diff --git a/documentation/RecipeManager.md b/documentation/RecipeManager.md
index 87c7631..e82ac22 100644
--- a/documentation/RecipeManager.md
+++ b/documentation/RecipeManager.md
@@ -1,68 +1,115 @@
-# RecipeManager
+# Recipes
-## Overview
+## FoodItem
-`RecipeManager` is a static Godot class that centralizes recipe data for food item combinations and allows runtime lookup of result scenes.
+Every ingredient, meal, and side in the game is a `FoodItem` node (`prefabs/food_item.gd`), a sibling component on the pickable item's scene. It's just three exported fields:
-The manager loads a single YAML file at startup: `res://recipes.yaml`, using the installed `addons/yaml` addon.
+- `id: String` — the recipe key this item is looked up by in `recipes.yaml` (e.g. `"raw_burger"`).
+- `type: Type` — `MEAL`, `SIDE`, `INGREDIENT`, or `NONE`. Used for things like which plate slot an item lands in.
+- `sell_value: int` — money paid out when the item is sold/consumed.
-## Responsibilities
+`id` is the link between a spawned scene and its entry in `recipes.yaml` — every process below keys off it.
-- Load recipe definitions from `recipes.yaml`.
-- Provide symmetric lookups for two-item combining recipes so `A + B` and `B + A` map to the same result.
-- Resolve item IDs to their corresponding scene resources.
-- Print all loaded combining recipes when the application starts.
+## `recipes.yaml`
-## Data structure in `recipes.yaml`
-
-The recipe YAML file contains two top-level sections:
-
-- `items`: maps item IDs to their scene path and optional metadata.
-- `combining`: maps result item IDs to one or more recipe pairs.
-
-Example structure:
+`RecipeManager` loads a single file, `res://recipes.yaml`, with one top-level section per process plus an `items` section mapping each `id` to its scene:
```yaml
items:
- hamburger:
- scene: res://Items/hamburger.tscn
- type: meal
- burger_buns:
- scene: res://Items/BurgerBuns.tscn
- type: ingredient
+ raw_burger:
+ scene: res://items/burger.tscn
+ cooked_burger:
+ scene: res://items/cooked_burger.tscn
-combining:
+combining: # instant, two items -> one
hamburger:
- [cooked_burger, burger_buns]
- - [charcoal, charcoal]
- charcoal:
- - [cube, cube]
+
+cooking: # timed, one item -> one (a station's work meter)
+ cooked_burger:
+ ingredient: raw_burger
+ time: 4
+
+chopping: # timed, one item -> one
+ chopped_potato:
+ ingredient: potato
+ work: 30
+
+rolling: # parsed, no station consumes it yet
+ pie_base:
+ ingredient: dough
+ work: 80
+
+augmenting: # parsed, no station consumes it yet
+ cooked_burger:
+ has_tomato: sliced_tomato
```
-### `items`
+`cooking` entries may also be a list, so multiple ingredients can produce the same result (see `charcoal` in the real file, which can be made by overcooking three different things).
-Each entry under `items` uses the item ID as the key.
-The manager reads the `scene` field for each item and uses it to resolve the packed scene for recipe results.
+## RecipeManager
-### `combining`
+`RecipeManager` (`global/RecipeManager.gd`) is a static class — no instance needed. On first use it lazily parses `recipes.yaml` (via the `YAML` addon) into five internal maps (`_combining_map`, `_cooking_map`, `_chopping_map`, `_rolling_map`, `_augmenting_map`) plus `_scene_paths`, and never re-parses after (`_loaded` guard).
-Each entry under `combining` represents a result item ID, and its value is a list of recipe pairs.
-Each recipe pair is a two-item array of ingredient IDs.
-This allows a single result item to have multiple valid recipes.
+It doesn't hand out those raw maps. Instead it exposes narrow getters that the rest of the game calls:
-The manager normalizes each ingredient pair using a sorted key string internally, so lookups are symmetric.
+| Function | Returns |
+|---|---|
+| `get_combination_result(a, b)` | `PackedScene` for combining two ids (order-independent) |
+| `get_cooking_result(ingredient)` | result id, or `""` if not cookable |
+| `get_cooking_time(ingredient)` | seconds of work needed |
+| `get_chopping_result(ingredient)` | result id, or `""` if not choppable |
+| `get_chopping_work(ingredient)` | work needed |
+| `get_item_scene(id)` | `PackedScene` for any item id |
+| `print_all_recipes()` | debug dump of every loaded recipe, called once from `main.gd` at startup |
-## Runtime behavior
+`rolling` and `augmenting` are parsed and included in `print_all_recipes()`, but currently have no matching getters or station — they're not wired into a conversion process yet.
-- `FoodItem.id` is used when combining items to look up the recipe result.
-- `RecipeManager.get_combination(first_id, second_id)` computes a canonical key for the pair and returns the resulting item's scene.
-- On startup, `main.gd` calls `RecipeManager.print_all_recipes()`, which logs each combining recipe in the form:
+## Conversion processes
- `ingredient_a + ingredient_b -> result_id`
+Two different mechanisms turn one `FoodItem` into another today:
-## Notes
+**Combining** — instant, no station involved. `CombinableItem` (`prefabs/combinable_item.gd`) sits on every pickable item; while the item is snapped into a zone, its trigger area watches for another `FoodItem` entering. On contact it asks `RecipeManager.get_combination_result(a, b)` — if a recipe exists, it despawns both ingredients and spawns the result in their place.
-- `RecipeManager` prefers the installed YAML addon to parse `recipes.yaml` when it is available.
-- If the addon is unavailable in the current runtime, the manager falls back to a lightweight built-in parser for the simple `items`/`combining` file format.
-- Scene paths now live in the YAML data instead of being hardcoded in the manager.
-- Because `RecipeManager` is static, it can be used from any script without creating an instance.
+**Cooking / chopping** — timed, driven by `WorkStation`'s shared work meter (`current_work` / `max_work` / `result_id`, see [Stations.md](Stations.md)). When a `Hob` or `Counter` picks up a `FoodItem`, it asks `RecipeManager` whether that ingredient has a recipe for its process (`get_cooking_result`/`get_chopping_result`) and, if so, how much work it needs (`get_cooking_time`/`get_chopping_work`), then starts accumulating work — a `Hob` ticks it every frame, a `Counter` adds it per knife swipe. Once `current_work` reaches `max_work`, `WorkStation.convert_item()` calls `RecipeManager.get_item_scene(result_id)`, despawns the original item, and spawns the result in the same snap zone.
+
+Separately, `ItemContainer` (`Containers/container.gd`) calls `get_item_scene(id)` too, but only to instantiate the correct visual mesh for each id in a plate's synced contents list — that's a display lookup, not a conversion.
+
+## Diagram
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+ YAML["recipes.yaml"] -->|"YAML.load_file()"| RM["RecipeManager
(global/RecipeManager.gd)"]
+ RM --> Maps["_combining_map / _cooking_map / _chopping_map / _scene_paths
(_rolling_map / _augmenting_map parsed, not yet consumed)"]
+
+ subgraph Instant["Instant conversion"]
+ direction TB
+ CI["CombinableItem
(prefabs/combinable_item.gd)"]
+ end
+
+ subgraph Timed["Timed conversion"]
+ direction TB
+ Hob["Hob
(stations/hob.gd)"]
+ Counter["Counter
(stations/counter.gd)"]
+ WS["WorkStation.convert_item()
(abstract/work_station.gd)"]
+ Hob -.->|"result_id, max_work"| WS
+ Counter -.->|"result_id, max_work"| WS
+ end
+
+ subgraph Display["Display only, not a conversion"]
+ direction TB
+ Container["ItemContainer
(Containers/container.gd)"]
+ end
+
+ CI -->|"get_combination_result(a, b)"| RM
+ Hob -->|"get_cooking_result / get_cooking_time"| RM
+ Counter -->|"get_chopping_result / get_chopping_work"| RM
+ WS -->|"get_item_scene(result_id)"| RM
+ Container -->|"get_item_scene(id)"| RM
+
+ Spawn(("NetworkManager.spawn_item"))
+ CI ==>|"instantiates result"| Spawn
+ WS ==>|"instantiates result"| Spawn
+```
+
+Solid arrows are calls into `RecipeManager`; dotted arrows are `Hob`/`Counter` handing their recipe off to `WorkStation`'s shared work meter; thick arrows are the actual item conversion. `CombinableItem` and `WorkStation` are grouped in adjacent lanes so both paths to `NetworkManager.spawn_item` stay short; `ItemContainer` sits in its own lane since it never spawns anything.