Make Recipe Cards

Guide

Convert any recipe into a card — even when a site fights back

2 min read

Most recipes convert with a paste of the link. The rest have workarounds. This is the complete decision tree.

Path one: the link

Paste the recipe’s URL and generate. Behind the scenes the page’s own structured recipe data — the machine-readable copy sites publish for search engines — is read, matched, and drawn as a card, with the source linked underneath. Around nine in ten recipe sites work this way on the first try, including pages with several recipes, where you’ll get a picker listing each one.

When a site refuses automated readers

Some large publishers block any request that isn’t a person’s browser. When that happens, the generator quietly checks the Internet Archive for a public snapshot of the same page and builds from that instead — you’ll see “via Internet Archive snapshot” noted under the card, with the original source still credited and linked. If no snapshot exists either, you’ll get a plain-language message saying so rather than a fake error.

Path two: paste the text

Paste mode is the universal fallback and works fully offline. Copy everything from the ingredients heading through the last step and drop it in; headers like “Ingredients” and “Directions” are detected, but even a headerless block parses as long as quantities lead the ingredient lines. Cookbook photos work too — transcribe or use your phone’s live-text copy, then paste.

Getting a better tree

The card’s branching follows the recipe’s own language. Phrases like “in a separate bowl” create a second branch; “add the flour mixture” merges it back. If a pasted recipe draws flatter than it should, restoring those phrases to the step text is usually the fix. Reading the result is covered in the two-minute guide.

Save what you convert

Every good card deserves a spot in your recipe box — saved in your browser, renameable, one tap to reopen at dinnertime.