Quick Start

This page takes you from a blank machine to your first tailored CV and cover letter. Plan for about thirty minutes the first time; most of it is the LaTeX install quietly doing its thing.

What you'll need first

Be honest with yourself about these three prerequisites — each links to a proper install guide, and none of them requires programming:

Claude Code — the AI assistant CareerForge runs inside. It's a program you install once and open from a terminal window. Never used a terminal? That's fine: you'll only type short commands shown on this page.
LaTeX — the typesetting system that turns your CV into a polished PDF. It's a big download, but it's install-and-forget.
Python 3.10+ (optional) — only needed later for salary benchmarking. Skip it today.

Install Claude Code

Terminal

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Then start it once to log in:

Terminal

claude

You'll need an Anthropic account — the Free and Pro plans both work.

What happens next: a chat opens in your terminal. That chat window is where you'll run everything below.

Install LaTeX

Two compilers are used — lualatex for the CV, xelatex for the cover letter. The installs below include both.

Terminal

brew install --cask mactex
sudo tlmgr install fontawesome lato tcolorbox dashrule enumitem multirow \
                   ifmtarg fontaxes mweights pgfopts

Terminal

sudo apt-get install texlive-full

Install MiKTeX — it fetches any missing packages automatically the first time you compile.

What happens next: nothing visible — LaTeX just sits ready until /apply needs to produce a PDF.

Get CareerForge and open it

Terminal

git clone https://github.com/suraj-davariya/ai-job-search.git
cd ai-job-search
claude

What happens next: Claude Code opens inside the CareerForge folder, which means the three commands below are now available in your chat.

Build your profile

In the Claude Code chat

/setup

It offers three paths: scan a folder of your documents, import a single CV, or a friendly interview where it asks and you answer. Pick whichever fits what you have. Before anything is saved, it shows you the proposed content and asks for your approval.

What happens next: your profile files exist — your experience, skills, goals, and search preferences, all on your machine. You only do this once.

Find jobs

In the Claude Code chat

/search

What happens next: a ranked table of new postings from your configured job boards, each marked High, Medium, or Low fit — with postings you've already seen filtered out. Reply with a number to evaluate one in depth.

Apply to one

In the Claude Code chat

/apply https://company.com/jobs/the-role-you-want

You can also paste the job description directly if there's no link. It scores the fit across five dimensions and asks whether to proceed — that's your checkpoint, not a formality.

What happens next: a tailored two-page CV and a one-page cover letter, both as PDFs, reviewed by a second AI and checked against a verification list. The application is logged in your tracker with status Draft. You read both PDFs, then send them yourself — CareerForge never submits anything for you.

After your first application

Open the dashboard to watch your pipeline as it grows.
Read Your data to see exactly what got recorded — it's one human-readable file.
Stuck on something? The FAQ covers the common first-week questions.

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