smrt-kitchen: the local Kitchen plugin

Plan a business app in conversation, then create the project on your machine. Your own ChatGPT, Codex or Claude does the reasoning. This plugin adds a local tool server (smrt kitchen mcp, over stdio) that holds the plan and makes the changes, and a skill that tells the assistant how to run the interview. It needs no separate model, API key, hosted endpoint or browser key storage, and nothing leaves your machine except package-manifest lookups against the npm registry.

Tracked in happyvertical/smrt#3752 (epic #3747). The hosted, public-directory version is deferred in #3751.

What is in the box

plugins/smrt-kitchen/
  plugin.json              portable Agent Plugins manifest (+ extensions.com.openai.interface)
  mcp.json                 stdio server: npx -y @happyvertical/smrt-cli@>=0.55.11 <1 kitchen mcp
  skills/kitchen/SKILL.md  the workflow: interview, pick a cookbook, refine, validate, apply
  assets/                  logo and composer icon (downscaled from smrt-logo.png)
  .claude-plugin/plugin.json   Claude Code overlay (points at mcp.json)
.agents/plugins/marketplace.json     repo marketplace (ChatGPT desktop app, Codex)
.claude-plugin/marketplace.json      Claude Code marketplace (also read by the ChatGPT desktop app)

Tools

Tool	What it does	Hints
`list_cookbooks`	Ready-made starting points and the recipes each switches on	read-only
`search_recipes`	Find recipes by words in id, name, summary, synonyms	read-only
`start_plan`	New plan, empty or from a cookbook; returns the plan id	writes only server memory
`run_commands`	Atomic batch of plan commands (20 commands: add/remove recipes, settings, theme, rename, hide, undo...). Takes a batch `id` (a retry is applied once) and `expectedRevision` (a stale change is refused)	idempotent
`get_plan`	Compact snapshot: revision, recipes, settings, theme, menu	read-only
`validate_plan`	Document checks plus every recipe, object and field against the package manifests	read-only
`export_plan`	The plan as cookbook v1 JSON	read-only
`apply_plan`	Create or update the project in an absolute directory (template copy, missing packages into `package.json`, `smrt.cookbook.json`). Writes only with `confirm: true` plus the `confirmCode` its preview returned for that plan and folder; without them, or with `dryRun`, it returns a preview (which still fetches the server's template). The template is the server's `--template`, never a per-call argument. Does not install packages unless `install: true`	destructive, idempotent, open-world

Every tool returns compact text for the model and structured output that matches its published output schema. Plans live in the server process (20 kept); a restart forgets them, and the project's smrt.cookbook.json is the durable copy. Command and error contract: packages/core/agents/cookbook-engine.md. Server internals: packages/cli/agents/kitchen.md.

Requirements

Node 24 or newer with npx on the PATH of the app that launches the plugin (GUI apps on macOS often have a smaller PATH than your shell; see Troubleshooting). Network access to the npm registry for the first npx run and for package manifests. The mcp.json range >=0.55.11 <1 assumes the release that ships kitchen mcp; confirm it matches the published @happyvertical/smrt-cli version before telling anyone to install.

Try the server by itself (no host needed):

npx -y @happyvertical/smrt-cli kitchen mcp          # speaks MCP on stdin/stdout
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector --cli node packages/cli/bin/smrt.js kitchen mcp --method tools/list   # from a checkout

Options: --manifests <file|dir> (repeatable), --no-registry, --packages <name>, --library <dir>, --template <path|github:owner/repo[#ref]|url>.

Install

Add --template <local path> to the server args in mcp.json if you want to create projects from a local template instead of github:happyvertical/smrt-start.

ChatGPT desktop app (Work mode / Codex)

Needs manual verification by the maintainer. The steps follow OpenAI's Package your plugin; they have not been run in the desktop app.

Personal marketplace:

mkdir -p ~/plugins && cp -R plugins/smrt-kitchen ~/plugins/smrt-kitchen

Create or extend ~/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json:

{
  "name": "personal",
  "interface": { "displayName": "Personal" },
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "smrt-kitchen",
      "source": { "source": "local", "path": "./plugins/smrt-kitchen" },
      "policy": { "installation": "AVAILABLE", "authentication": "ON_INSTALL" },
      "category": "Productivity"
    }
  ]
}

Restart the ChatGPT desktop app, open the Plugins Directory, choose the Personal source and install SMRT Kitchen.

Or use this repository's marketplace: with the repository checked out and opened as the project, .agents/plugins/marketplace.json lists the plugin from ./plugins/smrt-kitchen. Restart the app and pick the SMRT source. .claude-plugin/marketplace.json is also read by the app, so the plugin may appear under both sources; install it from either.

Then start a new chat and try the default prompt "Use SMRT Kitchen to plan an app for my bakery."

Codex CLI

Not verified. The Codex CLI available when this was written (0.153.2) refused to add a local marketplace on the development machine because system requirements restrict marketplace sources, so the command below is from the documentation only.

codex plugin marketplace add happyvertical/smrt      # or ./path/to/a/checkout
codex plugin marketplace list

Then install smrt-kitchen from the smrt marketplace in Codex.

Claude Code

Checked with Claude Code 2.1.296: claude plugin validate plugins/smrt-kitchen and .claude-plugin/marketplace.json pass, and loading the plugin from disk shows the kitchen skill and the smrt-kitchen MCP server:

claude --plugin-dir plugins/smrt-kitchen

Claude Code reads .claude-plugin/plugin.json and its own .mcp.json name, not the portable plugin.json and mcp.json, so the plugin carries a small overlay in .claude-plugin/plugin.json whose mcpServers points at the shared mcp.json. Installing from the marketplace (/plugin marketplace add happyvertical/smrt, then /plugin install smrt-kitchen@smrt) follows Claude Code's documented flow but has not been run against this repository, and the server has not been driven by a live Claude Code session.

Optional widget (not built)

The planner UI (the Planner component of @happyvertical/smrt-planner) could be offered as an MCP Apps resource. The tools stay authoritative; the widget would only render the same snapshot. It would attach by registering a ui:// resource on the server and adding _meta.ui.resourceUri to the tools whose result it shows (get_plan, run_commands, start_plan). Whether the ChatGPT desktop app renders a UI resource from a local stdio server is the open question of the #3752 spike and is needs manual verification by the maintainer; nothing here depends on it.

Verifying it yourself

Automated (no host needed), from packages/cli:

pnpm exec vitest run src/commands/__tests__/kitchen-mcp.test.ts src/commands/__tests__/kitchen-plugin.test.ts

These spawn smrt kitchen mcp over stdio with the MCP SDK client, check the tool list, schemas and annotations, run a plan to a project on disk, and check the plugin files against the Agent Plugins schemas.

Manual (desktop app), the maintainer's checklist:

Install as above, restart, and confirm SMRT Kitchen shows in the Plugins Directory with its icon and default prompts.
In a new chat, run the default prompt. Confirm the assistant calls list_cookbooks / start_plan and that the host lists the smrt-kitchen tools (a stdio MCP server declared in mcp.json is the unverified part).
Ask for changes (add invoicing, set CAD and 5% tax). Confirm the replies show the menu and the tool results show revision numbers moving.
Ask it to create the project in an empty folder. Confirm the host asks for approval of apply_plan and that the first call writes nothing; after you agree the folder holds the template, package.json with the added packages, and smrt.cookbook.json.
Confirm no model login, API key or sign-in was requested at any step.

Troubleshooting

No tools appear / server fails to start: the host's PATH may lack npx. Run which npx in a terminal and put that absolute path in mcp.json's command, or install Node where the app can see it.
ETARGET / no matching version: the @happyvertical/smrt-cli range in mcp.json is ahead of what is published; use @latest while testing.
Few or no recipes: the server finds manifests locally (a workspace or node_modules under the directory the host starts it in) and otherwise from the registry. Offline, run from a checkout or pass --manifests.
Plan not found: the host restarted the server. Start again from the exported cookbook or the project's smrt.cookbook.json.