Getting Started

Contents

• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
  • Development
  • Typecheck
  • Production Build
  • First Launch
  • Data Location
  • One-Click Backup

---

Prerequisites

Requirement	Notes
Node.js ≥ 20	Required
TeX distribution	MiKTeX (Windows), MacTeX (macOS), texlive (Linux) — needed for PDF compilation

Playwright Chromium (for LinkedIn/Indeed scrapers) is downloaded to <userData>/ms-playwright/ automatically on first launch if absent.

---

Installation

npm install

postinstall runs automatically and rebuilds better-sqlite3 against the Electron headers.

---

Development

npm run dev

Starts the Electron app with Vite HMR. The renderer reloads on save; changes to main-process files require an app restart. DevTools open automatically.

---

Typecheck

npm run typecheck

Runs tsc --noEmit over both the Node and web tsconfigs. No build artifacts are produced.

---

Production Build

npm run build:dist

1. electron-vite build — compiles main, preload, and renderer into out/
2. electron-builder — packages into a platform installer under dist/

Platform	Output
macOS	dist/*.dmg (requires Apple Developer ID for notarization)
Windows	dist/*-Setup.exe (NSIS installer)
Linux	dist/*.AppImage, dist/*.deb

To build without an installer:

npm run build

---

First Launch

On the first run the app will:

1. Create the SQLite database at the platform user-data directory and run all migrations automatically.
2. Show all Claude-dependent features as locked until an Anthropic API key is entered in Settings.
3. Show resume compilation as locked if xelatex is not found on PATH or at the path configured in Settings.

Once an API key is saved in Settings, Claude-dependent features unlock immediately — no restart required.

---

Data Location

Platform	Path
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/career-index/
Windows	%APPDATA%\career-index\
Linux	~/.config/career-index/

The SQLite database (jobhunt.db), browser contexts, resume files, and logs all live here. Use the one-click backup in Settings to archive the full data directory.

---

One-Click Backup

Settings → Backup exports the SQLite file, browser contexts, and resume files as a single archive to a user-chosen location. This is distinct from the JSON export available in the Data section, which is a portable structured export for selective migration.