Pantry Chef

A mobile-first meal planning and recipe management app with AI-powered recipe generation and Walmart shopping integration.

Features

• AI Recipe Generation - GPT-5-nano powered recipe creation with dietary preferences
• Smart Meal Planning - Weekly meal plans with nutrition tracking
• Walmart Integration - Direct shopping cart creation with Walmart Affiliate API
• Ingredient Management - Searchable ingredient database with category filtering
• Shopping Lists - Automatic ingredient aggregation with smart merging
• Chat Assistant - AI-powered cooking assistant
• User Preferences - Dietary restrictions, cuisine preferences, and nutrition goals
• Inventory Tracking - Track what you have on hand

Tech Stack

Backend

• Runtime: Node.js 20
• Framework: Express 5.0.1
• Language: TypeScript 5.7.2
• Database: PostgreSQL with pgvector extension
• ORM: Prisma 7.2.0
• AI: OpenAI GPT-5-nano-2025-08-07
• E-commerce: Walmart Affiliate API v2
• Auth: JWT with bcrypt

Frontend

• Framework: React Native 0.81.5
• Platform: Expo 54.0.23
• Routing: Expo Router 6.0.14
• Language: TypeScript 5.9.2
• State: React Context API

Project Structure

pantry-chef/
├── backend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── routes/          # API endpoints (13 files)
│   │   ├── services/        # Business logic (10 files)
│   │   ├── utils/           # Helper functions (4 files)
│   │   ├── middleware/      # Auth middleware
│   │   ├── config/          # Configuration
│   │   └── index.ts         # Server entry point
│   ├── prisma/
│   │   └── schema.prisma    # Database schema (20+ tables)
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── tsconfig.json
│   └── Dockerfile
├── frontend/
│   ├── app/                 # Expo Router screens
│   ├── contexts/            # React contexts
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── api/            # API clients
│   │   └── types/          # TypeScript types
│   ├── config.ts           # API configuration
│   ├── package.json
│   └── tsconfig.json
├── docker-compose.yml
├── init-db.sql
└── README.md

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop (for running PostgreSQL)
• Node.js 20+ (for local development)
• Expo CLI (for frontend development)
• OpenAI API key
• Walmart Affiliate API credentials

Environment Variables

You need to create a .env file in the root directory. This single file is used by both Docker and local development.

IMPORTANT: Copy the example file and fill in your actual credentials:

# In the root directory
cp .env.example .env

Then edit .env and add your API keys:

# Database Configuration
# For Docker: use "postgres" as hostname (default in .env.example)
# For local dev: change to "localhost"
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://pantrychef:pantrychef_dev_password@postgres:5432/pantrychef"

# JWT Configuration
JWT_SECRET="your-super-secret-jwt-key-change-in-production"
JWT_EXPIRES_IN="7d"

# OpenAI API Configuration
OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-proj-your-actual-openai-api-key-here"

# Walmart Affiliate API Configuration
WALMART_CONSUMER_ID="your-consumer-id-uuid-here"
WALMART_PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\nyour-key-here\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"
WALMART_KEY_VERSION="1"
WALMART_PUBLISHER_ID="your-publisher-id-here"

# Host Configuration
HOST_IP="localhost"
PORT="3000"
NODE_ENV="development"

For local development only: If you're running the backend locally (not in Docker), change the DATABASE_URL hostname from postgres to localhost:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://pantrychef:pantrychef_dev_password@localhost:5432/pantrychef"

Installation & Setup

Quick Start with Docker (Recommended)

The easiest way to get started is to run everything with Docker:

# 1. Setup environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your OpenAI API key and Walmart credentials

# 2. Start backend and database
docker-compose up -d

# 3. Check logs to ensure it's running
docker-compose logs -f backend

# Backend is now running on http://localhost:3000

That's it for the backend! Docker handles all dependencies, database setup, and Prisma migrations automatically.

Frontend Setup

cd frontend

# 1. Install dependencies
npm install

# 2. Create frontend .env file
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your computer's IP address
# Find it with 'ipconfig' (Windows) or 'ifconfig' (Mac/Linux)

# 3. Start Expo development server
npm start

Choose your platform:

• Press a for Android emulator
• Press i for iOS simulator
• Scan QR code with Expo Go app on your phone

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Alternative: Local Development (Backend)

If you prefer to run the backend outside Docker (for easier debugging):

# 1. Setup environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your API keys
# IMPORTANT: Change DATABASE_URL from "postgres" to "localhost"

# 2. Start only the database with Docker
docker-compose up -d postgres

# 3. Setup backend
cd backend
npm install
npx prisma generate
npx prisma db push
npm run build

# 4. Start backend in development mode
npm run dev

# Backend runs on http://localhost:3000

Frontend setup is the same as above.

API Documentation

Authentication

• POST /api/auth/register - Create new user account
• POST /api/auth/login - Login with email/password
• GET /api/auth/me - Get current user profile

Recipes

• GET /api/recipes - List recipes (with pagination, filtering)
• POST /api/recipes - Create new recipe
• GET /api/recipes/:id - Get recipe details
• PATCH /api/recipes/:id - Update recipe
• DELETE /api/recipes/:id - Delete recipe

Ingredients

• GET /api/ingredients - List ingredients (with search, category filter)
• POST /api/ingredients - Add new ingredient
• GET /api/ingredients/:id - Get ingredient details

Meal Planning

• POST /api/meal-plans/generate-ideas - Generate recipe ideas
• POST /api/meal-plans/generate-week - Generate weekly meal plan
• GET /api/meal-plans - List user's meal plans
• GET /api/meal-plans/:id - Get meal plan details
• POST /api/meal-plans/:id/shopping-list - Generate shopping list

Shopping Cart

• POST /api/cart/generate - Generate cart from recipes
• POST /api/cart/enrich-walmart - Add Walmart product data
• POST /api/cart/checkout - Create Walmart checkout URL

Chat

• POST /api/chat - Send message to AI assistant

Database Schema

The app uses PostgreSQL with 20+ tables including:

• Users - User accounts with authentication
• Recipes - Recipe data with ingredients and instructions
• Ingredients - Master ingredient list
• RecipeIngredients - Junction table for recipe-ingredient relationships
• MealPlans - Weekly meal plans
• MealSlots - Individual meal slots in plans
• ShoppingLists - Generated shopping lists
• UserPreferences - User dietary preferences
• UserInventory - User's ingredient inventory
• RecipeEmbeddings - Vector embeddings for semantic search (pgvector)

Development Notes

Backend Architecture

• Routes handle HTTP requests and validation
• Services contain business logic and external API calls
• Utils provide helper functions for unit conversion, ingredient matching, etc.
• Middleware handles authentication and request validation

Key Features

Ingredient Similarity Detection:

• Uses Levenshtein distance for fuzzy matching
• Three-tier strategy: auto-merge (≥95%), suggest (70-95%), AI verify (40-70%)
• Caches user decisions to avoid re-asking

Unit Conversion:

• Ingredient-specific conversions (e.g., 1 lemon = 0.25 cup juice)
• Generic unit conversions (volume, weight, count)
• Smart package quantity calculation for Walmart products

AI Recipe Generation:

• Strict validation rules (no "or" in ingredients, every ingredient needs a unit)
• Dietary restriction enforcement
• Nutrition target adherence
• Learning from user's recipe history

Walmart Integration

The app uses Walmart Affiliate API v2 with RSA-SHA256 signature authentication:

• Product search with relevance scoring
• Price and availability checking
• Consolidated cart creation with affiliate tracking

Testing

# Backend tests
cd backend
npm test

# Frontend tests
cd frontend
npm test

Deployment

Railway (Recommended for Backend)

1. Connect your GitHub repo to Railway
2. Add environment variables in Railway dashboard
3. Railway will auto-deploy on push

Expo EAS Build (Frontend)

cd frontend

# Install EAS CLI
npm install -g eas-cli

# Login to Expo
eas login

# Configure build
eas build:configure

# Build for Android
eas build --platform android

# Build for iOS
eas build --platform ios

License

MIT

Contributing

This is a hackathon project rebuilt from scratch. All code was manually written (no copy-paste) to ensure clean git history and compliance with hackathon rules.

Credits

Built with:

• OpenAI GPT-5-nano for AI features
• Walmart Affiliate API for e-commerce
• Expo for mobile development
• Prisma for database ORM
• PostgreSQL with pgvector for vector search

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Note: This app is provided "as is" for educational and personal use. Always verify recipes and ingredients for safety and dietary compatibility.