Mela File Format

This page covers everything you need to know to make use of the file formats Mela uses to export and import recipes.

Recipes.melarecipes (ZIP)

  1. Mela uses a melarecipes file when exporting multiple recipes into a single file. It's basically just a zipped folder that contains a melarecipe (see below) file for every recipe. Renaming the extension to .zip will let you easily open it in the Finder, for example.

Recipe.melarecipe (JSON)

  1. This is the file format Mela uses to export single recipes. It's just a JSON file which you can open in any text editor.
  2. id String Identifier. For recipes imported from the web, Mela uses the URL (without schema) as identifier, otherwise just a UUID. If you're creating a melarecipe file for importing, make sure this is not empty.
    title String Title of the recipe.
    text String Short description of the recipe which is displayed after the title and info in Mela.
    Supported Markdown: Links.
    images [String] Array of base64 encoded images.
    categories [String] Array of category names.
    Please note that Mela currently does not allow , in a category name.
    yield String Yield or servings.
    prepTime String Preparation time.
    cookTime String Cook time.
    totalTime String Total time it takes to prepare and cook the dish.
    This does not have to be the sum of prepTime and cookTime (but mostly is).
    ingredients String Ingredients, separated by \n.
    Supported Markdown: Links and # for group titles.
    instructions String Instructions, separated by \n.
    Supported Markdown: # * ** and links.
    notes String The notes that are displayed right after the instructions in Mela.
    Supported Markdown: # * ** and links.
    nutrition String Nutrition information.
    Supported Markdown: # * ** and links.
    link String This might be a bit misleading but this field does not have to contain an URL (it can). It's basically just the source of the recipe and will accept any string.

    In addition to these, the JSON file also contains the following fields which are ignored when importing.

    favorite Bool true or false
    wantToCook Bool true or false
    date Double Seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 2001