What is OpenEats and what does the export look like?

OpenEats is an open-source self-hosted recipe manager built on Django. Its export is a Django dumpdata JSON file — a serialized snapshot of the database with one entry per row. We unpack the model rows back into recipes, ingredients, and tags.

How do I export from OpenEats?

On the server hosting OpenEats, run python manage.py dumpdata --indent 2 > openeats.json from inside the project directory. This produces a JSON file with every recipe, ingredient, course, and cuisine in your database. Upload that file here.

Will my courses, cuisines, and ingredients survive?

Yes. The dumpdata format preserves every field on every model. We map OpenEats's recipe, ingredient, course, and cuisine models back into a unified Recipe shape — ingredients with quantities and units, instructions in order, course and cuisine as tags.

Can I move my OpenEats collection to a managed app?

Yes — convert to JSON or .cook here, then import into the destination app. Schema.org JSON-LD works in Mealie, Tandoor, Paprika, and most modern recipe managers.

OpenEats Django dumpdata supported

Convert your OpenEats recipes

OpenEats stores recipes in a Django database. Run manage.py dumpdata and we'll turn the JSON snapshot into PDF, JSON, CSV, Markdown, or .cook.

100% free. Open-source parsing. No account required.

What we support

The Django dumpdata JSON OpenEats produces — bare or zipped.

.json Supported

The dumpdata JSON straight from manage.py. We rehydrate the model rows into structured recipes.

.zip Supported

If you've bundled the dumpdata file with media uploads, zip them together and we'll unpack and process the whole thing.

How to export from OpenEats

1

SSH into your OpenEats host

Connect to the machine running OpenEats and change into the project directory where manage.py lives.

2

Run dumpdata

Run python manage.py dumpdata --indent 2 > openeats.json. This serializes every model row — recipes, ingredients, courses, cuisines, and tags — into a single JSON file.

3

Copy the file off the server

Use scp, rsync, or your hosting provider's file manager to pull openeats.json down to your local machine.

4

Upload it here

Drag the .json into the upload area above and pick the output formats you want.

Why convert OpenEats recipes?

OpenEats is great while you're running it, but a Django dumpdata file isn't useful as a backup if your server dies and you don't want to spin OpenEats back up. The JSON is technically readable, but no other recipe app accepts it natively.

That's the gap this page closes. We translate OpenEats's database snapshot into the open formats every other tool understands — and into formats you can actually read in a browser or print on paper.

Convert to JSON for re-import into another app, PDF for printing, Markdown for a personal cookbook, or .cook for any CookLang-compatible tool.

Export to any format

Get your recipes in formats that work for you

{ }

JSON

Schema.org compliant

PDF

Print-ready cards

CSV

Excel-friendly

MD

Markdown

Plain text

.cook

CookLang

For developers

DB

SQLite

Portable database

ORF

Open Recipe

YAML format

Free your OpenEats collection

Drop your dumpdata .json above and we'll convert every recipe into the format you want.