alt Hacker NewsShow HN: RenderCV – Open-source CV/resume generator, YAML → PDF
I built RenderCV because Word kept breaking my layout and LaTeX was overkill. I wanted my CV as a single YAML file (content, design, margins, everything) that I could render with one command.
Run rendercv render cv.yaml → get a perfectly typeset PDF.
Highlights:
1. Version-controllable: Your CV is just text. Diff it, tag it.
2. LLM-friendly: Paste into ChatGPT, tailor to a job description, paste back, render. Batch-produce variants with terminal AI agents.
3. Perfect typography: Typst under the hood handles pixel-perfect alignment and spacing.
4. Full design control: Margins, fonts, colors, and more; tweak everything in YAML.
5. Comes with JSON Schema: Autocompletion and inline docs in your editor.
Battle-tested for 2+ years, thousands of users, 120k+ total PyPI downloads, 100% test coverage, actively maintained.
GitHub: https://github.com/rendercv/rendercv
Docs: https://docs.rendercv.com
Overview on RenderCV's software design (Pydantic + Jinja2 + Typst): https://docs.rendercv.com/developer_guide/understanding_rend...
I also wrote up the internals as an educational resource on maintaining Python projects (GitHub Actions, packaging, Docker, JSON Schema, deploying docs, etc.): https://docs.rendercv.com/developer_guide/
Comments
Favorited for next time I make a resume - thanks for making this! Hopefully I’ll never have to touch LaTeX ever again.
I used this recently for my resume and I recommend it.
I have the technical background to write Latex and Typst documents but I honestly didn't want the headache. Plus I'm the type to futz with styling all day long instead of putting down actual content. RenderCV was simple to use and did exactly what I wanted.
This is clearly a real project that was built over several years with human effort (not vibe coded). Which makes it all the more depressing that the author decided to take a massive dump over the entire README.md with AI slop.
Sadly, it appears the project was heavily sloppified a mere 2 weeks ago: https://github.com/rendercv/rendercv/commit/5cc5fbdf9ec1a742...
This looks really interesting, but I’m wondering what this adds that someone can’t already do with Typst+a resume template. The basic-resume template already abstracts enough that you only need to care about content rather than formatting:
https://typst.app/universe/package/basic-resume/
Does anyone have examples of how they’re using the YAML?
A bit of a missed opportunity not to use the JSON Resume schema for this.
Wish I had seen this before making my resume in latex. One question, though to add publications, is it possible to use bibtex, or do you have to manually convert each publication to YAML?
I’d love to know if this performs better than your average resume in OCR or scanning tools. I think if you could advertise that you follow some kind of arcane best practices, that would be super attractive to a lot of people.
I have a lot of anxiety about missing opportunities because of shitty OCR.
I get the motivation, but it honestly feels a bit weird to use tens of thousands of lines of python code to do something that you can just directly do in typst.
I mean, a CV is not really rocket science and there are quite a few great typst templates out there.
Oh awesome! This is a great solution to resumes. The only thing I'd like more is a web app to run it in.
I have been through a huge over supply of AI generated CVs using similar tools this year. I am sure this will help people so not bashing the tool per se, but bare in mind that you will be joining the robots.
I don't know what the solution really is, but as much as I hate it, a verified Linkedin Profile is a huge signal now. Otherwise a real personal site with care and history. I am guilty of being bad with the second so - no easy answers. Maybe even a wacky looking CV would make me notice a candidate more. Powerpoint 90s style.