Reactive Resume: Your Resume, Your Server, No Strings Attached

Building a resume is one of those tasks everyone dreads. You either fight with a Word document’s weird formatting, pay for a half-baked online builder that stores your data god-knows-where, or end up with a PDF that’s impossible to update.

There’s a better way. And it’s open source.

Reactive Resume is a free, self-hosted resume builder that runs entirely on your machine. No account creation. No data leaving your server. Just you, a browser, and a clean interface to craft a resume that actually looks good.

What It Does

Reactive Resume is a web app that lets you design, edit, and export a professional resume in PDF format. It works completely offline once loaded. You can run it locally on your computer or deploy it on a server you control.

The tool gives you a live preview while you edit. Change a font, rearrange sections, update a job description — the PDF preview updates in real time. You can pick from multiple templates, customize colors and layouts, and even import or export your data as JSON (so you’re never locked in).

There’s no signup wall, no tracking, no cloud dependency. It’s just a tool that does one thing well.

Why It’s Cool

A few things stand out:

• Privacy first. Your resume data never touches a third-party server unless you explicitly upload it somewhere. Run it from your local machine and you’re the only one who sees your info.
• No accounts, no BS. No email verification, no password reset flows, no marketing emails. Open the app, start typing.
• Offline capable. Once the page loads, you can disconnect from the internet and keep editing. Great for coffee shops with sketchy WiFi or when you’re traveling.
• Data portability. You can export everything as JSON and import it back later. Want to switch to another tool or just back up your work? It’s a single file.
• Multiple templates. Dark mode, light mode, different fonts, different section layouts. Enough variety to make your resume stand out without going overboard.
• Tech stack that makes sense. It’s built with React, Hooks, SCSS, and uses Prisma for its database. The codebase is clean, well-organized, and easy to contribute to if you’re a dev.

How to Try It

You have a couple of options:

Option 1: Use the hosted version (fastest)
The maintainer hosts a demo at rx-resume.com. You can use it right now, no account needed. Just don’t put really sensitive stuff there if you’re paranoid, but for a quick test it’s fine.

Option 2: Run it locally (recommended for privacy)
If you have Node.js and npm/yarn:

git clone https://github.com/AmruthPillai/Reactive-Resume.git
cd Reactive-Resume
cp .env.example .env

Edit the .env file to point to your local database (SQLite works out of the box). Then:

yarn install
yarn build
yarn start

Open http://localhost:3000 and you’re good.

Option 3: Docker
There’s a Docker image available if you prefer containers. Check the README for the exact command — it’s a one-liner.

Final Thoughts

Reactive Resume is exactly the kind of project that makes you ask: why doesn’t everyone do this? It’s simple, respectful of your privacy, and actually well-designed. If you’re a developer who’s tired of resume SaaS products that treat your data like a monetization asset, this is a solid alternative.

And if you ever need to tweak something — like adding a custom section or changing the font rendering logic — the codebase is approachable. Fork it, hack it, make it yours.

Give it a try. Worst case, you spend 10 minutes and have a PDF you can send to recruiters with zero tracking attached.

Found this helpful? Follow us for more developer-friendly open source projects.
@githubprojects