MS CV Pro

A lightweight, self-hostable ATS-optimised CV builder with a live preview editor, keyword analysis engine, and PDF export — all running on your own infrastructure. No SaaS fees. No data leaving your server.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  React SPA (Editor · Preview · ATS)     │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                   │ HTTPS
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────┐
│         Nginx (reverse proxy)           │
└──────────┬───────────────┬──────────────┘
           │ REST          │ static
┌──────────▼─────┐  ┌──────▼──────────────┐
│ Express + ORM  │  │  Frontend (built)   │
│ ATS Engine     │  └─────────────────────┘
│ Puppeteer PDF  │
└──────────┬─────┘
┌──────────▼─────┐
│  PostgreSQL 15 │
└────────────────┘

MS CV Pro is a self-hostable, open-source CV builder designed for job seekers who want full control over their data and don't want to pay a monthly SaaS subscription to build a PDF document. Most CV builders either lock your data behind a paywall, require a cloud account, or produce ATS-unfriendly PDFs. Here, nothing leaves your server.

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Features

Feature	Description
CV Editor	Section-based editor: Personal info, Work, Education, Skills, Projects, Certifications
Live Preview	Real-time A4 preview as you type
ATS Scoring	Local keyword analysis engine — no API keys needed
PDF Export	Clean, ATS-safe PDF via Puppeteer headless Chrome
Multi-CV	Unlimited CVs per user, with duplicate support
Auth	JWT-based auth with bcrypt password hashing
Self-hosted	Single docker compose up deployment

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Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Docker ≥ 24 and Docker Compose ≥ 2.24
• 1 GB RAM minimum (Puppeteer needs ~300 MB for Chrome)

1. Clone and configure

git clone https://github.com/shafeehhecker/MS_CV-Pro.git
cd MS_CV-Pro

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — at minimum set DB_PASSWORD and JWT_SECRET

2. Start the stack

docker compose up -d --build

First boot takes 3-5 minutes (npm install + Chrome download + DB migration).

3. Check it's running

docker compose ps
curl http://localhost/api/health

4. (Optional) Load demo data

docker compose exec api npm run db:seed
# Demo login: demo@mscvpro.local / demo1234

Open http://localhost — you're ready.

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Development (local, no Docker)

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• PostgreSQL 15 running locally

Backend

cd backend
cp .env.example .env
# Edit DATABASE_URL in .env

npm install
npx prisma migrate dev
npm run db:seed    # optional demo data
npm run dev
# API running at http://localhost:3001

Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev
# App running at http://localhost:5173

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Production Deployment

HTTPS with Let's Encrypt (recommended)

1. Point your domain to the server IP
2. Get certificates:

   apt install certbot
   certbot certonly --standalone -d yourdomain.com

3. Copy certs to nginx/ssl/:

   cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem nginx/ssl/
   cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem nginx/ssl/

4. Uncomment the HTTPS server block in nginx/nginx.conf
5. Update .env: CORS_ORIGIN=https://yourdomain.com
6. docker compose up -d --build

Updating

git pull
docker compose up -d --build

Prisma migrations run automatically on container start.

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Architecture

MS_CV-Pro/
├── backend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── index.js            # Express app entry
│   │   ├── middleware/
│   │   │   └── auth.js         # JWT middleware
│   │   ├── routes/
│   │   │   ├── auth.js         # Register / login / me
│   │   │   ├── cv.js           # Full CV CRUD + sections
│   │   │   ├── ats.js          # ATS scoring endpoint
│   │   │   ├── export.js       # PDF + HTML preview
│   │   │   └── upload.js       # Profile photo upload
│   │   └── services/
│   │       ├── atsEngine.js    # Local TF-IDF keyword engine
│   │       └── pdfExport.js    # Puppeteer HTML→PDF
│   └── prisma/
│       ├── schema.prisma
│       ├── seed.js
│       └── migrations/
├── frontend/
│   └── src/
│       ├── pages/              # Login, Register, Dashboard, Editor
│       ├── components/
│       │   ├── editor/         # All form sections
│       │   ├── preview/        # Live CV renderer
│       │   └── ats/            # ATS score panel
│       └── store/              # Zustand (auth + CV state)
├── nginx/
│   └── nginx.conf
└── docker-compose.yml

ATS Engine

The scoring engine (backend/src/services/atsEngine.js) runs entirely locally:

1. Keyword extraction — tokenises the job description using TF-IDF-inspired frequency weighting, extracting unigrams and bigrams after stop-word removal
2. Keyword matching — checks which JD keywords appear in the CV text
3. Section scoring — checks for presence of key sections (summary, quantified achievements, dates, contact info)
4. Format scoring — flags ATS red flags (missing email/phone, too-sparse content, undated experience)
5. Scoring — weighted composite: keywords 45%, sections 35%, format 20%

No external API calls are made during scoring.

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Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
DB_PASSWORD	mscvpro_secret	PostgreSQL password
JWT_SECRET	change-me	JWT signing secret — must change in production
NODE_ENV	production	Node environment
CORS_ORIGIN	http://localhost	Allowed CORS origin
HTTP_PORT	80	Host HTTP port
HTTPS_PORT	443	Host HTTPS port

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 18, Vite, Tailwind CSS, Zustand, React Router
Backend	Node.js 20, Express 4, Prisma ORM
Database	PostgreSQL 15
PDF	Puppeteer (headless Chrome)
ATS Engine	Custom TF-IDF (no external APIs)
Proxy	Nginx
Container	Docker Compose

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License

MIT