Sous — Interactive Cooking Engine

AI-powered cooking companion that acts as a live GPS through a recipe — recalculating steps in real time when you delay, swap ingredients, or go off-script, rather than serving a static recipe list.

TypeScript / ReactGemini API (Google AI Studio)ViteNode.js backend

⚡ Maintaining coherent cooking state across multiple user devi…⚡ Keeping Gemini API responses fast enough to feel reactive mi…⚡ Designing the UX so corrections feel natural rather than lik…

Portfolio Highlights

→Built an AI cooking companion that dynamically recalculates recipe steps in real time when the user deviates, using Gemini API for substitution and timing reasoning.
→Designed a stateful cooking engine that differentiates itself from static recipe apps by acting as a live procedural guide.

Snapshot

Period: December 2025
Source: `github.com/josegibson/Sous` (private)
Domain: AI product, consumer app, LLM integration
Status: Active development

Stack

TypeScript / React
Gemini API (Google AI Studio)
Vite
Node.js backend

What I Built

Dynamic step engine that tracks current cooking state and recalculates remaining steps when the user deviates (delay, substitution, skipped step).
Gemini-powered reasoning for ingredient substitution logic and timing adjustments.
Conversational UI allowing the user to surface real-time issues ("I don't have X", "I'm 10 minutes behind") and get updated guidance.
Design philosophy differentiator: positioned as a GPS (moves with you, recalculates) vs. a static map (traditional recipe apps).

Key Decisions

Gemini API for its strong instruction-following on procedural reasoning tasks.
Stateful step tracking client-side so the AI prompt always includes the full current context, not just the latest message.