Plate API v1

API reference

Read-mostly JSON over HTTPS. Fetch the catalog once, keep it on the device, and check the version to pick up changes.

Getting started

Plate gives your app nearly 30,000 foods with nutrition per 100 g, Indian portions like katori and roti, and a calculator for meals. The base URL is https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1. Each app gets its own keys, for sandbox and for production, from the Plate team. Please write to hello@rachnalabs.com to ask for one.

A food logging screen usually needs three calls: search, the food, and the nutrition for what was eaten.

Search, open, add up

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/foods?q=roti&limit=5" -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY"

curl https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/foods/usda-2707713 -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY"

curl -X POST https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/nutrition -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"items":[{"food_id":"usda-2707713","grams":80}]}'

Every food tells you its source and licence. When you show Plate data, please show that attribution too (see Sources and licences).

Authentication

Every request carries an app key, except the API map, health, meta, the OpenAPI document and photos. Keys belong to a client app and an environment (sandbox or production). They never identify a person.

Send it as X-Plate-Key: <key>, or as Authorization: Bearer <key>. Keep production keys out of public repositories.

Versions and caching

Every release is a catalog version such as 2026.10.04. Pass the version you have as since and Plate returns only what changed. A removed item comes back as a tombstone, {"id": "...", "deleted": true}, so you can drop it from your copy.

Responses carry an ETag. Send it back as If-None-Match and Plate answers 304 with no body when nothing changed.

Rate limits

Each key may make 600 requests a minute. Over that, the API answers 429 with a Retry-After header. Check /v1/catalog/version first and fetch the catalog only when the version changed.

Every response carries X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Reset (seconds until the minute resets).

Errors

Errors use standard HTTP status codes and a JSON body: {"code": "...", "message": "..."}. The message is plain English and safe to log.

Status	Code	Meaning
400	bad_request	A parameter or the body is not valid. The message says which one.
400	unknown_version	The since version does not exist. Fetch without since.
401	unauthorized	No key, or the key is revoked.
413	too_large	A request body over 8 KB.
404	not_found	No such type, item or photo in the published catalog.
429	rate_limited	Too many requests for this key this minute.
500	server_error	Something went wrong on Plate's side. Retry with backoff.

What Plate promises

Nutrients are per 100 g of edible food (or 100 ml). Values come only from the named source; a nutrient a source does not report is left out, never guessed.
Every food names its source, licence and attribution. If you show Plate data, please show that attribution too, and keep Open Food Facts data under its ODbL licence.
Read-mostly JSON over HTTPS, UTF-8. Dates as YYYY-MM-DD, timestamps in ISO 8601 UTC.
Versioned by URL (/v1). A breaking change gets a new version and at least six months' notice.
Every item has a stable id that never changes, so apps can remember choices across updates.
Only published content is served. Drafts and items in review are never visible.
Every health claim links to a published source. A claim with no source is not shown.
Recommendations take anonymous fields only. Requests are not stored or logged.

Endpoints

Foods and nutrition

The food database, portions and nutrition. Most apps need only these.

GET/v1/foods

Search foods

Search nearly 30,000 foods by name, in English or Hindi words (roti, dahi, bhindi, chana). Typo tolerant. Everyday Indian food ranks first. Each result has energy, protein, carbs, fat and fibre per 100 g, and its portions.

Key: Required
Caching: ETag, max-age 300

Name	In	Type	Description
q	query	string	Words to search for. Empty lists popular foods.
kind	query	string	generic, dish or packaged.
diet	query	string	veg, egg, non_veg or vegan. Only foods whose diet is known.
indian	query	boolean	true for Indian foods and brands only.
source	query	string	usda_foundation, usda_sr, usda_fndds, cnf, cofid, in_pkg or off.
limit	query	integer	1 to 100. Default 20.
offset	query	integer	For paging. Default 0.

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/foods?q=moong%20dal&limit=5" \
  -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY"

Response

{
  "query": "roti",
  "total": 54,
  "limit": 20,
  "offset": 0,
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "usda-2707713",
      "name": "Bread, chappatti or roti",
      "brand": null,
      "kind": "dish",
      "basis": "100g",
      "nutrients": {
        "energy_kcal": 299,
        "protein_g": 7.85,
        "carb_g": 46.1,
        "fat_g": 9.2,
        "fibre_g": 9.7
      },
      "servings": [
        {
          "label": "1 medium chappatti or roti (7\")",
          "grams": 40
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "id": "usda_fndds",
        "name": "USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS (Survey Foods)",
        "licence": "CC0 1.0"
      }
    }
  ]
}

GET/v1/foods/{id}

One food, every nutrient

Up to 30 nutrients per 100 g (or 100 ml), its portions including Indian katori and spoon measures, and where the data comes from with its licence and attribution.

Key: Required
Caching: ETag, max-age 3600

Name	In	Type	Description
id*	path	string	A food id from search.

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/foods/usda-2707713" \
  -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY"

Response

{
  "id": "usda-2707713",
  "name": "Bread, chappatti or roti",
  "basis": "100g",
  "nutrients": {
    "energy_kcal": 299,
    "protein_g": 7.85,
    "carb_g": 46.1,
    "fat_g": 9.2,
    "fibre_g": 9.7,
    "iron_mg": 2.2,
    "calcium_mg": 36
  },
  "servings": [
    {
      "label": "1 large chappatti or roti (8\")",
      "grams": 52
    },
    {
      "label": "1 medium chappatti or roti (7\")",
      "grams": 40
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "id": "usda_fndds",
    "licence": "CC0 1.0",
    "attribution": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central.",
    "source_id": "2707713",
    "quality": "calculated from recipe"
  }
}

GET/v1/foods/barcode/{code}

A packaged food by barcode

Look up a packaged food by its EAN or UPC barcode, for scanning. Coverage of Indian products grows as Open Food Facts grows.

Key: Required
Caching: ETag, max-age 3600

Name	In	Type	Description
code*	path	string	6 to 14 digits.

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/foods/barcode/{code}" \
  -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY"

Response

{
  "id": "off-8901719134845",
  "name": "Parle-G Biscuit",
  "brand": "Parle",
  "barcode": "8901719134845",
  "...": "..."
}

POST/v1/nutrition

Nutrition for portions

Send up to 100 foods with grams, or a serving label and a count, and get the nutrition for each and the total. Use it to show a meal or a day. Nothing is stored.

Key: Required
Caching: no-store

Name	In	Type	Description
items*	body	object[]	Each item: food_id, and either grams, or serving (a label from the food's servings) with an optional count.

Request

curl -X POST "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/nutrition" \
  -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"items":[{"food_id":"usda-2707713","serving":"1 medium chappatti or roti (7\")","count":2},{"food_id":"usda-2708264","grams":150}]}'

Response

{
  "items": [
    {
      "food_id": "usda-2707713",
      "name": "Bread, chappatti or roti",
      "grams": 80,
      "nutrients": {
        "energy_kcal": 239.2,
        "protein_g": 6.28
      }
    }
  ],
  "total": {
    "energy_kcal": 456.7,
    "protein_g": 19.2
  },
  "missing": {}
}

Endpoints

Cycle guidance

Food suggestions by cycle phase and logged symptoms, with symptom cards, stage plans and their sources.

GET/v1/catalog/version

Current catalog version

The latest published version, its notes and what changed. Cheap and cached: call it before anything else.

Key: Required
Caching: ETag, max-age 60

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/catalog/version" \
  -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY"

Response

{
  "version": "2026.10.04",
  "published_at": "2026-10-04T08:08:16.528Z",
  "previous_version": null,
  "notes": "First catalog.",
  "changes": [
    {
      "type": "dishes",
      "id": "moong-dal-chilla",
      "op": "upsert"
    }
  ],
  "counts": {
    "dishes": 110,
    "recipes": 110
  }
}

GET/v1/catalog

The whole catalog, or what changed

Every published item grouped by type. With since, only what changed after that version, deleted items as tombstones.

Key: Required
Caching: ETag, If-None-Match, max-age 300

Name	In	Type	Description
since	query	string	A catalog version you already have. Only items changed after it are returned, deleted ones as tombstones.

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/catalog?since=2026.10.04" \
  -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY"

Response

{
  "version": "2026.10.04.2",
  "since": "2026.10.04",
  "full": false,
  "dishes": [
    {
      "id": "moong-dal-chilla",
      "name": "Moong dal chilla",
      "...": "..."
    },
    {
      "id": "boiled-egg",
      "deleted": true
    }
  ],
  "recipes": []
}

GET/v1/{type}

All items of one type

One type of content: dishes, recipes, symptom-cards, stages, nutrients, ingredients, tips, conditions, myths, sources, photos. Supports since. Dishes also take search filters.

Key: Required
Caching: ETag, If-None-Match, max-age 300

Name	In	Type	Description
type*	path	string	One of the content types.
since	query	string	A catalog version you already have. Only items changed after it are returned, deleted ones as tombstones.
stage	query	string	Dishes only. One of period, follicular, ovulation, luteal, everyday, vrat.
meal	query	string	Dishes only. One of breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner.
preference	query	string	Dishes only. One of veg, egg, non_veg, jain, vegan.
region	query	string	Dishes only. One of north, south, east, west, any.
avoid	query	string	Dishes only. Comma separated: dairy, gluten, nuts.
nutrient	query	string	Dishes only. One of iron, protein, calcium, slowCarbs, omega3, b6, vitaminC.
q	query	string	Dishes only. Words in the name or detail.

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/dishes?since=2026.10.04&q=ragi" \
  -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY"

Response

{
  "version": "2026.10.04",
  "since": null,
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "ragi-dosa",
      "name": "Ragi dosa",
      "...": "..."
    }
  ]
}

GET/v1/{type}/{id}

One item

One published item by its id.

Key: Required
Caching: ETag, If-None-Match, max-age 300

Name	In	Type	Description
type*	path	string	The content type.
id*	path	string	The item's stable id.

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/symptom-cards/cramps" \
  -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY"

Response

{
  "id": "cramps",
  "title": "Cramps",
  "line": "Warm, gentle food and ginger",
  "dish_ids": [
    "adrak-nimbu-pani",
    "saunth-wala-doodh"
  ],
  "source_ids": [
    "ginger",
    "omega-3"
  ],
  "food_can_help": true
}

GET/v1/photos/{id}

A photo, resized

Square food photos, resized on request and never enlarged. Public, so they load straight into an image view. WebP or JPEG.

Key: Not needed
Caching: max-age one year, immutable

Name	In	Type	Description
id*	path	string	A photo id from any item's photo_id.
w	query	integer	Width in pixels, 64 to 2400. Default 900.
format	query	string	webp (default) or jpeg.

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/photos/photo-moong-dal-chilla?w=600&format=webp"

Response

image/webp

POST/v1/recommendations

A day's food for an anonymous context

Send where someone is in their cycle, what they logged and how they eat; get the day's cards, meals or picks, and key nutrients. Only the fields below are accepted. Anything else, like a name or an id, is refused. Plate does not store the request.

Key: Required
Caching: no-store

Name	In	Type	Description
phase*	body	string	menstrual, follicular, ovulation, luteal, delayed, unknown
local_date*	body	string	YYYY-MM-DD, only to rotate dishes by day.
period_day	body	integer	Day of the period, 0 when not on it.
cycle_day	body	integer	0 if unknown.
days_until_period	body	integer \| null	When known.
days_late	body	integer	When the period is late.
symptoms	body	string[]	cramps, backPain, pelvisPain, breastTenderness, headache, migraine, severePain, bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, dizziness, fever, chills, waterRetention, acne, moodSwings, irritability, anxiety, sadnessLowMood, brainFog, cryingSpells, lowMotivation, insomnia, restlessSleep, unusualDischargeSmell, vaginalItching
moods	body	string[]	happy, calm, energetic, tired, sad, anxious, irritated, angry
flow	body	string \| null	none, spotting, light, medium, heavy, veryHeavy
conditions	body	string[]	pcos, endometriosis, thyroid, anemia, pmdd, fibroids, diabetes
preference	body	string	veg, egg, non_veg, jain, vegan
region	body	string	north, south, east, west, any
goals	body	string[]	easeCramps, moreEnergy, steadyMood, buildIron, pcosFriendly
avoid	body	string[]	dairy, gluten, nuts
catalog_version	body	string	The version the client has cached, so answers match its photos.

Request

curl -X POST "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/recommendations" \
  -H "X-Plate-Key: $PLATE_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"phase":"luteal","cycle_day":24,"symptoms":["bloating"],"moods":["tired"],"preference":"veg","region":"north","local_date":"2026-10-04"}'

Response

{
  "stage": "luteal",
  "logged": [
    {
      "card_id": "bloating",
      "because": [
        "bloating"
      ],
      "dish_ids": [
        "saunf-pani",
        "lauki-chana-dal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "food": [
    {
      "dish_id": "moong-dal-and-ragi-roti",
      "brings": [
        "luteal-calcium",
        "luteal-slow-carbs"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "key_nutrients": [
    "luteal-calcium",
    "luteal-b6",
    "luteal-slow-carbs"
  ],
  "notes": [],
  "catalog_version": "2026.10.04"
}

Endpoints

System

Health and reference data.

GET/v1/meta

Nutrients and data sources

The nutrient keys with names and units, and every data source with its licence and how many foods it gives. Open without a key.

Key: Not needed
Caching: max-age 3600

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/meta"

Response

{
  "basis": "Nutrients are per 100 g of edible food, or per 100 ml where a food's basis says 100ml.",
  "nutrients": [
    {
      "key": "energy_kcal",
      "name": "Energy",
      "unit": "kcal",
      "group": "energy"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "usda_sr",
      "name": "USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy",
      "licence": "CC0 1.0",
      "foods": 7793
    }
  ]
}

GET/v1/health

Is Plate up

For uptime monitors. Open without a key and never cached; it checks that the database answers.

Key: Not needed
Caching: no-store

Request

curl "https://plate.rachnalabs.com/v1/health"

Response

{
  "status": "ok",
  "catalog_version": "2026.10.04",
  "db_ms": 4,
  "time": "2026-10-04T10:00:00.000Z"
}