CareerForge

CareerForge is a modular job application management prototype built with NestJS and Next.js.
It explores structured job tracking, AI-assisted document tailoring, and deterministic PDF generation using LaTeX.

This repository focuses on backend architecture, provider abstraction, and reproducible document workflows.

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Scope (MVP)

The current implementation includes:

• Job tracking (CRUD)
• Modular NestJS backend structure
• AI provider abstraction layer (strategy pattern)
• Tailored section generation via pluggable LLM providers
• LaTeX-based PDF document construction
• MongoDB persistence
• Next.js frontend for interaction

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What Is Not Yet Implemented

• Production-grade authentication
• Full search engine integration
• Advanced analytics or dashboards
• Scalable deployment infrastructure

This project is a system design and architectural exploration, not a production SaaS platform.

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🧱 Architecture Overview

High-level architecture:

• Frontend

  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • React Query
  • Zod validation
  • Routes: /jobs, /jobs/:id

• Backend

  • NestJS (TypeScript)
  • Modular architecture
  • Dependency Injection-first design
  • Modules: jobs, ai, latex
  • REST API

• Persistence

  • MongoDB
  • Mongoose schemas
  • Collections:
    • JobApplication
    • TailoredSections

• AI Provider Layer

  • Strategy pattern
  • Pluggable providers
  • No provider lock-in

AI logic is isolated behind an interface to allow provider switching without business logic changes.

• Document Generation
  • LaTeX template builder
  • Domain-to-template mapping
  • Deterministic output

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🧠 AI Provider Abstraction

AI is intentionally isolated behind a provider interface.

ILLMProvider
 ├─ OpenAIProvider
 ├─ GeminiProvider
 └─ DeepSeekProvider

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🚀 Getting Started

You can run CareerForge either using Docker (recommended) or Manually via Node.js.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or v20+)
• npm
• Docker and Docker Compose (If using Docker setup)
• MongoDB (If running manually)

Option 1: Run with Docker Compose (Recommended)

This approach spins up the MongoDB database, the Next.js Frontend, and the NestJS Backend in isolated containers.

1. Navigate to the infra directory:

   cd infra
   

2. Start the services using Docker Compose:

   docker-compose up -d --build
   

Services will be accessible at:

• Frontend App: http://localhost:3000
• Backend API: http://localhost:4000
• MongoDB: localhost:27017

Note: By default, the docker-compose.yml uses the example .env files located in the infra/env/ folder.

Option 2: Run Manually (Local Dev)

1. Install Dependencies At the root of the project, run:

npm install

2. Start MongoDB Ensure you have a MongoDB instance running locally on mongodb://localhost:27017 or prepare your MongoDB URI. Create the appropriate .env files for the frontend and backend if necessary based on infra/env/ examples.

3. Start the Backend API (NestJS)

cd apps/backend
npm run start:dev

Runs on http://localhost:4000.

4. Start the Frontend App (Next.js) In a new terminal window:

cd apps/frontend
npm run dev

Runs on http://localhost:3000.