Task Recipes

Recipes are reusable workflow templates that define a sequence of tasks with dependencies, modes, and variable placeholders. Run a recipe to instantly create a full task tree — no manual setup each time.

Concepts

A recipe contains:

• Steps — ordered task definitions with titles, descriptions, modes, and inter-step dependencies
• Variables — template placeholders ({{varName}}) that get filled in at run time
• Category — organizational label: content, research, code, ops, or custom

Creating a Recipe

Dashboard

Navigate to a workspace and click the Recipes tab. Click + New Recipe to open the recipe builder.

The builder includes:

• Name and description for the recipe itself
• Category selector — color-coded badges in the recipe list
• Steps section — add steps with title, description, mode (execution/planning), output requirement, and dependency toggles (each step can depend on any previous step)
• Variables section — define template variables with a key, type (string/number/boolean), and description

Steps can be reordered with up/down arrows and removed individually.

API

curl -X POST https://buildd.dev/api/workspaces/{workspace-id}/recipes \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer bld_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Feature Development",
    "description": "Standard feature workflow",
    "category": "code",
    "steps": [
      {
        "ref": "plan",
        "title": "Plan {{feature}}",
        "description": "Investigate codebase and create implementation plan",
        "mode": "planning"
      },
      {
        "ref": "implement",
        "title": "Implement {{feature}}",
        "description": "Build the feature according to the approved plan",
        "mode": "execution",
        "dependsOn": ["plan"],
        "outputRequirement": "pr_required"
      },
      {
        "ref": "test",
        "title": "Test {{feature}}",
        "dependsOn": ["implement"],
        "outputRequirement": "artifact_required"
      }
    ],
    "variables": {
      "feature": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Name of the feature to build"
      }
    }
  }'

MCP

buildd action=create_recipe params={
  name: "Feature Development",
  steps: [...],
  variables: { feature: { type: "string" } }
}

Running a Recipe

Dashboard

Click Run on any recipe card. A modal appears showing:

• Step preview with numbered list and dependency indicators
• Input fields for each variable defined in the recipe
• Run and Cancel buttons

On success, the modal shows links to all created tasks.

API

curl -X POST https://buildd.dev/api/workspaces/{workspace-id}/recipes/{recipe-id}/run \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer bld_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "variables": {
      "feature": "user authentication"
    }
  }'

Response:

{
  "tasks": ["task-id-1", "task-id-2", "task-id-3"]
}

How Instantiation Works

1. Variable interpolation — all {{varName}} placeholders in step titles and descriptions are replaced with provided values
2. Pass 1 — creates all tasks with empty dependsOn
3. Pass 2 — resolves step ref references to actual task IDs and updates dependsOn on each task

This two-pass approach ensures dependency references resolve correctly regardless of step order.

Step Schema

API Reference

MCP Tools (admin)