Job Application Tracker

A multi-user web app for tracking job applications through a pipeline — from initial interest through to offer and acceptance. Kanban board with drag-and-drop, table view, timeline view, file attachments, notes, salary tracking, and date tracking per stage. Each user sees only their own applications; admins can view all.

Quick Start

Requirements: Docker and Docker Compose, and a PocketID instance for authentication.

1. Clone and configure:

mkdir job-tracker && cd job-tracker
cp .env.example .env

Download the docker-compose.yml and .env.example files, or clone the repo.

2. Set up PocketID:

In your PocketID admin panel, create a new OIDC client:

• Redirect URI: https://your-domain.com/oauth2/callback
• Note the Client ID and Client Secret

3. Edit .env with your values:

OIDC_ISSUER_URL=https://your-pocketid-instance.example.com
OIDC_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret
PUBLIC_URL=https://your-domain.com
COOKIE_SECRET=   # generate with: openssl rand -base64 32 | tr -- '+/' '-_'
LISTEN_PORT=3000

4. Update docker-compose.yml to use the pre-built image:

services:
  job-tracker:
    image: ghcr.io/fergus/job-tracker:latest

5. Start:

docker compose up -d

Open your PUBLIC_URL in a browser. You'll be redirected to PocketID to log in.

Updating

Pull the latest image and restart:

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Your data is safe — updates only replace the container, not the volume-mounted data directories.

Data Persistence

All data is stored in Docker volumes mapped to local directories:

• ./data/ — SQLite database
• ./uploads/ — uploaded attachment files

These directories are created automatically. Your data survives container restarts, rebuilds, and updates.

To back up:

cp -r data/ data-backup/
cp -r uploads/ uploads-backup/

Features

• Kanban board — drag cards between columns: Interested → Applied → Screening → Interview → Offer → Accepted/Rejected
• Table view — sortable columns, click any row for details
• Timeline view — visual history of status changes per application
• Hamburger menu — slide-in sidebar with the view switcher and account info; an "Always use menu" toggle (persisted per browser) controls whether the view switcher also appears inline in the header
• Settings panel — manage API keys; admins can toggle between personal and all-users view
• API keys — generate personal API keys for programmatic access without the browser OAuth flow; scoped to your account, shown once at creation
• File attachments — upload any file type (PDF, DOC, DOCX, etc. up to 10MB) as generic attachments
• Salary tracking — min/max salary range and job location per application
• Date tracking — timestamps auto-set when you move applications between stages; all dates are editable
• Stage notes — per-stage timestamped notes with markdown rendering and colored stage badges
• Links — store job posting and company website URLs
• Multi-user — each user sees only their own applications, identified via PocketID X-Forwarded-Email header. Admins (configured via ADMIN_EMAILS) can view all users' applications but cannot edit or delete others' data

Configuration

The server runs on port 3000 by default. To change the exposed port, set LISTEN_PORT in your .env:

LISTEN_PORT=8080

To run without HTTPS (e.g. local dev), set:

COOKIE_SECURE=false

To grant admin access (view all users' applications), set a comma-separated list of email addresses:

ADMIN_EMAILS=admin@example.com,boss@example.com

Architecture

graph LR
  Browser -->|HTTPS| Proxy["oauth2-proxy"]
  Proxy -->|"X-Forwarded-Email :3000"| API["Express API"]
  API <--> DB["SQLite (WAL)"]
  API <--> FS["/app/uploads/"]

Loading

• Frontend (client/): Vue 3 SPA, Vite, Tailwind CSS 4. State in App.vue, API calls in client/src/api.js
• Backend (server/): Express 5, better-sqlite3. Routes in server/routes/
• Auth (server/middleware/auth.js): oauth2-proxy headers (browser) or Bearer API key (programmatic)
• Database (server/db.js): 5 tables (users, applications, stage_notes, attachments, api_keys) + _migrations tracking

Tech Stack

• Vue 3 + Vite + Tailwind CSS (frontend)
• Node.js + Express (backend)
• SQLite via better-sqlite3 (database)
• Single Docker container (multi-stage build)