/releases/tag/v1.2.0

[calvin-1]

first of all, thanks for addressing the CSRF issue so quickly. I didn't have a change to test the dev version until right before this was release but the file imports work well now, 1.2 is running smoothly, i'm looking forward to trying out some of the new features.

After using this for a few weeks trying to implement it into my routine i've encountered a few things i'd like to suggest fixes for or changes.

manage tab enhancements

• ability to bulk edit the pantry database. mostly for fixing names, repairing linked recipes and adding different pantry item variations. I can currently accomplish this with an export and import but its hacky.
• it would also be useful for editing bulk renaming, modifications etc
• I believe tandoor (maybe mealie) had this feature when i tried them out,

improvements to the kitchens (for couples)

my girlfriend and I want to use cooktrace together but we are finding a few things difficult to work around.

• ideally the meal planning and grocery list features would be shared. we plan meals and shop together so adding to the same list and seeing what is planned on both user accounts its critical.
  • a workaround is to just use the same user but we want to see who imported which recipes.
  • adding a toggle or ability to create shared meal plans and shopping lists would be amazing.
• shared recipes don't seem to show up to be added to a shopping list or to be added to a diary.
  • added my girlfriend to the kitchen and she can see the recipes (toggled the always show shared) but can't use them to populate a shopping list.
• shared pantry items
  • i don't want to maintain to parallel pantry item lists across two users.
  • this is intertwined with the shared grocery lists and diaries. if another user doesn't have the pantry items in their instance for a shared recipe they can't add those items to a grocery list.
• i'd like to be able to grant users ability to edit shared recipes.

"plan a cook"

• i think changing the in-recipe button that says "plan a cook" to say "add to diary" would cover both past and future, allowing you to add to a meal plan right from a recipe.
• additionally, adding a "add ingredients to shopping list" button would be great.
• these proposals are aligned with my "workflow" where i'll look at a recipe, decide i want to eat it and add it to the diary and shopping list.

other ideas

• an ability to make recipe variations
  • use case: you make a minor change to a recipe but like how it turned out. you want to save it for next time but don't want to replace the original recipe, and don't want to create a near duplicate
• i'd like more theme options, different fonts, bubble radii, colour schemes (minor but still thought i'd mention)

overall i like the traceapps and think you are doing good work here. I have been looking for a recipe app with nutrition info and tracking so this is right up my alley - the lift tracking is another bonus. A few of these things (specifically the multi user suggestions) are preventing me from fully adopting this into our normal routine. if you have any questions let me know.

edit: forgot to ask if MCP support will be added to cooktrace as well as nutritrace. I'd love to config an agent to make mealplans and lists.

[thebigjoe1]

Thank you for your write up, appreciate it. See my responses below!

Shared kitchens (meal plans, shopping lists, pantry, edit permission on shared recipes). I'm genuinely interested in it, sharing recipes but not the actual planning/shopping/pantry workflow undercuts the point for a household using this together. It's a bigger piece though, so if you want it tracked, open a Feature Request issue for it (one issue covering the whole shared-workflow idea is fine, or split it into shared meal plans / shared shopping lists / shared pantry / recipe edit permission if you'd rather track them separately).

Bulk pantry edit (Manage tab). Yes, I want to do this. The export/import round-trip is exactly the kind of workaround that should have a real answer. Open a Feature Request issue and I'll work it into the queue.

"Plan a Cook" rename + an add-to-shopping-list button on the recipe page. Not something I'm planning to change right now.

Recipe variations. I like the idea, saving a tweak without a full duplicate or clobbering the original is a legitimate need. Open an issue if you want it tracked and I'll think through how to model it.

Theming (fonts, corner radius, more color schemes). Not something I'm prioritizing at the moment.

MCP. Not in CookTrace yet, but NutriTrace already has a read + write MCP server, out since NT v1.2.0, so the pattern's proven out. Likely direction for CookTrace too. Open a Feature Request issue if you want it tracked, that'll help gauge it against everything else in the queue.