Cooking Time Estimator Summary

WHAT IT DOES

Cooking Time Estimator Summary extracts the complete recipe from any page and uses advanced AI to estimate total cooking time, prep time, and cook time breakdown for each major step or component. It provides a clear time summary that helps with meal planning and scheduling, breaking down time into prep, active cooking, passive cooking, and resting/cooling periods. This allows you to plan your cooking workflow efficiently and know exactly when to start each task.

WHERE IT RUNS

This tool operates as a userscript within the BotGentz extension framework, running directly in your browser on any website. It works on recipe blogs, cooking websites, food magazines, and virtually any page containing recipe content. The tool integrates seamlessly into your workflow, appearing as a draggable panel that stays accessible as you plan and prepare meals.

HOW TO USE

Click "Scan Recipe" to automatically extract the recipe content from the current page. The tool intelligently identifies ingredient lists, quantities, and preparation instructions. Configure your time settings: choose your preferred time format (Minutes, Hours, or HH:MM Format), toggle prep time breakdown per ingredient on or off for detailed planning, and toggle resting/cooling time factoring on or off. Click "Estimate Time" to send the recipe to the AI backend. Within moments, you'll receive a comprehensive time breakdown of the recipe. Use the "Copy Time Estimates" button to save it for your cooking schedule.

TECHNICAL OPERATION

Cooking Time Estimator Summary employs a multi-strategy extraction pipeline that first checks for selected text, then attempts WebMCP (navigator.modelContext) when available—a W3C proposal for structured page content access—and falls back to DOM-based content detection using prioritized selectors for recipe containers, ingredient lists, and content areas. The user's time format preference, prep breakdown setting, and resting time toggle are encoded as system-level instructions in the prompt sent to the AI. The text is truncated to 8000 characters and transmitted via GM_xmlhttpRequest to the AI backend. The AI, specifically prompted as a culinary time management expert, analyzes the recipe's complexity using factors including ingredient count, preparation techniques (chopping, blending, mixing, kneading, etc.), cooking methods (baking, frying, boiling, steaming, etc.), number of components, and required resting or cooling periods. It calculates estimates based on standard culinary time benchmarks, adjusting for complexity and skill level. The output presents a clear time summary with total time, prep time, cook time, and optional breakdowns for individual ingredients and components. Each request is authenticated with a subscription key and counts against your monthly usage cap.

THE PANEL

The Cooking Time Estimator Summary panel is fully draggable and remembers its position between sessions using GM_setValue. It snaps to the edge of the viewport for a clean interface and can be collapsed to a small icon when not in use. The panel is resizable to accommodate longer content. Press Escape to quickly close or collapse the panel. The design is optimized for productivity with a dark theme, clear visual hierarchy, and responsive controls that adapt to your workflow.

PLEASE NOTE

This tool requires the free BotGentz extension installed in your browser and an active subscription to access the AI backend. AI-generated time estimates are approximations based on standard cooking times and may vary depending on individual skill level, equipment, and ingredient preparation. Always use your judgment and allow extra time for unexpected delays. The estimates are intended for planning purposes and may not account for all variables. No page data is stored or transmitted beyond the content you explicitly submit for estimation. All processing occurs through secure HTTPS connections, and your subscription key is never exposed to the page context.