Chef Agent with CrewAI

Build a CrewAI recipe assistant that plans meals, checks pantry items, and can trigger frontend actions (e.g., show shopping list).

Delight users with a culinary copilot that suggests recipes, checks pantry items via tools, and returns structured shopping lists.

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What you’ll build

• A CrewAI agent with cooking-focused instructions.
• Tools for pantry lookup and recipe generation.
• Optional frontend action that displays a shopping list in your UI.

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Prerequisites

• CrewAI project (crew-ai.mdx)
• Any ingredient/recipe API keys if you use a third-party source

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Steps

1. Add pantry tool

   Provide a tool to check ingredient availability (local DB or API). Return structured data for the agent.

2. Generate recipes

   Let the LLM craft recipes using the pantry results. Keep responses concise with steps + ingredient list.

3. Optional shopping list action

   Emit a UI action (see frontend actions guide) so your app can show a list or start a checkout flow.

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Sample tools

src/crew_demo/tools/pantry.py

import json
from crewai.tools import tool

PANTRY = {"eggs": 6, "milk": 1, "flour": 500}  # grams or units


@tool("check_pantry")
def check_pantry(items: str) -> str:
    """Return which requested items exist in the pantry."""
    requested = [i.strip().lower() for i in items.split(",") if i.strip()]
    found = {item: PANTRY.get(item, 0) for item in requested}
    return json.dumps({"items": found})

src/crew_demo/tools/shopping_list.py

import json
from crewai.tools import tool


@tool("show_shopping_list")
def show_shopping_list(items: str) -> str:
    """Return a shopping list action for the frontend."""
    return json.dumps({
        "action": "show_shopping_list",
        "parameters": {"items": [i.strip() for i in items.split(",") if i.strip()]}
    })

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Agent configuration

src/crew_demo/config/agents.yaml

chef:
  role: Culinary Assistant
  goal: Propose recipes users can cook with available ingredients
  backstory: >
    First check pantry items with check_pantry.
    Suggest a recipe with steps and a short shopping list if needed.
    If asked, trigger show_shopping_list with the missing items.

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CometChat setup

Provider: CrewAI, Agent ID: chef, Deployment URL: /kickoff. Provide suggested prompts like “What can I make with eggs, milk, and flour?”.

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