Frequently asked questions

What is Butter Signal?

Butter Signal is a cooking site styled like a retro TV channel guide. You browse recipes by signal — Dinner, Pantry, Chef Gary, and Sponsored. Published recipes live in our database and power recipe pages, search, and channel collections.

Where do recipes come from?

Recipes are authored to a fixed schema (butter.recipe.v1.0.0) and ingested into Postgres. Always use your judgment for safety, allergens, and dietary needs.

Who is Chef Gary?

Chef Gary is the CH 03 character — a public-access-style host for practical tips and select recipes. He is not the same as the Request Line chat service (planned for a later release). Learn more on the Chef Gary hub.

What is the Request Line?

Request Line will be Butter Signal's conversational helper for substitutions, scaling, and "what's in your fridge." It is not live yet.

What is CH 07 · Ad break?

CH 07 is for programmatic ads (Google AdSense), separate from CH 06 · Sponsored partner picks. Ad units are labeled AD SIGNAL / Advertisement.

How do ads and cookies work?

We may show third-party ads (including Google AdSense) in labeled CH 07 · Ad break slots. Ad partners may use cookies or similar technologies to serve and measure ads. See our Privacy Policy — Advertising for details and opt-out links.

What does Sponsored mean?

CH 06 · Sponsored and partner deals are clearly labeled. We may earn a commission when you shop retailer links.

How does pantry search work?

Pantry search runs against published recipes — titles, ingredients, tags, cook times, and signal types. Start on the Pantry hub or search results.

Why do images look like newsprint?

We use a halftone-style overlay on photos to match the broadcast look.

Do I need an account?

Not today. Browsing and cooking from published recipes is open. Account features are on the post-MVP roadmap.

Something is wrong on a recipe. Who do I contact?

Email hello@buttersignal.com with the recipe URL and what looks off.

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Legal: see our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.