Everything you do in Permafrost moves through the crafting panel, from the first stone blade you chip together in a snowy gorge to the copper ingots that come out of a furnace outside your shelter. Recipes live in three places early on, and each has its own short list of ingredients and its own way of being learned. Permafrost is in early access, so costs and numbers can shift between updates, but the names, stations, and material counts below are what the game uses right now on Survival difficulty.
Quick answer: Stone tools craft from your inventory at the start. Flint tools need a Workbench (10 Wood), and ingots need a Stone Furnace (40 Stone). Rope and other recipes unlock through Blueprints (U), world notes, or quest reward chests.
How crafting works in Permafrost
Open your inventory with TAB and the crafting list sits on the right under the “CRAFTING” heading. Category filters run across the top, with a search box and A–Z sorting. Pick a recipe, set the amount with “Min”, “-“, “+”, or “Max”, then press “Craft”. You can also pin a recipe to keep it in view.
For each ingredient, the display gives the amount you own alongside the amount required. For example, 6/4 means you have six when four are needed. A red number signals a shortage, preventing the craft from proceeding. The Workbench and Stone Furnace each have this panel and separate recipe lists; the furnace panel is titled “WORKBENCH” too.
New recipes arrive from three directions. Some come from the Blueprints screen (U), where you spend points on a tree. Others appear when you pick up a “Recipe” note in the world, marked by a “RECIPE UNLOCKED” banner. A few drop from quest reward chests. Crafting also raises your Crafting skill over time, though a “LEVEL UP! Crafting” banner does not show on every single craft.
Inventory recipes (no station needed)
These craft straight from the inventory panel, wherever you are. The three stone tools, the Crude Bow, Wooden Arrows, and the Makeshift Bandage are all known from the start, so you can make them the moment you have the wood and stone. The rest unlock from the Blueprints tree for one point each.
| Item | Ingredients | How it unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| Stone Shiv | 1 Stone + 2 Wood | Known from the start |
| Stone Axe | 2 Stone + 4 Wood | Known from the start |
| Stone Pickaxe | 2 Stone + 4 Wood | Known from the start |
| Crude Bow | 2 Wood + 1 Rope | Known from the start |
| Wooden Arrow (x3) | 1 Wood | Known from the start |
| Makeshift Bandage | 2 Cloth | Known from the start |
| Rope | 2 Cloth | Blueprints, CRAFTING tree, 1 point |
| Rabbit Trap | 2 Wood + 1 Rope | Blueprints, CRAFTING tree, 1 point |
| Candle | 3 Animal Fat | Blueprints, CRAFTING tree, 1 point |
| Bandage | 2 Cloth + 1 Surgical Spirit | Blueprints, CRAFTING tree, 1 point |
Rope is the first point you spend, since the opening quest walks you into the Blueprints screen to learn it, and the Crude Bow needs it. The Stone Shiv doubles as a knife for skinning animals and breaking simple locks. The Candle is placed in the world with LMB while held, then lit with E.
Workbench recipes
Use the Building menu’s Utilities section to construct a Workbench for 10 Wood. This unlocks the flint tool tier along with a small selection of utility items. Flint is found in Bone Cave and in the Woods ravines, at Flint Boulders; bring back a stack before starting your crafting session.
| Item | Ingredients | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Flint Axe | 2 Flint + 4 Wood | Damage 14 |
| Flint Pickaxe | 2 Flint + 4 Wood | Can mine Sulfur, Copper, Coal, Flint, and Stone |
| Flint Shiv | 1 Flint + 2 Wood | Damage 14 |
| Flint Sledgehammer | 2 Flint + 4 Wood | Damage 14 |
| Refined Flint Axe | 1 Flint Axe + 4 Flint + 1 Cloth | Needs its Recipe note first |
| Wire | 1 Copper Ingot | Copper comes from the furnace |
| Tent | 8 Cloth + 2 Wood + 4 Rope | — |
The Flint Pickaxe tooltip reads “Mines: Sulfur, Copper, Coal, Flint, Stone.” That is a list of what it can break, not a sequence you work through. The Refined Flint Axe only shows up after you pick up its Recipe note, which sits at an abandoned camp on the hillside above your first base in the Woods. The Rabbit Trap, Bandage, and Candle also appear in the Workbench list once you know them.
Stone Furnace recipes
In the Building menu, find the Stone Furnace under Utilities; it requires 40 Stone to build and 2 points in the BUILDING tree for its blueprint. Use it to smelt raw metal into usable ingots or convert wood to coal. When a batch finishes, its products appear on the ground beside the furnace’s base for you to collect.
| Item | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Coal (x2) | 5 Wood |
| Copper Ingot | 3 Copper + 5 Coal |
| Iron Ingot | 3 Iron + 3 Coal |
Copper Ingots are the link to the Workbench’s Wire recipe, so the chain runs from furnace to bench. Smelt coal first, then feed coal and copper back into the furnace for ingots, and carry those to the Workbench to draw out wire.
Cooking at a campfire
A Campfire costs 2 Stone from the Building menu under Survival. Once it is lit with fuel burning, drop one Meat into the primary ingredient slot and press R to cook. Each Dish takes only a few seconds. A Dish restores far more than raw meat and carries no risk, while eating meat raw can bring on the PARASITES effect.
- Dish — 1 Meat, cooked at a lit fire (Value 30, Hunger 90)
- Raw Meat — eaten uncooked (Value 5, Hunger 30, risks PARASITES)
The cooking tutorial puts it plainly: “To cook, use a lit campfire or stove with wood or coal.” Horizon’s kitchen building includes a stone hearth, functioning just like a Campfire.
Recipes from world notes and quest chests
Some recipes from the early game are absent from the Blueprints tree. Unlock these by finding a note in the world—which displays “RECIPE UNLOCKED”—or by opening a quest reward chest. If you collect a note for a recipe already in your collection, the message instead reads “RECIPE ALREADY KNOWN”.
| Recipe | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Wall Torch (2 Cloth + 1 Wood) | Note behind the stairs, Horizon bunkhouse |
| Survivor’s Boots | Note on a crate in Horizon’s kitchen building |
| Survivor’s Hood | Note on a green barrel in the trader’s shop alcove |
| Survivor’s Trousers | Note on the kitchen counter in Robyn’s cabin |
| Wooden Chest (5 Wood) | Note on a cooler at Liam’s spot (quest “Separated”) |
| Moon Cult Jacket | Picking up the loose Copper Ingot at Nomad Camp |
| Refined Flint Axe | Note at the hillside camp above the first base |
| Moon Cult Pants | The note is on the office desk inside Bunker Checkpoint |
| Refined Flint Pickaxe | Look for the note on a crate within Bunker Checkpoint’s walled yard |
| Refined Flint Shiv | A note is located in the Hunter’s Glade tower’s highest cabin |
| Tailoring Bench | Skinwalker’s quest reward box, Hunter’s Glade |
| Survivor’s Gloves & Uniform | Robyn’s quest reward crate sits beside her fireplace |
Clothing recipes require a Tailoring Bench, a station that is not constructed at this point in the game; as a result, their material costs are not displayed yet.
Recipes still locked in the Blueprint tree
Blueprint points are needed to access several entries farther along the CRAFTING tree. You gain points when leveling up, and the Blueprints screen lists your “Available points”.
- Low Grade Fuel — 1 point
- Tribal Clothes Set — 2 points (Boots, Coat, Gloves, Jacket, Pants)
- Scrap Tools Set — 2 points (Axe, Sledgehammer, Pickaxe, Shiv)
- Simple Bow — 1 point (Value 25, Damage 120 against the Crude Bow’s 60)
- Components — 2 points
Tool tiers and durability
The tool progression starts with Stone in your inventory, then Refined Stone, which you can find or buy; next comes Flint from the Workbench, followed by Refined Flint from recipe notes, and finally the Scrap set in the blueprint tree. Tools all lose durability: each displays a “DURABILITY STATUS” percentage. A Stone Axe may snap before you finish a tree, so carry a spare.
Check each pickaxe’s tooltip to see its mining targets. Flint and Stone can be mined with Stone or Refined Stone pickaxes, while a Flint Pickaxe can also break Sulfur, Copper, and Coal. It cannot mine Gold Boulders or Moonrock Boulders.
What to craft first
You will know a craft succeeded when the ingredient counts drop and the finished item lands in your inventory, or on the ground beside the furnace for smelted goods. If a cost shows red, gather more of that material before trying again. Surgical Spirit for the upgraded Bandage comes from Medical Supply Boxes and military crates, and Robyn sells it at Horizon.
