JAWB HUNT User Guide

Complete documentation for JAWB HUNT, the local resume-to-openings hunter.

1. What it is and how it works

JAWB HUNT is a small app that runs on your own computer. A local Python server does the work; your browser is the screen. Nothing is hosted, there are no accounts, and no API keys are required for the core features.

When you run a hunt, the server pulls live openings straight from each company's own public hiring feed (the same feeds their careers pages use), scores every role against your resume, and shows you a ranked list with the reasons for each match. From there it can prefill application forms in a browser window you control and draft answers to custom questions.

Eight kinds of hiring feed are supported: Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable, SmartRecruiters, Workday, Amazon Jobs, and Eightfold (Netflix).

2. Install and launch

Mac, the easy way

• Unzip the download. Keep the whole JAWB HUNT folder together; the app looks for server.py next to itself.
• Double-click JAWB HUNT.app.
• First launch only: macOS may block an app from an unidentified developer. Right-click JAWB HUNT.app, choose Open, then click Open in the dialog. You will not be asked again.
• If macOS offers to install the Command Line Tools, click Install. That provides Python 3, which the app needs.
• Your default browser opens http://localhost:8914.

Relaunching the app while the server is already running simply reopens the browser tab. Nothing is started twice.

Mac, without the app

Double-click Start JAWB HUNT.command, or in Terminal:

cd "/path/to/JAWB HUNT"
python3 server.py

Then open http://localhost:8914.

Windows and Linux

The server is plain Python 3 with no dependencies:

python3 server.py

Open http://localhost:8914. The .app and .command files are Mac only. Prefill apply and the Question coach work anywhere their power-up setup is done (sections 9 and 11).

Stopping

Close the browser tab and quit the Python process (Ctrl+C in Terminal, or Activity Monitor: the process is Python running server.py). The app binds to 127.0.0.1 only, so nothing on your network can reach it.

3. Step 1: Resume

Drop a file on the shark or click it to choose: .pdf, .docx, .txt, .md. Or paste the text directly.

• The text box shows exactly what was read. Matching uses this text, so fix anything that looks wrong.
• PDF reading is best effort. Simple, text-based PDFs work well. If a PDF comes out garbled, paste the text instead; the app tells you when extraction looked weak.
• Chips under the box show what the app detected: your seniority level, role titles it recognised, and skills. These drive the matching.
• The text is saved in your browser's local storage so it is there next time. It is not written to disk by this step.

Target job title

Optional. Type one or more titles, comma separated, for example Chief Operating Officer, VP Operations. A target does three things:

• The largest boards (Workday companies, Amazon, Netflix) are searched for the target first, so the right roles actually get pulled down.
• Exact title matches receive the biggest score bonus, with partial credit when all the words appear in a different order.
• The target's seniority overrides the resume's. A COO targeting "Product Manager" will not see manager-level roles penalised.

A target works with no resume at all for a pure title hunt.

4. Step 2: Hunting grounds

Hunt all companies (default) or pick a set. The picker has a filter box and select-all / clear buttons. Your selection is remembered.

Every company in the roster verified live with real postings when it was added. Companies that use closed hiring systems (Apple, Google, Meta) cannot be included without scraping and are deliberately left out. Some big names (for example Groq, Midjourney) expose no public feed and are out as well.

5. Running a hunt

Press RELEASE THE JAWB. A progress bar shows companies scanned. A first full hunt takes two to three minutes; results are cached for six hours per company, so repeats take seconds. Tick "Skip cache" to force fresh pulls.

Huge boards are not downloaded whole. Workday, Amazon, and Netflix are searched with the top role and skill phrases from your resume (or your target title) and the best few hundred results are scored.

If a feed does not respond, the hunt continues and the insights panel names the companies that were skipped this run.

6. Results

Each card shows:

• Match score, 0 to 99. Green at 60 and above, blue at 40 and above.
• Title (links to the posting), company, location, department, date.
• Match chips: the terms from your resume that produced the score.
• Prefill apply button, when the company's feed supports it (section 9).

Filters: minimum score slider, title text, location text, remote only. Show more loads the next 50.

Insights above the list:

• Where your matches cluster: companies with the most strong matches.
• Keywords your top matches use that your resume does not: a resume gap list worth reading before you apply.
• Feeds that did not respond this run.

How scoring works

Title word matches weigh most, then skill phrases, then department, location, and (where the feed provides it) description terms. Rare words count more than common ones. A typed target title is the strongest signal of all. A seniority gap of two or more levels between your resume (or target) and the role costs points. Description-heavy feeds are capped so they cannot crowd out title-only feeds.

7. Step 3: Profile

The profile powers Prefill apply. Save it once.

• Fields: first and last name, email, phone, location, current company, LinkedIn URL, website URL, and your latest cover letter.
• Application resume: attach the exact file you want uploaded into forms (.pdf or .docx). This is separate from the matching text in step 1, although uploading here also fills step 1 when it is empty.
• Auto prefill: uploading a resume (here or in step 1) reads your contact details and fills any EMPTY profile field: name, email, phone, location, LinkedIn, website, current company. Fields you typed are never overwritten. The status line lists what was filled; check it.
• Storage: profile/profile.json and profile/resume.<ext> inside the app folder. Delete those files to reset. They never leave your machine.

8. Prefill apply

Click Prefill apply on a result card. A browser window opens on the real application form with your profile filled in, your resume attached, and your cover letter pasted where the form has a cover letter field. You finish anything remaining and click Submit yourself.

What it never does:

• It never clicks Submit.
• It never answers dropdowns, checkboxes, or yes/no questions. Work authorisation, sponsorship, "have you worked here before" and other knockout questions are left for you, because a wrong automatic answer is not retractable.
• It never touches a CAPTCHA.
• It declines cookie banners rather than accepting them.

Coverage: Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, and Workable forms (roughly two thirds of the roster, including all the AI companies). Workday, Amazon, and Netflix require a per-company account, so those cards have no Prefill button; use the title link and copy from your profile.

The button reports what happened, for example "Filled 7 fields + resume, review & submit". Fields it could not fill are left for you in the window.

Setup (one time)

Prefill drives a browser through Playwright. Install it once:

pip3 install playwright
python3 -m playwright install chromium

Then relaunch JAWB HUNT. Without it, the Prefill button explains exactly this.

Good practice

• Read the whole form before submitting. Prefill is a time saver, not a proof reader.
• Ten tailored applications beat a hundred fired blind. Recruiters notice volume patterns.
• Close the form window when done, or leave it; the next Prefill opens a new tab in the same window.

9. Applications tracker

Every Prefill is logged at the bottom of the page: role, company, date, how many fields were filled, and a status you can change (Prefilled, Applied, Interview, Offer, Rejected, No reply). Stored in profile/applications.json.

10. Step 4: Question coach

Paste an application's custom questions, one per line, optionally with the company and role title. Click Draft answers. Claude drafts a brief first person answer for each (60 to 120 words) built strictly from your resume text in step 1, using your cover letter for voice. Each answer has a Copy button.

Facts only: when your resume does not contain the answer, the coach says NEEDS YOUR INPUT and tells you what is missing, rather than inventing experience. Always read and edit before pasting into a form.

Setup (one time)

The coach uses the Claude Code command line tool with your own Claude login, so no API key is stored in the app. Install Claude Code, sign in once (claude in Terminal, then /login), and the coach works. Without it, the Draft button explains that the tool was not found.

Privacy note

This is the one feature that sends your resume text off your computer, to Claude, and only when you click Draft.

11. Privacy and data, exactly

On your machine:

• Browser local storage: resume text, target title, company selection.
• profile/: profile.json, your application resume file, applications.json.
• cache/: fetched job listings, refreshed every six hours. Safe to delete at any time.

Leaves your machine:

• Search keywords sent to the companies' own public hiring feeds during a hunt (the same requests their careers pages make).
• Resume text sent to Claude by the Question coach, only when you use it.
• Whatever you yourself submit on an application form.

Nothing is sent to the makers of JAWB HUNT. There is no analytics, no account, no telemetry.

12. Maintaining the company roster

companies.json holds only companies that verified live with at least one posting. To refresh or add companies:

python3 tools/build_roster.py

Add candidate slugs or Workday tenants to the lists at the top of the script; the probes keep whatever responds. The builder merges with the existing file, so a company that times out during a rebuild is kept rather than silently dropped.

13. Troubleshooting

• Browser opens but the page will not load: the server did not start. Run python3 server.py in Terminal inside the folder and read the message.
• "Address already in use": something else holds port 8914. Quit the other JAWB HUNT process, or change PORT near the top of server.py.
• The app will not open (unidentified developer): right-click, Open, Open.
• "python3: command not found": install Python 3 from python.org or accept the Command Line Tools prompt.
• PDF text is garbled: paste the text instead.
• A company shows in "did not respond": transient. Run again, or tick Skip cache.
• Prefill says Playwright is needed: run the two commands in section 8.
• Prefill opened the page but filled nothing: the site probably changed its form or requires a login. Use the title link and your profile.
• Coach says the claude tool was not found: install Claude Code and sign in, or use the coach on a machine that has it.
• Start completely fresh: quit the server, delete profile/ and cache/, and clear the site data for localhost:8914 in your browser.

14. FAQ

Does it apply for me? No. It fills forms; you review and submit.

Can it hunt companies outside the roster? Only ones with a public feed. Add them to tools/build_roster.py and rerun it.

Is my resume uploaded anywhere? Only by you, into a form you submit, and to Claude if you use the Question coach.

Can two people share one install? The profile is one per install. Copy the folder for a second person.

Why is a score not 100? 99 is the ceiling by design; the score is a ranking aid, not a verdict.

15. File map

JAWB HUNT/
  JAWB HUNT.app          double-click launcher (Mac)
  Start JAWB HUNT.command  alternative launcher (Mac)
  server.py              the whole backend, Python standard library only
  index.html             the whole interface
  companies.json         the verified roster
  tools/build_roster.py  roster verifier and builder
  docs/GUIDE.md          this guide
  README.md              quick start
  profile/               created on first use, your data
  cache/                 created on first use, safe to delete