A cooking assistant that knows your recipes

Overview

Pico is the assistant inside the Allspice widget. It knows which recipe the reader is on, reads your recipe and notes before it answers, and can act for the reader: scale the recipe, run Cook Mode, build a grocery list, or find something else to make on your site.

Readers ask things like:

• “Can I use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?”
• “Can I double this for a party?”
• “How long does this keep in the fridge?”
• “What should I make for dinner tonight? Nothing over 30 minutes.”
• “Next step, and set a timer for the rice, 18 minutes.”
• “Add this to my grocery list, just what I'm missing.”
• “I'm dairy-free, and my kids hate mushrooms.”

Answers grounded in your content

For any question about a recipe, Pico reads that recipe first: ingredients, steps, times, servings, nutrition, and your author notes for substitutions, storage, reheating, make-ahead, scaling, and cooking tips. It's instructed not to answer recipe questions from general knowledge alone.

Every recipe answer carries a label showing where it came from:

• The label is checked, not claimed. Pico has to cite the exact text it used. Citations that don't match the recipe are thrown out, and the label drops with them.
• Readers can see the source. Tapping the info icon on a label shows the matched text from your page.
• Your warnings can't be reworded. Scaling and substitution warnings you write are added to answers word for word, after the answer is written.
• Your voice comes through. In Cook Mode, author notes are passed on in your name: “Sarah says she chills the dough overnight.”

Dietary questions (“is this keto?”, “is this gluten-free?”) are judged from the ingredient list, with per-serving nutrition taken from your recipe when it's there. When Pico has to estimate, it says so.

What Pico can do

The recipe on the page

Substitutions, storage, reheating, make-ahead, technique, doneness, conversions, and “what does this step mean?”, answered from the recipe and your notes first.

Scaling your way

Amounts are recalculated precisely, never estimated. With notes-based scaling, Pico also applies your rules and shows what it changed and why.

Finding what to make

Searches your site by ingredient, diet, time, and nutrition. For open questions like “what's for dinner?” it asks a few quick questions built from your own collections, then shows matches with the filters they meet.

Hands-free Cook Mode

Starts Cook Mode, moves between steps, sets named timers, changes servings, and suggests sides, desserts, or drinks, all by chat. Cook Mode also takes voice commands.

Grocery lists & pantry

Adds a whole recipe or just what's missing, edits quantities and notes, keeps several lists, updates the pantry after cooking, and sends lists to Instacart, Amazon Fresh, or Whole Foods.

Saving

Saves and unsaves recipes to the reader's collection on your site.

Memory

Remembers diets, allergies, dislikes, and things to eat more or less of, for the reader or their household, plus notes like “dinner party next Tuesday”. Readers can ask what it remembers, or have it forget.

Your site and your people

Answers “who writes this blog?” and “who are you?” from the identity and people you set up, and never guesses a name you haven't listed.

Reader comments & articles

On sites with advanced processing: answers “what did people change?” from your comments (tap a citation to jump to the comment), reads your articles, and can offer to post a reader's question to you as a comment for your approval.

Pico stays on cooking and your site. It politely declines unrelated topics, and it doesn't build or edit meal plans (it recommends recipes readers can add to a plan).

Instant answers and follow-ups

Every recipe gets suggested questions: ones Allspice writes from your recipe and notes, and ones you write yourself with your own answers. When a reader taps one, they get the stored answer instantly and word for word, labeled “Found on this page”. It doesn't use any of the reader's chat allowance.

After an answer, Pico offers up to three follow-up questions as chips, so readers can keep going with a tap:

• After a suggested question: follow-ups written from your notes for that topic, like “Will freezing ruin the pasta?” under “How long does it keep?”. Pico answers these live from your recipe and notes, so they use the reader's chat allowance.
• When a recipe headline opens the chat: “What should I know from the comments?”, “30 seconds, nothing missed” (a quick summary of the recipe), then the recipe's questions that readers tap most. These return stored answers instantly and are free.

Follow-ups never repeat the question just answered or one already offered in the conversation.

You can edit or delete generated questions and add your own in the portal's Recipes area (see Chat Customization).

Where readers find Pico

• The Ask Pico bar above your recipe card, with tappable question cards for that recipe.
• The adaptive rail mid-article (“Ask Me Anything”). Your stored questions pop out beside the rail one at a time as readers scroll.
• The floating widget, with an “Ask Pico about this recipe” box and rotating question chips.
• Cook Mode, with the chat next to the steps.
• Recipe headlines you write, which open the chat with your answer (see Chat Customization).

Readers can keep several conversations. Each gets a short title automatically, and readers can reopen or delete past ones.

What you learn from chat

Reader questions show you what your posts don't answer. The Analytics API & AI Assistants reports chat activity and the most common topics, recent reader questions, and content gaps: questions readers keep asking on a post that your content didn't cover. Add the answer to your post or as an author note, and Pico starts answering it from your page.

Free usage

Almost the entire widget is free for readers. Open-ended AI chat is the one feature with a monthly allowance: each reader gets 25 free chat credits per month, shared across every Allspice site and reset at the start of each month. Readers who aren't signed in can send 4 messages before they're asked to create a free account, for security reasons. Tapping a suggested question doesn't use the allowance, and AI search, Cook Mode, saving, and grocery lists stay free.

When readers run out, sites with a membership program offer their membership, which can include unlimited chat. On other sites the chat box pauses until the next month. Either way, you don't pay for your readers' chat usage. See Reader access.

What you can configure

• Identity - name, tagline, logo, persona, and the people it may name.
• What it knows - your site background, per-recipe author notes, and optionally approved reader comments.
• Recipe adjustments - servings, scaling mode and notes, and scaling and substitution warnings.
• Suggested questions and headlines - the questions readers tap, with your own answers.
• Answer source labels - the explanation readers see when they tap a label.
• Ratings and comments - rating prompts after cooking, and comments sent to WordPress for your approval.

All of these are covered in Chat Customization. Where the chat appears on the page is set in Widget Configuration.

FAQ

Does Pico make things up?

For recipe questions it has to cite your content, and the label shows readers when an answer comes from general knowledge instead. Like any AI it can still be wrong, so readers are reminded to double-check allergy and food safety information.

Does it send readers to other sites?

No. Recipe recommendations come only from your site.

Do publishers pay for readers' AI usage?

No. Free chat has a monthly allowance, and unlimited chat is a benefit you can include in your own membership.

Is AI search the same as chat?

No. AI search finds recipes and is free and unlimited. Open-ended conversation is what the monthly allowance covers.

Can I rename Pico?

Yes. Set its name, tagline, logo, and persona in Agent identity.