TheMealDB

TheMealDB is a comprehensive online platform offering a vast collection of recipes from around the world with a free API. The API and site will always remain free at point of access.

TheMealDB publishes 4 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Filter API, List API, Lookup API, and 1 more. Tagged areas include Recipes, Meals, Food, and Cooking.

The TheMealDB catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.

TheMealDB’s developer surface includes documentation, signup flow, pricing, and 5 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub

25.0/100 emerging ▬ flat Agent 26/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-08-25 · rubric v0.14.0

AccessFree

4 APIs 3 Features 4 Use Cases

Recipes Meals Food Cooking

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-08-25 · rubric v0.14.0

Composite quality — 25.0/100 · emerging

Contract Quality 6.1 / 25

Developer Ergonomics 1.9 / 20

Access Clarity 7.4 / 20

Operational Transparency 0.7 / 13

Contract Governance 3.5 / 12

Discoverability 5.6 / 10

Agent readiness — 26/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 6 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10

Idempotency 9 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 7 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 4 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Surface 0 / 5

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/themealdb: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 4

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Themealdb Rate Limits

1 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Themealdb Finops

FINOPS

Features 3

Notable capabilities this provider offers.

TheMealDB: free public API

Free public meal recipe API. Patreon supporters get premium API key with no rate limits.

Public URL: https://www.themealdb.com/

JSON Schema 6

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

Examples 6

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

AGENTIC

Use Cases 4

What developers build with this provider.

Recipe App Development

Build meal recipe apps and cooking websites

Meal Planning

Plan weekly meals by category, region, or available ingredients

AI Cooking Assistant

Power AI agents that suggest meals and cooking ideas

Dietary Filtering

Find meals filtered by ingredients, cuisine, or category

Integrations 1

Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.

TheCocktailDB

Sister site providing cocktail recipes from the same provider

Resources

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Signup

Signup

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Design & Contract 2

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

TheMealDB Spectral Rules

SpectralRules

TheMealDB Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Access & Security 1

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Commercial 1

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Pricing

Pricing

Company 1

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

Source (apis.yml)

aid: themealdb
name: TheMealDB
description: TheMealDB is a comprehensive online platform offering a vast collection of recipes from around the world with
  a free API. The API and site will always remain free at point of access.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: free
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Free
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
position: Consumer
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/themealdb.png
tags:
- Recipes
- Meals
- Food
- Cooking
created: '2024-11-14'
modified: '2026-05-19'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/themealdb/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.23'
apis:
- aid: themealdb:themealdb-filter-api
  name: TheMealDB Filter API
  description: Filter meals by attributes
  humanURL: https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
  baseURL: https://www.themealdb.com/api/json/v1/1
  tags:
  - Filter
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/themealdb-filter-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/themealdb-meal-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/themealdb-meal-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/themealdb-context.jsonld
- aid: themealdb:themealdb-list-api
  name: TheMealDB List API
  description: List available categories, areas, and ingredients
  humanURL: https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
  baseURL: https://www.themealdb.com/api/json/v1/1
  tags:
  - List
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/themealdb-list-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/themealdb-meal-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/themealdb-meal-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/themealdb-context.jsonld
- aid: themealdb:themealdb-lookup-api
  name: TheMealDB Lookup API
  description: Retrieve details by ID or random meal
  humanURL: https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
  baseURL: https://www.themealdb.com/api/json/v1/1
  tags:
  - Lookup
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/themealdb-lookup-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/themealdb-meal-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/themealdb-meal-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/themealdb-context.jsonld
- aid: themealdb:themealdb-search-api
  name: TheMealDB Search API
  description: Search for meals and ingredients
  humanURL: https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
  baseURL: https://www.themealdb.com/api/json/v1/1
  tags:
  - Search
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/themealdb-search-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/themealdb-meal-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/themealdb-meal-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/themealdb-context.jsonld
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/themealdb-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/themealdb-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://www.themealdb.com/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
- type: Signup
  url: https://www.themealdb.com/
- type: Pricing
  url: https://www.themealdb.com/
  data:
  - name: Free Tier
    description: Always free with test API key 1; no account required for basic access
  - name: Supporter Tier
    description: PayPal supporter for production API key, premium features, and database management
- type: SpectralRules
  url: rules/themealdb-spectral-rules.yml
  title: TheMealDB Spectral Rules
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/themealdb-vocabulary.yml
  title: TheMealDB Vocabulary
- type: Features
  data:
  - 'TheMealDB: free public API'
  - Free public meal recipe API. Patreon supporters get premium API key with no rate limits.
  - 'Public URL: https://www.themealdb.com/'
  sources:
  - https://www.themealdb.com/api.php
  updated: '2026-05-04'
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Recipe App Development
    description: Build meal recipe apps and cooking websites
  - name: Meal Planning
    description: Plan weekly meals by category, region, or available ingredients
  - name: AI Cooking Assistant
    description: Power AI agents that suggest meals and cooking ideas
  - name: Dietary Filtering
    description: Find meals filtered by ingredients, cuisine, or category
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: TheCocktailDB
    description: Sister site providing cocktail recipes from the same provider
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com

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