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Reactive Resume: Self-Hosted Open Source Resume Builder

Productivity 2026-02-14 · 7 min read reactive-resume resume cv career productivity
By Selfhosted Guides Editorial Team — Self-hosting practitioners covering open source software, home lab infrastructure, and data sovereignty.

Building a resume should be straightforward: enter your information, choose a layout, export to PDF. Instead, the resume builder market has turned into a minefield. Most "free" tools let you build a resume but paywall the PDF export. Others plaster watermarks on your download. Services like Canva, Zety, and Resume.io hook you in with pretty templates and then charge $20-30/month for what amounts to formatted text output. And every single one of them stores your personal career history, contact information, and employment details on their servers.

Photo by KOBU Agency on Unsplash

Reactive Resume is a free, open-source resume builder that you can self-host. It gives you a real-time WYSIWYG editor, dozens of professional templates, PDF export with no watermarks, and optional AI assistance for writing bullet points. Your resume data stays on your server, and there's no paywall -- every feature is available for free.

Reactive Resume builder logo

Why Self-Host a Resume Builder

The case for self-hosting a resume builder goes beyond just saving money:

Features

Reactive Resume is a full-featured resume builder that competes with commercial tools:

Docker Compose Setup

Reactive Resume requires several services: the main application, a PostgreSQL database, MinIO for file storage (profile photos, etc.), and a Chrome instance for PDF rendering.

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  reactive-resume:
    image: amruthpillai/reactive-resume:latest
    container_name: reactive-resume
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      # Application
      - PORT=3000
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - PUBLIC_URL=http://localhost:3000
      - STORAGE_URL=http://localhost:9000/default

      # Database
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://reactive_resume:change_me_password@postgres:5432/reactive_resume

      # Authentication
      - ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=change_me_access_secret_min_32_chars
      - REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=change_me_refresh_secret_min_32_chars

      # Storage (MinIO)
      - STORAGE_ENDPOINT=minio
      - STORAGE_PORT=9000
      - STORAGE_REGION=us-east-1
      - STORAGE_BUCKET=default
      - STORAGE_ACCESS_KEY=minioadmin
      - STORAGE_SECRET_KEY=minioadmin
      - STORAGE_USE_SSL=false

      # Chrome (PDF rendering)
      - CHROME_TOKEN=chrome_token_change_me
      - CHROME_URL=ws://chrome:3000

      # Optional: OpenAI for AI features
      # - OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-key-here

      # Optional: Email (for password reset, etc.)
      # - [email protected]
      # - SMTP_URL=smtp://user:[email protected]:587

      # Optional: Disable signups after creating your account
      # - DISABLE_SIGNUPS=true
    depends_on:
      - postgres
      - minio
      - chrome
    restart: unless-stopped

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: reactive-resume-db
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=reactive_resume
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=change_me_password
      - POSTGRES_DB=reactive_resume
    restart: unless-stopped

  minio:
    image: minio/minio:latest
    container_name: reactive-resume-minio
    command: server /data
    volumes:
      - minio_data:/data
    environment:
      - MINIO_ROOT_USER=minioadmin
      - MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=minioadmin
    restart: unless-stopped

  chrome:
    image: ghcr.io/browserless/chromium:latest
    container_name: reactive-resume-chrome
    environment:
      - TOKEN=chrome_token_change_me
      - TIMEOUT=10000
      - CONCURRENT=10
      - EXIT_ON_HEALTH_FAILURE=true
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  minio_data:

Initial Setup

# Start all services
docker compose up -d

# Wait for services to initialize (MinIO needs bucket creation)
sleep 10

# Create the MinIO bucket
docker exec reactive-resume-minio \
  mc alias set local http://localhost:9000 minioadmin minioadmin && \
  mc mb local/default && \
  mc anonymous set download local/default

Navigate to http://your-server:3000 and create your account. The first user registered has no special admin privileges -- Reactive Resume uses a flat user model where every user has equal access to resume-building features.

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Building Your Resume

Getting Started

  1. Create a new resume -- Click "Create Resume" and give it a title (e.g., "Software Engineer - 2026")
  2. Choose a template -- Browse available templates and pick one that matches your industry
  3. Fill in sections -- The editor has pre-built sections for:
    • Personal information (name, email, phone, location, website)
    • Summary / objective
    • Work experience
    • Education
    • Skills
    • Languages
    • Certifications
    • Projects
    • Volunteering
    • References
    • Custom sections (anything else you need)

The Editor Interface

The editor uses a two-panel layout:

Every change you make on the left is instantly reflected on the right. There's no "save" button -- everything is auto-saved continuously.

Reactive Resume builder interface showing the resume editor

Customizing the Design

Each template supports extensive customization:

Multiple Resume Versions

A powerful workflow is to maintain multiple versions of your resume:

  1. Base resume -- Contains everything: all experience, all projects, all skills
  2. Targeted versions -- Duplicated from the base, with sections toggled on/off and descriptions tailored for specific roles

Reactive Resume makes this easy with its duplicate feature -- clone any resume and modify it for a specific job application.

AI Integration

Reactive Resume can use OpenAI (or any compatible API) to help write resume content:

Setting Up AI

Add your API key to the environment:

environment:
  - OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-key

What AI Can Do

The AI features are entirely optional. The resume builder is fully functional without them.

Using Alternative AI Providers

Reactive Resume works with any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint. To use a different provider:

environment:
  - OPENAI_API_KEY=your-api-key
  - OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://api.together.xyz/v1  # or any compatible endpoint

This lets you use providers like Together.ai, Groq, or a local Ollama instance for AI features without relying on OpenAI directly.

PDF Export

Reactive Resume uses a headless Chrome instance (via Browserless) to render resumes to PDF. This produces pixel-perfect output that matches exactly what you see in the preview.

To export:

  1. Open your resume in the editor
  2. Click the "Export" or download button
  3. Select PDF format
  4. The PDF is generated server-side and downloaded to your browser

The Chrome-based rendering ensures that fonts, layouts, and spacing are identical across all systems. Unlike HTML-to-PDF converters that can produce inconsistent results, this approach gives you exactly what you see.

JSON Export

You can also export your resume data as JSON for:

Sharing Resumes

Reactive Resume can generate a public URL for your resume, turning it into a web page:

  1. Open your resume
  2. Click "Share"
  3. Toggle public sharing on
  4. Copy the generated URL

This is useful for:

The shared page is a clean, responsive web page that looks identical to the PDF version.

Production Deployment

Environment Variables for Production

environment:
  - PUBLIC_URL=https://resume.yourdomain.com
  - STORAGE_URL=https://resume.yourdomain.com/storage
  - DISABLE_SIGNUPS=true  # After creating accounts

Reverse Proxy with Caddy

resume.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy reactive-resume:3000
}

Reverse Proxy with Nginx

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name resume.yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /path/to/cert.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/key.pem;

    client_max_body_size 20M;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Backup and Restore

Database Backup

docker exec reactive-resume-db \
  pg_dump -U reactive_resume reactive_resume > backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

MinIO Data Backup

docker run --rm \
  -v minio_data:/data \
  -v $(pwd)/backups:/backup \
  alpine tar czf /backup/minio-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz -C /data .

Full Restore

# Restore database
cat backup.sql | docker exec -i reactive-resume-db \
  psql -U reactive_resume reactive_resume

# Restore MinIO
docker run --rm \
  -v minio_data:/data \
  -v $(pwd)/backups:/backup \
  alpine tar xzf /backup/minio-backup.tar.gz -C /data

Comparison with Commercial Resume Builders

Feature Reactive Resume Canva Zety Resume.io
Price Free Free (limited) / $13/mo $24/mo $24/mo
PDF export Free Free Paywall Paywall
Templates 10+ 100+ 20+ 30+
AI features OpenAI (BYO key) Built-in Built-in Built-in
Data ownership Self-hosted Canva's servers Zety's servers Resume.io's servers
Privacy Full control Their privacy policy Their privacy policy Their privacy policy
Custom sections Yes Limited Limited Limited
ATS-friendly Yes Varies Yes Yes

Reactive Resume won't match Canva's template library, but it provides professional, ATS-friendly templates that work well for most industries. The privacy and cost advantages are significant -- you never have to worry about a subscription expiring and losing access to your resume.

Who Should Use Reactive Resume

Reactive Resume is ideal for:

The Docker setup requires a bit more effort than signing up for a SaaS tool, but once running, Reactive Resume provides a resume-building experience that matches or exceeds paid alternatives -- with full data ownership and zero recurring costs.

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