JobTrace

Privacy-first, manual AI-assisted desktop tool to track job applications using screen context and Google Gemini Vision.

JobTrace helps you keep a clean, structured record of your job search activities (applications, recruiter messages, job views, interviews, etc.) by turning your screen work into organized rows in Google Sheets — but only when you tell it to analyze.

You stay in full control. Nothing runs automatically in the background.

Why people need something like this

Job searching usually happens across 5–10 different places:

• LinkedIn
• Company career portals
• Email threads with recruiters
• WhatsApp / Telegram recruiter chats
• Personal notes / Notion / Excel

After 2–3 weeks most people can no longer remember:

• Which jobs they already applied to
• When and through which link/channel
• Who the recruiter was
• What stage each application is in

JobTrace solves exactly this problem — without spying on you, without running 24/7, and without trying to “guess” what you’re doing.

What JobTrace is (and is not)

It is

• A small desktop program you start manually
• Controlled completely by you (start/stop/analyze)
• Uses Google Gemini AI only when you press Analyze
• Saves clean tabular data → your own Google Sheet
• Deletes screenshots immediately after analysis

It is not

• An always-running background tool
• A screen recorder or video maker
• A keylogger
• An auto-applier or job scraper
• A replacement for GitHub Copilot / Claude / ChatGPT

How it works (simple flow)

1. You click “New Session” when you start job-search work
2. While the session is active → occasional screenshots are taken
3. When you finish the task → you click “Analyze” (or press Ctrl+Shift+Enter)
4. Gemini AI looks at the screenshots and understands what you did
5. It creates structured rows (company, role, action, date, etc.)
6. Rows are added to your Google Sheet
7. Screenshots are deleted right away

→ You decide when and what gets analyzed.

Main features you control

• Small icon lives in system tray (bottom-right corner on Windows)
• Click it → small control window appears
• Buttons:
  • New Session
  • Pause / Resume capture
  • Analyze now
• Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + Enter = Analyze current session

Privacy & safety (very important)

What	What actually happens
Screen capture	Only while you have an active session
AI analysis	Only when you click Analyze or use shortcut
Screenshots	Automatically deleted after analysis
Video or audio	Never recorded — not even an option
Data sent to Google	Only clean structured text (JSON → Sheets)
Always-on monitoring	Does not exist

Folder structure (for developers)

JobTrace/
├── engine/         # Controls when the app starts/stops/analyzes
├── capture/        # Takes and temporarily holds screenshots
├── llm/            # Talks to Google Gemini + cleans the output
├── sheets/         # Pushes data to your Google Sheet
├── ui/             # Tray icon + small control window (uses PySide6)
├── core/           # Keyboard shortcuts & app state
├── utils/          # Logging and small helpers
└── main.py         # Starts the whole program

What gets saved in Google Sheets

Example columns:

Timestamp	Company	Role	Recruiter	Action	Channel	Confidence	Notes
2025-04-12 14:35	Stripe	Senior Backend Engineer	Sarah K.	Application	Website	0.92	Used referral link from John
2025-04-12 15:10	Razorpay	Product Manager	Priya M.	Cold email sent	Email	0.95	Replied to LinkedIn DM

Setup Guide – step-by-step (especially for first-timers)

This part looks long — but most steps are one-time only and I explain everything.

You need (minimum)

• Windows computer (macOS/Linux versions planned later)
• Python 3.10 or newer installed
• Internet connection
• A Google account (Gmail is fine)

Step 1: Get the code

1. Go to GitHub → https://github.com/your-username/jobtrace
2. Click green Code button → Download ZIP
   (or if you know git: git clone https://github.com/your-username/jobtrace.git)
3. Extract the ZIP file to any folder (example: C:\Users\YourName\jobtrace)
4. Open that folder

Step 2: Install Python (skip if already installed)

• Not sure if you have Python? → Open Command Prompt and type python --version
• If it says “command not found” → download from https://www.python.org/downloads/
• During install: very important → check “Add Python to PATH” box

Step 3: Create virtual environment & install packages

1. Open Command Prompt (cmd)

2. Go to your project folder:

   cd C:\Users\YourName\jobtrace
   

3. Create virtual environment:

   python -m venv .venv
   

4. Activate it:

   .venv\Scripts\activate
   

   (You should now see (.venv) at the beginning of the line)

5. Install all required packages:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Step 4: Get Google Gemini API key (AI part)

1. Open browser → https://aistudio.google.com/app/apikey
2. Sign in with Google
3. Click Create API key
4. Copy the long key that appears (looks like AIz...)

Step 5: Connect to Google Sheets (storage part) – most important setup

This part gives JobTrace permission to write to your own Google Sheet.

1. Go to https://console.cloud.google.com

2. Click project dropdown (top) → New Project → name it “jobtrace” → Create

3. In the search bar type “Sheets API” → select Google Sheets API → Enable

4. Search again → “Drive API” → Google Drive API → Enable

5. Left menu → APIs & Services → Credentials

6. Click + Create Credentials → Service account

7. Name: “jobtrace-sheets” → Create and Continue → skip roles → Done

8. You’ll see the new service account → click it

9. Go to Keys tab → Add Key → Create new key → JSON → Download

10. Rename the downloaded file to exactly: service_account.json

11. Move it into your jobtrace folder (same place as main.py)

12. Create your Google Sheet:

    • Go to https://sheets.google.com
    • Click Blank → new spreadsheet
    • Look at URL: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ABC123xyz.../edit
    • Copy only the middle part → ABC123xyz... → this is your SHEET ID

13. Share the sheet:

    • In Google Sheets → click Share (top right)
    • Paste the service account email (you see it in service_account.json — looks like jobtrace-sheets@jobtrace-123456.iam.gserviceaccount.com)
    • Give it Editor access → Send

Step 6: Create .env file (last configuration)

In the jobtrace folder create new text file called .env (yes — with the dot)

Paste this and replace the values:

GOOGLE_API_KEY=AIz...your-real-gemini-key-here...
GOOGLE_SHEETS_ID=ABC123xyz...your-sheet-id-here...
GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_FILE=service_account.json

Save it.

Step 7: Run JobTrace

In the same Command Prompt (make sure .venv is active):

python main.py

→ You should see a small icon appear in the system tray (bottom right)

→ Right-click icon → open control panel → click New Session to start

Quick start after setup

1. Right-click tray icon → open panel
2. Click New Session
3. Do your job applications, emails, LinkedIn browsing normally
4. When finished → click Analyze or press Ctrl + Shift + Enter
5. Wait 10–40 seconds → open your Google Sheet → new rows should appear

Common first-time questions

• “Nothing happens after python main.py” → check tray (sometimes hidden — click ^ arrow)
• “I don’t see the Analyze button working” → make sure session is active (green indicator)
• “Gemini gives weird results” → try clearer windows, bigger text, fewer tabs open

License

MIT License — see LICENSE file

Questions or problems?

Open an issue on GitHub — even if you’re just confused.
We especially welcome feedback from first-time users.

Happy (organized) job hunting! 🚀