cv-builder

Overview

Generate professional, well-formatted CVs and resumes from structured YAML input using the rendercv library. Define your experience, education, skills, and projects in a YAML file and produce publication-ready PDF output with consistent formatting. Choose from multiple built-in templates or customize your own.

Instructions

When a user asks you to create or update a CV/resume, follow these steps:

Step 1: Gather career information

Ask the user for or extract the following details:

• Personal info: Full name, email, phone, location, LinkedIn/GitHub URLs
• Summary: A brief professional summary or objective (2-3 sentences)
• Experience: Job titles, companies, dates, bullet-point accomplishments
• Education: Degrees, institutions, graduation dates, GPA (optional)
• Skills: Technical skills, languages, tools, frameworks
• Projects (optional): Notable projects with descriptions
• Certifications (optional): Professional certifications with dates

Step 2: Create the YAML input file

Structure the data into a rendercv-compatible YAML file:

cv:
  name: Jane Smith
  location: San Francisco, CA
  email: jane.smith@email.com
  phone: "+1-555-123-4567"
  website: https://janesmith.dev
  social_networks:
    - network: LinkedIn
      username: janesmith
    - network: GitHub
      username: janesmith

  sections:
    summary:
      - >-
        Senior software engineer with 8 years of experience building
        scalable web applications. Expertise in Python, TypeScript, and
        cloud infrastructure.

    experience:
      - company: Acme Corp
        position: Senior Software Engineer
        location: San Francisco, CA
        start_date: 2021-03
        end_date: present
        highlights:
          - "Led migration of monolith to microservices, reducing deploy time by 70%"
          - "Mentored team of 4 junior engineers through code reviews and pairing"
          - "Designed real-time data pipeline processing 2M events/day"

      - company: StartupXYZ
        position: Software Engineer
        location: Remote
        start_date: 2018-06
        end_date: 2021-02
        highlights:
          - "Built REST API serving 50K daily active users with 99.9% uptime"
          - "Implemented CI/CD pipeline reducing release cycle from 2 weeks to 1 day"

    education:
      - institution: University of California, Berkeley
        area: Computer Science
        degree: BS
        start_date: 2014-09
        end_date: 2018-05
        highlights:
          - "GPA: 3.8/4.0"

    skills:
      - label: Languages
        details: Python, TypeScript, Go, SQL
      - label: Frameworks
        details: React, FastAPI, Django, Next.js
      - label: Infrastructure
        details: AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform

design:
  theme: classic
  font_size: 10pt
  page_size: letterpaper
  margins:
    page:
      top: 2cm
      bottom: 2cm
      left: 2cm
      right: 2cm

Save this file as cv.yaml in the working directory.

Step 3: Choose a template theme

Available rendercv themes:

• classic - Traditional single-column layout, best for corporate roles
• sb2nov - Modern two-column layout popular in tech
• moderncv - Academic-style CV with colored accents
• engineeringresumes - Clean, ATS-friendly format optimized for engineering

Set the theme in the design.theme field of the YAML file.

Step 4: Generate the PDF

rendercv render cv.yaml

This creates a rendercv_output/ directory containing:

• cv.pdf - The final PDF resume
• cv.tex - LaTeX source (for manual adjustments)
• cv.md - Markdown version
• cv.html - HTML version

Step 5: Validate and iterate

Review the generated PDF with the user:

• Check for formatting issues or text overflow
• Verify dates and details are correct
• Adjust margins, font size, or theme if needed
• Re-run rendercv render cv.yaml after changes

Examples

Example 1: Create a new resume from scratch

User request: "Help me create a professional resume. I'm a data scientist with 5 years of experience."

Steps:

1. Ask the user for their full career details
2. Create cv.yaml with their information using the sb2nov theme
3. Run rendercv render cv.yaml
4. Present the PDF output path and offer to adjust formatting

Output:

Created cv.yaml with your career data
Generated PDF: rendercv_output/cv.pdf
Also available: cv.tex, cv.md, cv.html

The resume uses the sb2nov theme (modern two-column layout).
Would you like to adjust the template, font size, or content?

Example 2: Update an existing CV with a new job

User request: "Add my new position at Google to my existing CV"

Steps:

1. Read the existing cv.yaml file
2. Add the new experience entry at the top of the experience section
3. Re-run rendercv render cv.yaml
4. Confirm the update with the user

Example 3: Switch template theme

User request: "Change my resume to a more traditional format for a finance role"

Steps:

1. Read the existing cv.yaml
2. Change design.theme from sb2nov to classic
3. Optionally adjust font size to 11pt for readability
4. Re-run rendercv render cv.yaml

Guidelines

• Always use quantifiable achievements in bullet points (numbers, percentages, metrics).
• Keep the resume to 1 page for candidates with under 10 years of experience; 2 pages maximum for senior professionals.
• Use action verbs to start each bullet point (Led, Built, Designed, Implemented, Reduced).
• Order experience entries reverse-chronologically (most recent first).
• Tailor the skills section to match the target role when the user specifies one.
• Validate the YAML syntax before running rendercv to catch formatting errors early.
• If rendercv is not installed, guide the user: pip install rendercv.
• Store the YAML file in version control so the user can track resume changes over time.
• Avoid including personal photos, age, or marital status unless the user explicitly requests it and it is customary for their region.