AI Recipe Assistant

An intelligent backend service that generates creative recipes from a list of ingredients using a powerful generative AI. This project leverages the Grok AI API to provide users with a simple and effective way to discover new meals and reduce food waste.

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✨ Key Features

• Dynamic Recipe Generation: Provide a list of ingredients and get a complete recipe, including title, description, ingredients list, and step-by-step instructions.
• RESTful API: A clean, well-documented API for easy integration with any front-end application (web or mobile).
• AI-Powered: Utilizes a state-of-the-art generative AI to ensure creative and coherent recipe suggestions.
• Scalable Backend: Built with Spring Boot, ensuring a robust, secure, and scalable foundation.

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⚙️ How It Works

The application provides a simple yet powerful workflow:

1. A user sends a POST request to the /api/recipes/generate endpoint with a list of available ingredients in the request body.
2. The Spring Boot backend receives the request and constructs a carefully crafted prompt for the Grok AI API.
3. The service makes a secure, server-to-server call to the AI API.
4. The AI model processes the prompt and returns a structured JSON response containing a complete recipe.
5. The backend parses this response and sends a clean, well-formatted recipe object back to the user.

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🛠️ Technology Stack

• Backend: Java, Spring Boot
• API Communication: Spring RestTemplate / WebClient
• AI Integration: Grok AI API (or other specified generative AI)
• Data Handling: JSON
• Build Tool: Maven / Gradle

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🚀 Getting Started

To run this project locally, you will need to have Java and Maven/Gradle installed.

1. Clone the repository:

git clone [https://github.com/sidhu1512/recipe-assistant.git](https://github.com/sidhu1512/recipe-assistant.git)
cd recipe-assistant

2. Configure your API Key: The application requires an API key for the AI service. You need to set this as an environment variable.

In your src/main/resources/application.properties file, add the following line:

ai.api.key=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE

(For better security, it's recommended to use environment variables instead of hardcoding the key. You can update the code to read from System.getenv("AI_API_KEY").)

3. Build and run the application:

./mvnw spring-boot:run

The application will start on http://localhost:8080.

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Endpoints

Generate a Recipe

• URL: /api/recipes/generate
• Method: POST
• Description: Generates a new recipe based on the provided ingredients.
• Request Body:

  {
    "ingredients": ["chicken breast", "rice", "broccoli", "soy sauce"]
  }

• Success Response (200 OK):

  {
    "title": "Simple Chicken and Broccoli Stir-fry",
    "description": "A quick and delicious stir-fry, perfect for a weeknight dinner.",
    "ingredients": [
        "1 lb chicken breast, cubed",
        "1 cup white rice",
        "2 cups broccoli florets",
        "1/4 cup soy sauce"
    ],
    "instructions": "1. Cook rice according to package directions. 2. Sauté chicken in a large skillet... etc."
  }