Wellness · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode Cronometer Gold?

KINDA· weekend project

A diary that multiplies grams by per-100 g nutrient values and compares totals to targets is an afternoon of code, and USDA's free FoodData Central supplies generic foods with many nutrients. The weekend goes into what Cronometer built over years: lab-analysed entries behind common foods, a community database whose packaged-food entries a curation team reviews, and phone logging with device sync. Open Food Facts covers barcodes with label data only, so the micronutrient totals will show gaps.

$10.99/moprice

$132you'd save a year

weekendbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeA weekend; nutrient mapping and barcode scanning take the most iterations

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
A FoodData Central API keyFree to request; the shared demo key is too limited for daily use.
Your Cronometer exportThe servings CSV from Export Data, so your history carries over.

Before you buildCronometer Basic is free with full CSV export. If 7-day charts are enough for you, you may not need Gold.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a personal nutrition tracker to replace Cronometer Gold. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify API and a React UI built with Vite. `npm start` serves
http://localhost:4890 with a layout that works in a phone browser over my home network.
- Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/food.db: foods (source, source id, name, nutrients per
100 g as JSON), portions per food (label, grams), diary entries (time, food, grams, meal
group), recipes (ingredients in grams plus cooked yield), biometrics (weight, blood pressure,
one custom metric) and a daily target per nutrient.
- Food data: USDA FoodData Central for generic foods (FDC_API_KEY in .env, free from
api.data.gov) and Open Food Facts for barcodes, with a User-Agent that carries the contact
email from .env and a limit of 10 requests a minute. Cache every food fetched, forever. When a
food lacks a nutrient, show "no data" for it, never 0.
- Diary: a day view with meal groups; search the local cache first; add by barcode (typed or
camera scan with `@zxing/browser`); edit grams; copy yesterday; custom foods and recipes.
- Nutrition: per-day totals for every nutrient against its target, with a count of logged foods
that have no data for it. Seed targets from a targets.json of general US reference intakes by
age and sex (set in config) and say in the UI that they are not medical advice.
- Charts (`recharts`): weight, calories, protein and one chosen nutrient over 7, 30 and 90 days,
plus a table of weekly averages.
- Import and export: CSV export of diary servings and daily totals; an importer for the servings
CSV from Cronometer's Export Data that maps columns by header and turns unmatched foods into
custom foods, printing a summary before it writes.
- Single user. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first. Outbound calls: FoodData Central and Open
Food Facts lookups only.
- Out of scope: wearable sync, photo and voice logging, fasting, an AI coach, native apps.
- README: getting the FDC key, backing up ./data, and what the "no data" marker means.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Cronometer Gold.

Extend the nutrition tracker in this folder with a history importer. Requirements:

- A command `food import-cronometer <file.csv>` that reads the servings CSV from Cronometer's
  Export Data and maps columns by header; unknown headers are listed, not guessed.
- Match each food to an existing food by exact name, else create a custom food with the
  nutrient values from the row; print counts of matched, created and skipped rows first.
- Support a dry run, and make running the same file twice safe by hashing each row.
- Update the README with the export steps.

Add meal templates to the nutrition tracker in this folder. Requirements:

- Save any set of diary entries as a named template; adding it logs every item with its grams
  to a chosen meal group and day.
- A "repeat last time" button on each meal group that copies the most recent day with entries
  in that group.
- Editing a template never changes past diary entries.
- Update the README.

Add a weekly gaps report to the nutrition tracker in this folder. Requirements:

- For each of the last 4 weeks, list nutrients whose weekly average is below 70% of target,
  with the three logged foods that contributed most and three foods in the cache that are rich
  in it.
- Exclude nutrients where over 30% of logged foods have no data, and list them separately as
  "not measurable".
- Write the report to ./data/reports/<week>.md every Monday at 08:00 and show it in the UI.
- Update the README.

What you lose

A curated database with lab-analysed entries behind most common foods
Native iOS and Android apps with sync to fitness devices and apps
Photo and voice logging and the Crono Coach assistant
Fasting timer, macro scheduler, nutrition scores and the Oracle nutrient search
Packaged-food coverage for brands and countries that Open Food Facts hasn't filled in

Why people still pay

People who track micronutrients on purpose need numbers they can trust and a phone that logs a meal in seconds. Cronometer's curated database and its sync with trackers are what $10.99 buys; a home-built diary is only as good as the foods it can look up.

Moatproprietary data integrations execution polish

Do the math

Cronometer Gold or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time12h ×$/h

Cronometer Gold, 1 yr$132

Your own copy, 1 yr$8running + build session

You keep$124pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · Runs on your own machine; FoodData Central and Open Food Facts are free to query. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Cronometer Gold

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Cronometer Gold

1In the app, open the Account tab, find Account Data and choose Export Data. The export is a .csv file and works on the free Basic plan too.
2Pick the export type: diary entries, exercises, biometrics, notes or nutrition summaries, and a date range.
3For daily nutrition you can include the meal-group rows or keep daily totals only.
4Custom foods and recipes have no CSV export in what we read; screenshot or re-create the ones you rely on.

2 · Cancel Cronometer Gold

1Bought on the web: log in at cronometer.com, open More > Account, scroll to Subscriptions and pick Do Not Auto-Renew from the drop-down.
2Bought in the iOS app: Settings > your Apple ID > Subscriptions, open Cronometer and cancel there.
3Bought on Android: Google Play > profile icon > Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions, select Cronometer and cancel.
4Cancelling stops the renewal at the end of the current term; the account falls back to Basic.

Export first: the Basic plan keeps the CSV export, but you lose charts beyond 7 days and timestamped data views.
The support pages we read state no refund policy; ask support before you rely on one.
Deleting the account is permanent and removes all data; bulk delete of a date range is a separate option.
Gold printable reports are the way to hand a dietitian a summary before you downgrade.

Checked 2026-10-19 against Cronometer Gold's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

wgerOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 self-hosted workout, nutrition and weight tracker with a REST API; the nutrition diary uses Open Food Facts data.★ 7.2k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
Web, AndroidVisit ↗OpenNutriTrackerOpen sourceGPL-3.0 calorie tracker focused on simplicity and privacy; looks foods up on Open Food Facts and keeps the diary on the phone.★ 2.7k · active Sep 2026 · one-click install
iOS, AndroidVisit ↗FoodYouOpen sourceGPL-3.0 privacy-focused food diary and nutrition tracker for Android.★ 621 · active Sep 2026 · one-click install
AndroidVisit ↗

All 4 free alternatives to Cronometer Gold ›

The numbers

Cronometer Gold pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Basic	$0	$0	Logging of food, exercise, biometrics and notes, barcode scanner, custom foods, meals and recipes, device and app sync, reports and charts limited to a 7-day window, ads, export of all raw data as CSV.
Gold	$10.99	$4.99	No ads, unlimited history and reports, Photo Log, Voice Log through Siri, Recipe Importer, Macro Scheduler, Fasting Timer, custom biometrics and charts, Nutrition Scores, food suggestions, Oracle nutrient search, printable reports, Crono Coach AI assistant.
Pro	custom	—	For health professionals: client dashboards, secure messaging, nutrition reports for EMR upload, BAA signing, free Gold on mobile for clients.

Free tier: Reports and charts cover 7 days; ads; no photo or voice logging, timestamps, custom charts, fasting timer or printable reports.
Billing: Monthly at $10.99 or yearly at $59.99. The Gold page names no trial and no refund terms. Web subscriptions are stopped with Do Not Auto-Renew; app-store subscriptions are cancelled in Apple or Google Play.
Hidden costs: None found beyond the subscription.
Source: cronometer.com

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Questions

Cronometer Gold, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

Basic is free for as long as you like: food, exercise and biometric logging, a barcode scanner, custom foods and recipes, device sync, and charts limited to 7 days.

Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: A curated database with lab-analysed entries behind most common foods, Native iOS and Android apps with sync to fitness devices and apps.

About $10.99 a month on the Gold plan, $131.88 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

A curated database with lab-analysed entries behind most common foods; Native iOS and Android apps with sync to fitness devices and apps; Photo and voice logging and the Crono Coach assistant; Fasting timer, macro scheduler, nutrition scores and the Oracle nutrient search; Packaged-food coverage for brands and countries that Open Food Facts hasn't filled in. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.