CV Manager

A visual tool for managing and generating professional LaTeX CVs. No programming knowledge needed.

Features

• Visual CV editing — Add, edit, reorder, and delete entries via a web interface
• Multiple configurations — Create tailored CVs for different positions
• Bilingual support — English and German CV generation
• AI/ATS-optimized PDFs — Generated CVs are machine-readable with proper metadata, selectable text, and clean structure
• AI-assisted tailoring — Generate prompts for AI to optimize your CV for specific positions
• Drag & drop — Reorder entries and sections with drag-and-drop
• Custom sections — Create your own sections with different types (entries, projects, publications, skills)
• Publication citation styles — Choose between APA, IEEE, Chicago, or MLA for publications
• Logo support — Upload company logos for project entries
• Profile photo — Upload and manage your CV photo
• PDF generation — One-click PDF output via pdflatex
• LaTeX source export — Download the .tex source file for manual editing
• Archive — Track all generated CVs with tags and notes
• Auto-update — Check for updates from your Git repository
• Cross-platform — Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Requirements

• Node.js (v16 or newer) — Download
• LaTeX distribution:
  • Windows: MiKTeX
  • macOS: MacTeX or via Homebrew: brew install --cask mactex
  • Linux: TeX Live — see distro-specific install commands below
• Linux only: xdg-utils (for automatic browser opening)

Quick Start

Windows (Easiest)

1. Double-click Start CV Manager.bat
   • On first run, it installs dependencies automatically
2. Your browser opens to http://localhost:5173
3. Start editing your CV

macOS

1. Open Terminal and cd to the CV Manager folder
2. Run the first-time setup (once):

   chmod +x install.sh start-cv-manager.sh stop-cv-manager.sh
   ./install.sh

3. Start CV Manager:

   ./start-cv-manager.sh

4. Your browser opens to http://localhost:5173

Linux

1. Install prerequisites:

   # Ubuntu / Debian
   sudo apt install nodejs npm texlive-full xdg-utils git
   
   # Fedora
   sudo dnf install nodejs npm texlive-scheme-full xdg-utils git
   
   # Arch Linux
   sudo pacman -S nodejs npm texlive-most xdg-utils git

2. Open a terminal and cd to the CV Manager folder
3. Run the first-time setup (once):

   chmod +x install.sh start-cv-manager.sh stop-cv-manager.sh
   ./install.sh

4. Start CV Manager:

   ./start-cv-manager.sh

5. Your browser opens to http://localhost:5173

Manual Start (Any OS)

# Install dependencies (first time only)
npm install

# Start the app
npm run dev

Then open http://localhost:5173 in your browser.

Silent Mode (Windows Only)

Double-click Start CV Manager (Silent).vbs to run without a visible terminal window.

How It Works

1. CV Entries tab — Manage your profile info and all CV entries (experience, education, skills, etc.)
2. Configurations tab — Create named configurations that select which entries to include, with optional custom descriptions
3. Archive tab — View history of all generated PDFs

Workflow

1. Fill in your Profile information (name, email, photo, etc.)
2. Add your CV entries across sections (experience, education, projects, publications, skills, etc.)
3. Create a Configuration for a target position
4. In the config editor, select entries, reorder sections, and optionally customize descriptions
5. Click Generate PDF to create your CV

AI Tailoring

In the configuration editor, click "✨ Tailor to Position" to:

1. Paste a job description
2. Get a generated prompt for any AI (ChatGPT, Copilot, etc.)
3. Paste the AI's JSON response to automatically optimize your entry selection and descriptions

File Structure

cv-manager-dist/
├── server/
│   ├── index.js          # Express API server
│   ├── latex.js           # LaTeX template generator
│   ├── data/              # Your data (profile, sections, configs, archive)
│   ├── assets/            # Photos and logos
│   └── output/            # Generated PDFs and .tex source files
├── src/                   # React frontend
├── package.json
├── vite.config.js
├── Start CV Manager.bat   # Windows launcher
├── start-cv-manager.sh    # macOS/Linux launcher
├── install.sh             # macOS/Linux first-time setup
└── INSTALL.bat            # Windows first-time setup

Your Data

All your data is stored as JSON files in server/data/:

• profile.json — Your personal information
• sections.json — All CV sections and entries
• configs.json — Your CV configurations
• archive.json — History of generated PDFs

Generated files in server/output/:

• .pdf files — The generated CV PDFs
• .tex files — LaTeX source for each PDF (download from Archive to edit manually)

Back up the server/data/ and server/assets/ folders to preserve your CV data.

AI/ATS Readability

Generated CVs are optimized for AI and ATS (Applicant Tracking System) parsing:

• PDF metadata — Author, title, subject, and keywords are embedded in the PDF properties
• Real selectable text — All content is actual text, not images
• Clean bookmarks — Section headings use \texorpdfstring for clean PDF bookmarks
• Standard fonts — Helvetica/sans-serif for reliable OCR fallback
• Simple layout — Single-column tabular layout without multi-column tricks
• No hidden text — No invisible keyword stuffing or white-on-white text
• ActualText annotations — The accsupp package annotates symbols so parsers read real text

Updating

CV Manager automatically checks for updates on startup via the GitHub API — no .git directory required.

• The last known commit SHA is stored in server/data/.update-state.json
• When a new version is available, the "🔄 Update Available" button appears in the sidebar
• Click it to pull the latest changes (requires Git to be installed)
• If the directory is not yet a Git repository, it will be initialized automatically
• Your data in server/data/, server/assets/, and server/output/ is backed up and restored during updates.

Stopping the Server

• Click the "⏻ Stop Server" button in the sidebar, or
• Close the terminal window, or
• Windows: Run stop-cv-manager.ps1
• macOS / Linux: Run ./stop-cv-manager.sh

Troubleshooting

• PDF generation fails: Ensure your LaTeX distribution is installed and pdflatex is in your PATH
  • Windows: MiKTeX
  • macOS: brew install --cask mactex or download
  • Linux: sudo apt install texlive-full (Ubuntu/Debian), sudo dnf install texlive-scheme-full (Fedora), sudo pacman -S texlive-most (Arch)
• Photos not showing: Place photo files in server/assets/ and use the Upload button
• Port already in use: Kill existing Node processes or change the port in server/index.js
• macOS / Linux: "permission denied": Run chmod +x start-cv-manager.sh stop-cv-manager.sh install.sh
• Linux: browser doesn't open automatically: Install xdg-utils (sudo apt install xdg-utils)
• Linux: LaTeX packages missing: Use texlive-full instead of minimal TeX Live installs for all required packages