CV Builder

An opinionated, file-backed CV builder for iterating a baseline resume and generating role-specific CVs, with a strong print-to-PDF workflow.

Repo: shuurai/cv-builder

Features

• Baseline Profile editor (personal info, experiences, education, languages, technical skills, passions & interests)
• CV Profile editor for tailoring experiences and content per role
• Theme system (light/dark palettes via CSS variables)
• Native PDF Export: Built-in programmatic PDF generation with exact layout matching, automated pagination, and offline font support via @react-pdf/renderer (no browser print dialogs needed).
• Export to Word (.docx)
• Optional AI assist for rewriting fields and analyzing job descriptions (OpenRouter)
• Tauri Desktop App: Native macOS .app bundle with secure file saving, system notifications, and intelligent window unsaved-changes protection.

Roadmap

• Support customizing various CV layouts
• Better support for word doc exports

Tech Stack

• Next.js (App Router) + React
• Tailwind CSS
• Zod validation
• Local JSON data store (no database by default)

Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ recommended
• npm (or your preferred package manager)

Install

git clone https://github.com/shuurai/cv-builder.git
cd cv-builder
npm install

Environment Variables (optional)

AI features require an OpenRouter API key. If you don’t use AI features, you can skip this.

• OPENROUTER_API_KEY (required for AI)
• OPENROUTER_BASE_URL (optional, defaults to https://openrouter.ai/api/v1)
• OPENROUTER_MODEL (optional, defaults to openai/gpt-4.1-mini)
• OPENROUTER_MODEL_JD (optional, used for job-description analysis)

Create a .env.local file in the project root:

OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_key_here
OPENROUTER_MODEL=openai/gpt-4.1-mini

Run Dev Server

npm run dev

Default dev URL: http://localhost:3000

To run on a different port:

npm run dev -- -p 3005

Build & Start

npm run build
npm run start

Desktop (Tauri)

This repo includes a Tauri wrapper so you can run CV Builder as a native macOS app (pin it to the Dock).

Prerequisites:

• Rust toolchain (rustc/cargo)
• Xcode Command Line Tools (or full Xcode)
• Node.js

Run in development:

npm run tauri:dev

Build a .app bundle:

npm run tauri:build

Notes:

• The Tauri build bundles a Next.js standalone server and starts it locally inside the app.
• On startup, it launches a native loading screen showing initialization progress while resolving PATH boundaries.
• Desktop data lives in your user's home directory under ~/.cvbuilder. If you have existing data in .data/, simply copy it into ~/.cvbuilder and the app will detect it.

Testing

Current checks:

npm run lint
npm run test
npm run build

npm run build will fail on TypeScript and Next.js compilation errors.

Data Storage (Local JSON)

This project is file-backed by default.

• .data/ is the local working data directory (your real CV data). It is gitignored.
• data/ is committed sample data meant to be a safe, generic example/seed.

The app reads from .data/ first. If a file doesn’t exist yet in .data/, it falls back to data/ as a seed/example.

• .data/baseline.json — your baseline profile (shared defaults)
• .data/profiles/*.json — per-role CV profiles
• .data/themes/*.json — theme definitions

Implementation details:

• Paths are defined in paths.ts
• Reads/writes are implemented in json-store.ts

Notes:

• This works great for local usage and single-user workflows.
• If you deploy to environments with read-only filesystems (or multiple users), you’ll need to replace the JSON store with a database or persistent storage.

Profile Photo (Private)

The Baseline Profile editor supports uploading a profile photo.

• The uploaded photo is saved under .data/assets/ (for example .data/assets/profile.jpg).
• .data/ is gitignored by default, so user photos (and CV data) are never meant to be committed or shared.
• The photo is served via GET /api/baseline/photo with Cache-Control: no-store.

Printing / Save as PDF

The application includes a fully programmatic native PDF generation engine built on top of @react-pdf/renderer.

• This bypasses all browser printing APIs, guaranteeing pixel-perfect alignment.
• When you click "Download PDF", it seamlessly exports a fully paginated document without any layout issues or missing margins.
• It dynamically assigns a filename based on the role and year (e.g. CV2026-CTO.pdf).
• It fully supports Light and Dark Mode PDFs based on your current active app theme.
• When running in the Tauri desktop environment, clicking download seamlessly summons your OS-native "Save File" dialog defaulting to your Downloads folder, followed by a chime and success notification.

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Privacy

See PRIVACY.md.

Security

• Do not commit .env.local or API keys.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.