Grocy

What it does

Grocy helps you run your household. It keeps track of the food in your fridge and cupboards and warns you before things go out of date. It builds your shopping list from what is running low, plans meals from your recipes, and reminds you about chores, tasks and batteries. It runs on your own computer or server, or as a simple Windows app.

• Stock with best-before dates and "going off soon" warnings
• Shopping list that fills itself from what's running low
• Recipes and a meal plan that check what you already have
• Barcode scanning with a phone camera or USB scanner

Great for: Households who want to waste less food and keep the shopping, meals and chores organised.

Make it yours: ideas

Pick an idea to start from, or describe your own.

• Settings, no code Just the kitchen, nothing else “I only want food stock, the shopping list and recipes. Hide chores, batteries, equipment and tasks, and show prices in pounds.” Start with this idea
• Extend: themes, plugins, API Use-it-up reminders to cut food waste “Every evening at 6pm, send me a message listing anything that goes off in the next two days, with a recipe idea that uses it.” Start with this idea
• Settings, no code Scan shopping in with my phone “When I unpack the shopping I want to scan each barcode with my phone camera and have it added to the right cupboard.” Start with this idea
• Settings, no code Kids' chore chart “Set up weekly chores for my three children, take turns fairly, and show who's next on the kitchen tablet.” Start with this idea
• Extend: themes, plugins, API Big, friendly look for the kitchen tablet “Make Grocy easier to use on our kitchen tablet: bigger buttons and text, and our family's green colour.” Start with this idea
• Code changes Freezer meal tracker “Add a page that shows only what's in the freezer, oldest first, with the date each meal was frozen.” Start with this idea

How easy is it to adapt?

Plain PHP (Slim and Blade) with jQuery page scripts and one SQLite file, with no front-end build step. Almost everything can be switched on or off with settings and feature flags. Upstream does not accept code contributions, so code changes stay in your own copy. Your AI always tries the gentlest step first, so your version stays easy to update.

1. 1

   Settings 3 options

   No code. Change it in the app or its config.

   • Hide the parts you don't use (chores, batteries, equipment, tasks, price tracking, multiple shopping lists).
   • Currency, language, first day of the week and kcal or kJ.
   • Your own cupboards, freezer, shops and units, plus warning periods such as "due soon" days.
2. 2

   Extend 3 options

   Themes, plugins, webhooks and the API. Still no fork.

   • Add your own fields to products, chores and more, or whole new lists such as "Wine cellar" without code.
   • Change colours and layout or add small scripts without modifying the app itself.
   • Home Assistant, scripts and phone shortcuts; your own barcode lookup source; label printing.
3. 3

   Code 2 options

   Your AI edits the source for anything else.

   • New screens and new behaviour.
   • New tables or columns.

Can I trust it?

• MIT. Free to use, change and share, even commercially. Keep the copyright and licence notice when you share it. No other obligations.
• Your data: stores personal data, on your own device or server. One SQLite database in the data folder (inside the /config volume in the LinuxServer Docker image), plus uploaded pictures and data/config.php.
• Other services: Open Food Facts (optional, free); Label printer or thermal printer (optional, hardware only)
• Pinned version 41206cb. Every handover uses exactly this code, which we've reviewed.
• The default login is admin / admin. Change it immediately.
• Self-hosted with its own login. Use HTTPS before exposing it to the internet; camera barcode scanning also needs HTTPS.
• Never set MODE to demo or DISABLE_AUTH on an instance other people can reach; both turn off login.

Did it work for people?

Tell us how it went

For your AI

The project pack has the pinned version, how to run it, and where to customise it. Your prompt links to it automatically.

https://handoff.bespokeai.software/p/grocy/41206cb/pack.md

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