CoverCraft

A cover letter generator that takes a job description, a resume, and 2 short answers from the user and produces a tailored, human-sounding cover letter.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• MongoDB Atlas account
• Google Gemini API key (or Groq API key as fallback)

Setup

1. Clone the repository

cd covercraft

2. Set up the server

cd server
npm install

Create a .env file in the server/ directory with the following variables:

Variable	Description
PORT	Server port (default: 5000)
MONGODB_URI	MongoDB Atlas connection string
GEMINI_API_KEY	Your Google Gemini API key
GROQ_API_KEY	Your Groq API key (fallback)

To get your Gemini API key:

1. Go to Google AI Studio
2. Create a new API key

To get your Groq API key:

1. Go to console.groq.com
2. Create a new API key (used as automatic fallback)

3. Set up the client

cd ../client
npm install

Create a .env file in the client/ directory:

VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:5000
VITE_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=your_clerk_publishable_key

Setting up Clerk Authentication

1. Go to clerk.com and create a free account
2. Create a new application
3. Enable Google as a sign-in provider (one toggle)
4. Copy the Publishable Key from the Clerk dashboard
5. Add it to client/.env as VITE_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY

Running the Application

Start the server

cd server
npm run dev

The server will run on http://localhost:5000.

Start the client

cd client
npm run dev

The client will run on http://localhost:5173.

Features

• Job Description Input: Paste or type the full job posting
• Resume Upload: Upload a PDF or paste resume text directly
• Personalization: Answer 2 quick questions to customize your letter
• AI Generation: Uses Gemini 2.5 Flash with Groq Llama 3.3 as automatic fallback
• Copy to Clipboard: One-click copy of the generated letter
• MongoDB Storage: All generated letters are saved for reference
• Credit System: Guest users get 2 free generations, signed-in users get unlimited

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React, Vite, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, Axios, Clerk
• Backend: Node.js, Express.js, Multer, pdf-parse
• Database: MongoDB (Mongoose)
• AI: Google Gemini 2.5 Flash, Groq Llama 3.3
• Auth: Clerk (Google sign-in, credit system)

Project Structure

covercraft/
├── client/                 # React Vite frontend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/     # UI components
│   │   ├── hooks/         # API hooks
│   │   └── lib/           # Utilities
│   └── .env
├── server/                 # Express backend
│   ├── routes/            # API routes
│   ├── services/          # AI & PDF services
│   ├── models/            # Mongoose models
│   ├── middleware/        # Multer config
│   └── .env
└── README.md