Pan Out

You want to make a proper bolognese — the kind that actually tastes like it came from a kitchen that knows what it's doing. You don't want to memorize technique details or wing it from a blog recipe. You want to understand the science, hear what to do next without looking at a screen, swap ingredients for what's actually in your fridge, and learn from each cook.

📖 Documentation — setup guide, walkthroughs, and reference

Pan Out makes that practical. It's a set of AI skills for Claude Code that handle the full cooking pipeline:

1. Research -- deep-dive into a dish's science, techniques, and safety, then build a step-by-step protocol
2. Cook -- talk you through each phase at the stove with timers, temperature checks, and ingredient swaps
3. Debrief -- after you eat, capture what worked and what didn't so next time starts better

The system is built around protocols -- structured recipe files that hold everything needed to cook a dish: ingredients, phases, timing, temperatures, sensory cues, and the science behind each step.

Installation

As a Plugin (recommended)

In any Claude Code session:

/plugin marketplace add alexeyv/pan-out
/plugin install pan-out@pan-out-marketplace

Then create your personal reference files:

cp references/cook-profile.example.md references/cook-profile.md
cp references/calibration.example.md references/calibration.md

Edit references/cook-profile.md with your equipment, preferences, and kitchen environment. If you have temperature instruments, run a boiling-water calibration and fill in references/calibration.md.

From Source

1. Clone this repo
2. Run Claude Code with the plugin flag:

   claude --plugin-dir ./pan-out
   

3. Copy and customize your personal reference files:

   cp references/cook-profile.example.md references/cook-profile.md
   cp references/calibration.example.md references/calibration.md
   

4. Edit references/cook-profile.md with your equipment, preferences, and kitchen environment
5. If you have temperature instruments, run a boiling-water calibration and fill in references/calibration.md

Prerequisites

• Claude Code v1.0.33 or later
• An instant-read probe thermometer — for checking liquid temps, meat doneness, and food safety. Practically a must.
• An infrared (IR) thermometer — point-and-shoot surface temp readings for searing and high-heat work. Really nice to have.
• A dictation app like Wispr Flow — strongly recommended. Typing mid-cook is slow and distracting; dictation lets you wipe your hands, hold a button, say what you need, and let go — much faster than typing.

Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows, including voice output. Dictation and voice are both optional, but they make the cooking experience much smoother.

Usage

• Run /panout-help to get oriented
• Say "recipe [dish]" to research a dish and create a protocol
• Say "let's cook [dish]" to cook a dish step by step
• Say "debrief" after cooking to capture lessons

Project Structure

pan-out/
├── skills/                 # The skills that do the work
│   ├── cook/               #   Real-time guided cooking
│   ├── recipe/             #   Research and protocol creation
│   ├── debrief/            #   Post-cook review and learning
│   └── help/               #   Orientation and skill routing
├── protocols/              # Cooking protocols
│   ├── {dish}.md           #   Executable protocol
│   └── {dish}-science.md   #   Companion science deep-dive
├── references/             # Shared knowledge base
│   ├── protocol-format.md  #   Protocol format specification
│   ├── food-safety.md      #   Safe cooking temperatures
│   ├── cook-profile.md     #   Your equipment & preferences (personal, gitignored)
│   └── calibration.md      #   Your thermometer offsets (personal, gitignored)
├── sessions/               # Cook session state files (gitignored)
├── memory/                 # Accumulated lessons and notes (gitignored)
├── bin/                    # Utility scripts
│   └── progress-timer.sh   #   Background timer with spoken updates
└── test/                   # Test harnesses

Protocols

Protocols are structured recipe files that hold the full plan for cooking a dish. The recipe skill creates them from research; you don't write them by hand. Every protocol has a companion science file ({dish}-science.md) that captures the chemistry, temperature rationale, failure modes, and food safety references behind the protocol's design.

How It Works

Hands-on vs. hands-off

• When you're at the stove (prep, searing) -- one instruction at a time, waits for you to say "done" before moving on
• When you can walk away (braising, resting) -- a timer runs in the background and calls you back when something needs attention

Temperature guidance

If you have thermometers, the system reads your calibration data and tells you exactly what your instrument should show: "We want 90C — that's about 86-87C on your probe."

Recipes that improve

Each cook makes the protocol better. The debrief captures timing adjustments, technique discoveries, and seasoning preferences so next time starts where this time left off.

Memory across cooks

Lessons, equipment quirks, and calibration observations accumulate in a memory directory that every future cook reads automatically — so what you learn on one dish carries over to the next.

Photo capture

Snap a photo mid-cook (paste or phone shortcut) and it's saved with the session. The debrief can reference what your fond or reduction actually looked like.

Philosophy

• Voice is the headline, screen is the article -- short spoken summaries you can hear over kitchen noise, full detail on screen when you look
• Science first -- understand why, not just how
• Sensory cues over clock time -- "mahogany brown" matters more than "4 minutes"
• Forward-only -- once you confirm a step, it's done. No going back.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Acknowledgments

Pan Out's skill structure, workflow patterns, and prompt language were built with and heavily inspired by the BMAD Method by BMad Code, LLC (MIT).

License

MIT