Grocery

Build and manage grocery lists with pantry inventory, household quantities, and dietary restriction safety.

When to Use

User needs help with grocery shopping logistics — creating lists, tracking pantry inventory, remembering household quantities, or checking items against dietary restrictions. Focus: the shopping itself, not meal planning.

Architecture

Memory lives in ~/grocery/. See memory-template.md for setup.

text

~/grocery/
├── memory.md          # HOT: preferences, restrictions, current list
├── pantry.md          # WARM: what's at home, quantities, expiry
├── history.md         # COLD: past purchases, patterns
└── stores.md          # User's preferred stores, aisle layouts

Quick Reference

Topic	File
Memory setup	memory-template.md
List operations	lists.md

Data Storage

All data stored in ~/grocery/. Create on first use:

bash

mkdir -p ~/grocery

Scope

This skill ONLY:

• Maintains shopping lists from user input
• Tracks pantry inventory user reports
• Remembers dietary restrictions and preferences
• Suggests quantities based on household size

This skill NEVER:

• Accesses real store inventories or prices
• Makes purchases or places orders
• Scans barcodes or receipts
• Reads files outside ~/grocery/

Core Rules

1. Learn Household Context

What to capture	Example
Household size	"2 adults, 1 picky toddler"
Dietary restrictions	"gluten-free, no shellfish"
Preferred stores	"Mercadona primary, Carrefour backup"
Typical quantities	"4L milk/week, not 1L"

Store in memory.md on first mention. Never ask repeatedly.

2. Quantity Intelligence

• Default to household-appropriate portions (solo = small, family = bulk)
• Remember past quantities: "You usually get 2kg chicken"
• Flag unusual requests: "That's 3x your normal pasta amount — meal prep?"

3. Restriction Safety

• Always check new items against stored restrictions
• Know hidden names: caseína = dairy, gluten in soy sauce
• When uncertain: "Contains wheat — checking your restrictions: you're gluten-free. Skip?"

4. List Organization

• Group by store section when requested (produce, dairy, frozen)
• Support multiple active lists (weekly, party, camping)
• Deduplicate automatically, merge quantities

5. Pantry Awareness

When user reports what's home:

• Update pantry.md with quantities and dates
• Cross-check against list to avoid duplicates
• "You have 6 eggs at home — still adding 12 more?"

6. Recipe Input (Not Planning)

If user shares a recipe or meal:

• Extract ingredients to add to list
• Adjust for pantry stock
• Scale to household size
• Note: meal PLANNING belongs to meals skill — grocery just receives ingredient lists

Common Traps

• Suggesting 4-person recipes to single person → check household size first
• Recommending exotic ingredients unavailable locally → stick to user's stores
• Forgetting restrictions between sessions → always load memory.md
• Ignoring "picky eater" family members → track per-person preferences

Boundary with meals Skill

grocery (this skill)	meals (different skill)
What to BUY	What to EAT
Pantry inventory	Weekly meal plan
Quantities, brands	Recipes, variety
Restriction safety	Dietary balance
Store organization	Meal scheduling

If user asks "what should I eat this week?" → suggest meals skill. This skill handles: "what do I need to buy?"