Reactive Resume
A free and open-source resume builder that takes you from writing to interview prep — no ads, no paywall
Website: https://rxresu.me/ · Source: GitHub · License: MIT · Cost: Free · Creator: Amruth Pillai
Why it exists
Job seekers face an uncomfortable choice: either pay a subscription to a commercial resume builder (Zety, Novoresume, etc.), or fight with Word/Google Docs templates where every edit breaks the formatting. Reactive Resume exists to remove that trade-off entirely — it is a fully featured resume builder with zero ads, zero paywall and zero telemetry, free as a hosted service and as a self-hosted app. Its philosophy: your career data is yours, so you can export everything (PDF, DOCX, JSON) at any time, and the whole platform is auditable open source.
Main features
Reactive Resume organizes the whole job-application journey into six steps:
- Write — edit beside a live page preview. Everything saves as you type, every version is kept, and an AI assistant can suggest sharper phrasings (you accept or keep yours).
- Design — pick from 17 templates (named after Pokémon), then adjust typography, colors and spacing. The content stays put, so you can try as many looks as you like.
- Check — an ATS readability checker runs in your browser (0 uploads, no account needed): it reads any PDF the way hiring software does and explains in plain words what to fix — contact details found, selectable text, standard section headings, consistent date formats, and a readability score.
- Tailor — paste a job posting once and get a tailored copy of your resume, a match score, a cover letter draft and a Kanban-style tracker for that role (Applied → Interview → Offer).
- Share — publish your resume at a public URL like
rxresu.me/your-name, protect it with a password, or keep it private. Export to PDF, Word (DOCX) or raw JSON. - Prepare — get an interview plan built from the posting and your own stories, practise out loud, then debrief and record how it went.
Plus the fundamentals:
- Multiple resumes per account, drag-and-drop section reordering, custom sections.
- Multilingual interface and content (widely used outside English-speaking markets).
- Self-hosting via Docker Compose for individuals, teams and career services.
Who it's for
- Anyone who wants a genuinely free resume builder without hidden "download for $2.95" paywalls.
- Privacy-minded users: the ATS checker runs locally, and self-hosting keeps all data on your own server.
- Career switchers applying to many different kinds of roles — the Tailor step makes per-job customization practical.
- Universities, bootcamps and career coaches who self-host it for students.
How it compares
| Tool | Cost | Open source | Notable difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reactive Resume | Free | MIT | Full journey: writing → design → ATS check → tailoring → interview prep |
| OpenResume | Free | AGPL-3.0 | Opinionated U.S. best practices, fewer options, local-only storage |
| Resume Matcher | Free | Apache-2.0 | Focused specifically on AI tailoring to job descriptions, runs locally |
| Zety | Freemium/paid | No | Large template & content library, but downloads require a paid plan |
Useful links
- Live app: https://rxresu.me/
- GitHub: https://github.com/AmruthPillai/Reactive-Resume
- Documentation: https://docs.rxresu.me/
- Discord community for support and feedback
Notes
- Around 44,000 GitHub stars (October 2026) — one of the most popular open-source projects in the career space.
- Created and maintained by Amruth Pillai since 2016, with a long history of releases; the current generation added the Check/Tailor/Prepare workflow.
- If you only need one U.S.-style résumé with zero choices, OpenResume is simpler; if you want full creative control and a complete job-search workflow, Reactive Resume is the deeper tool.