resume-builder

---

name: resume-builder

description: Use when the user wants to turn structured career data (YAML/JSON work history, education, skills, projects, certifications) into a polished resume — a styled HTML page, a PDF export, or a re-themed (minimal/modern/classic) version of an existing resume — for job applications or an ATS-friendly document.

version: 1.0.0

author: Hermes Agent

license: MIT

metadata:

  hermes:

    tags: [resume, pdf-export, html-templates, weasyprint, puppeteer, cv]

    related_skills: [markdown-to-pdf, invoice-generator, color-palette-generator]

---



# resume-builder



## Overview



Turn structured career data into a clean, professional resume rendered as HTML

and exported to PDF. The skill owns the data model, three visual templates, and

two PDF backends so the agent produces a consistent artifact regardless of the

user's environment.



## When to Use



- The user supplies (or asks the agent to draft) a resume from facts: jobs,

  education, skills, projects, certifications, contact info.

- The user has a YAML/JSON resume and wants a styled HTML page or a PDF.

- The user wants to re-theme an existing resume (minimal / modern / classic)

  without re-typing content.

- The user needs a portable, ATS-friendly document for job applications.



Do **not** use this skill for:

- Cover letters (single narrative prose) — that is a different artifact.

- Full CVs with publications/grants requiring a two-column academic layout

  (the classic template can approximate it, but flag the limitation).

- Free-form un-structured prompts with no data — first collect data (see

  Input Format), then render.



## Input Format



The skill consumes one structured document. Prefer YAML for hand-authoring;

accept JSON interchangeably. The canonical schema:



```yaml

basics:

  name: "Alex"

  label: "Senior Software Engineer"

  email: "monica@example.com"

  phone: "+1 555 0100"

  url: "https://monica.example.com"

  location: "Berlin, Germany"

  summary: "Engineer focused on distributed systems and developer tooling."

sections:

  work:

    - company: "Acme Corp"

      position: "Staff Engineer"

      start: "2021-03"

      end: "2024-06"

      location: "Remote"

      highlights:

        - "Led migration of the billing service to event-driven architecture."

        - "Cut p99 latency 40% by introducing a read-through cache."

  education:

    - institution: "TU Berlin"

      area: "Computer Science"

      degree: "M.Sc."

      start: "2016"

      end: "2018"

  skills:

    - "Go"

    - "Kubernetes"

    - "Distributed Systems"

  projects:

    - name: "openmetrics-cli"

      description: "A tiny Prometheus exporter toolkit."

      url: "https://github.com/monica/openmetrics-cli"

  certifications:

    - name: "CKA"

      issuer: "CNCF"

      date: "2022"

```



Rules the agent must enforce:

- `basics.name` and at least one `sections.work` or `sections.education` entry

  are required; everything else is optional and omitted if absent.

- Dates use ISO `YYYY` or `YYYY-MM`. Render ranges as `2021-03 – 2024-06`;

  an open-ended role uses `Present` for a missing `end`.

- `highlights` are bullet points; keep each to one line, action-verb led.

- Unknown top-level keys are ignored, not erroring.



## Template Options



Three bundled, dependency-light CSS templates. The agent picks based on the

user's stated preference or defaults to `modern`.



- **minimal** — single column, generous whitespace, hairline rules, neutral

  sans-serif. Best for engineering and design roles; fastest to scan.

- **modern** — accent color header band, two-tone palette, subtle typographic

  scale. Good general-purpose default.

- **classic** — serif body, ruled section headers, traditional chronology.

  Best for finance, law, academia-adjacent roles.



Each template is a self-contained `<style>` block plus semantic HTML, so the

rendered page works offline and prints predictably. The agent sets the accent

color and font stack via CSS custom properties (see Customization).



## PDF Generation



Two backends; pick whichever the user's machine can run.



### weasyprint (recommended, headless-friendly)

```bash

pip install weasyprint

weasyprint resume.html resume.pdf

```

WeasyPrint renders HTML/CSS directly — no browser needed. It honors `@page`

size, margins, and `print-color-adjust: exact`, so colors survive to PDF.

Best when Chromium is unavailable.



### puppeteer (best fidelity to screen CSS)

```bash

npm install puppeteer

node -e "const p=require('puppeteer');(async()=>{const b=await p.launch();const pg=await b.newPage();await pg.goto('file://'+process.cwd()+'/resume.html',{waitUntil:'networkidle0'});await pg.pdf({path:'resume.pdf',format:'A4',printBackground:true});await b.close();})()"

```

Puppeteer gives pixel-accurate output and supports web fonts. Slower to install

and needs a Chromium download. Use when the user already has Node tooling.



Always generate the PDF from the final HTML with `printBackground: true`

(puppeteer) or `print-color-adjust: exact` (weasyprint) so the template's

background colors and rules appear.



## HTML Output



The agent writes a single `resume.html`:

- One root `<article class="resume template-<name>">`.

- `lang` attribute set from `basics` locale or default `en`.

- Inline `<style>` in `<head>`; no external requests (fonts fall back to

  system stacks) so the file is portable.

- Contact links use `mailto:`/`tel:` and `rel="noopener"` on external `url`.

- Section order: summary → work → education → projects → skills → certifications.

  Sections with no data are dropped; the order is fixed for ATS consistency.



## Customization



Drive appearance through CSS custom properties at `:root` so users restyle

without touching markup:



```css

:root{

  --accent:#2563eb;

  --ink:#111827;

  --paper:#ffffff;

  --font-sans: "Inter", system-ui, sans-serif;

  --font-serif: "Georgia", serif;

  --space: 0.75rem;

}

```



- Recolor: set `--accent`. For classic, also set `--font-body: var(--font-serif)`.

- Page size: override `@page { size: A4; margin: 14mm; }` (Letter for US users).

- Multi-page: templates are fluid; long resumes paginate automatically. Add

  `break-inside: avoid` on `.entry` to keep a role's block together.

- One-page coercion: if the user demands one page, shrink `--space` and font

  sizes, trim `summary`, and cap `highlights` to 3–4 per role rather than

  dropping sections.



## Common Pitfalls



1. **Missing `end` date rendered as blank.** Always render `Present` for an open-ended role — never leave the date range blank.

2. **WeasyPrint missing system libs.** On minimal Linux images, Pango/cairo aren't present — install `libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0` first, or fall back to puppeteer.

3. **Fonts not embedded in PDF.** Web fonts loaded via `<link>` may not print — use system font stacks, or inline `@font-face` only if the user supplies font files.

4. **Print background stripped.** Without `printBackground:true` (puppeteer) or `print-color-adjust:exact` (weasyprint), accent bands disappear — the #1 "my PDF looks blank" bug.

5. **ATS parsing broken by layout.** Text-in-images or heavy two-column sidebars can confuse ATS parsers — the minimal/modern templates are ATS-safe; flag the risk if the user demands a dense two-column layout.

6. **Non-ISO dates left unnormalized.** Convert `Mar 2021` → `2021-03` before rendering, or date ranges sort/display incorrectly.

7. **Long URLs in `highlights` breaking layout.** Wrap or shorten raw URLs in bullet points rather than letting them overflow the line.

8. **Over-styling to force one page.** Don't shrink below 9pt to fit — trim `summary` and cap highlights to 3-4 per role instead.



## Verification Checklist



- [ ] Required fields present: `basics.name` and at least one `work` or `education` entry

- [ ] All dates rendered as `YYYY-MM` ranges (or `Present` for open-ended roles), no raw blanks

- [ ] Rendered HTML opens correctly with no external network requests (fonts/styles are self-contained)

- [ ] PDF export includes background colors/accent bands (`printBackground`/`print-color-adjust` was set)

- [ ] PDF page size matches the user's expected paper size (A4 vs Letter)

- [ ] Resume fits the requested page count without text below 9pt

# resume-builder



> A Hermes skill that turns structured career data into a professional,

> print-ready resume — HTML and PDF, no design work required.



**Category:** utility · **Tier:** featured · **Version:** 1.0.0



---



## What it does



Give the agent your work history, education, skills, and contact details as

structured YAML or JSON. `resume-builder` renders a clean, ATS-friendly resume

in three visual styles and exports it to PDF with a single command.



No copy-pasting into Word. No fighting with margins. You describe the facts; the

skill handles the typography, pagination, and print fidelity.



## Templates



| Template  | Look                                    | Best for                  |

|-----------|-----------------------------------------|---------------------------|

| `minimal` | Single column, hairline rules, calm     | Engineering, design       |

| `modern`  | Accent header band, two-tone palette    | General-purpose default   |

| `classic` | Serif body, ruled headers, traditional  | Finance, law, academia    |



## Quick start



```yaml

# resume.yaml

basics:

  name: "Alex"

  label: "Senior Software Engineer"

  email: "monica@example.com"

  summary: "Engineer focused on distributed systems."

sections:

  work:

    - company: "Acme Corp"

      position: "Staff Engineer"

      start: "2021-03"

      end: "2024-06"

      highlights:

        - "Led a billing-service migration to event-driven architecture."

  education:

    - institution: "TU Berlin"

      area: "Computer Science"

      degree: "M.Sc."

      end: "2018"

  skills: ["Go", "Kubernetes", "Distributed Systems"]

```



Render and export:



```bash

# HTML (agent writes resume.html)

# PDF via WeasyPrint (no browser needed):

pip install weasyprint && weasyprint resume.html resume.pdf



# or PDF via Puppeteer (pixel-accurate):

npm install puppeteer && node export-pdf.js

```



## Why it's reliable



- **Print-safe by default** — background colors and rules survive to PDF via

  `printBackground: true` / `print-color-adjust: exact`.

- **ATS-friendly** — real text, predictable section order, no image-bound text.

- **Portable** — single self-contained HTML file, system font stacks, no

  external requests.

- **Customizable** — recolor and re-space through CSS custom properties; switch

  page size (A4 / Letter) with one `@page` rule.



## Install



Install this skill into Hermes from the public portfolio:



```

https://github.com/THEROCKSSS/hermes-skills-portfolio/blob/main/skills/resume-builder/SKILL.md

```



Then ask Hermes: *"Build my resume from resume.yaml using the modern template

and export a PDF."*



## License



MIT — use it, fork it, ship your own portfolio version.