CareerBot docs

How to use CareerBot, how to run your own copy, and how to help build it.

Using CareerBot

You tell it your story, approve the record it builds, and it finds the companies and roles worth your time. Then you apply, write to the people who hire, or both.

First stepsFrom signing in to your first pursuitHow to tell your storyWhat to cover for each jobHow the AI worksEvery step in order, and what it reads

Running your own copy

CareerBot is open source. Run it on your own computer or a server, with your own keys and your own data.

Choose a wayDocker, Coolify, Dokploy, a VPS or CloudflareRun it with DockerOne compose file, with Convex in its cloud or yoursKeys and accountsOpenRouter, Apollo, Brave, Google and GitHub

Contributing

Fix a bug, add a feature or make these pages better. The code is open source under the AGPL-3.0.

Local developmentRun the app and Convex from a cloneHow the code is organisedThe system map, and what reads whatChecks before a pull requestWhat CI runs, and how to run it first

What CareerBot is

CareerBot helps you aim a job search at the right roles and go after each one two ways, with equal weight: apply through the posting with a resume and cover letter written for it, or write straight to the people who hire, the hiring manager, someone on the team or a recruiter. You can do both for the same role. It starts from the record of your career, in your own words: you tell it about each job, it proposes facts, and you approve them. Everything it writes for you, resumes, cover letters, answers and messages, rests only on what you approved, and CareerBot never sends any of it: you do.

It isn't fast and it isn't a resume rewriter. Expect to spend real time on your stories at the start, 20 minutes or more for a job. What you get back is a record you can stand behind, and a search aimed at work that fits it.

CareerBot runs at careerbot.dev, by invitation while it's tested, or as your own copy on your own computer or server. On careerbot.dev, CareerBot's AI comes with your plan, up to a monthly allowance, or you can use your own OpenRouter key; your own copy runs AI on your own OpenRouter key, within a monthly budget you set. Either way company search runs on your own Apollo key.

First steps

The same steps as Getting started on Today, each with its page.

Setup

  1. 01Sign inWith Google or GitHub
  2. 02Choose your planCareerBot’s AI starts once it’s paid
  3. 03Add an OpenRouter key and a budgetPays for CareerBot’s AI, within a budget you set
  4. 04Write your first storyIn your own words. It’s the root of your record.
  5. 05Review what CareerBot understoodUnlocks your record
  6. 06Write your goalsThen approve limits and directions
  7. 07See your base resumeBuilt from your approved record
  8. 08Add an Apollo key and a budgetFinds companies and their open roles
  9. 09Name companies you likeFree · finds more like them (optional)
  10. 10Find and rate companiesTarget the ones you’d like to work at
  11. 11See your first ranked rolesRead from their job boards, ranked for each direction
  12. 12Keep your resumes in Google DriveA Google Doc of each resume (optional)

Your first pursuit

  1. 13Pick a role and start a pursuitFrom your strongest new roles
  2. 14Tailor your resumeTo the posting, from your direction’s resume
  3. 15Choose a pathOutreach, Apply, or both

On the Outreach path

  1. 16Find contactsHiring manager, team and recruiting
  2. 17Send your outreach messageFrom your own email

On the Apply path

  1. 18Write the cover letter and answersAnswers with Ask about this role
  2. 19Apply and mark it AppliedOn the company’s site, then mark it here

Either path

  1. 20Follow upIf you haven’t heard back
TroubleshootingWhat a message means, and what to do about itReferenceScreens, AI steps, actions, limits, settings and shortcutsWordsWhat CareerBot means by a fact, an insight, a direction and a pursuit