Use Resume Matcher from Claude Code & Claude Desktop (MCP)

What This Is

Resume Matcher ships an MCP server. It lets Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex or any other MCP client work with your resumes directly.

The split is simple. Claude (or your client’s model) writes the content. Resume Matcher stores it, checks it, scores it and renders the PDF. The server needs no AI API key, because none of its tools calls an AI model. It shares the web app’s database, so whatever Claude saves shows up in the app.

Before You Start

• A local install. Follow Installation, then make sure the backend dependencies are synced:

  cd apps/backend
  uv sync

• The web app running, for PDF work. PDF export, verify_resume, tailor_and_verify and parse_check_resume render your resume in a browser, so they need the frontend and backend running as in the installation steps. The other tools work without them.

• Not Docker. A Docker install keeps its database inside the Docker volume, so a server started on your host would see an empty database. Docker installs aren’t supported yet.

Set Up Claude Code

Add the server with one command. Replace the path with the location of your clone:

claude mcp add resume-matcher -- uv run --directory /abs/path/to/Resume-Matcher/apps/backend resume-matcher-mcp

Then ask Claude to call get_status. It reports where the data lives and how many resumes and jobs it found.

Set Up Claude Desktop

Add this to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "resume-matcher": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/abs/path/to/Resume-Matcher/apps/backend", "resume-matcher-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

The file lives here:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Use the absolute path of uv for command. Claude Desktop doesn’t inherit your shell’s PATH, so a bare uv isn’t found. Find the path with which uv on macOS or Linux, or where.exe uv on Windows. In JSON, double the backslashes in Windows paths.

Cursor, Codex and Other Clients

They use the same command and arguments:

• Command: uv
• Args: run --directory <path>/apps/backend resume-matcher-mcp

What You Can Ask Claude

You don’t call tools yourself. You describe the job and Claude picks the tools. Some examples:

• “Import my resume from ~/Downloads/resume.pdf as a master resume.”
• “Import my resume from ~/Downloads/resume.pdf and tailor it to this job: [paste the job description]. Keep it to one page, fix anything the check flags, then export a PDF to my Desktop.”
• “Check whether an ATS can read the PDF at ~/Downloads/cv.pdf.”
• “Write a cover letter for my latest tailored resume and save it to that resume.”

Claude is told to keep your name and contact details, employers, dates and entry counts unchanged, and never to invent metrics or skills. Resume Matcher rejects a tailored save that breaks the preservation rules, and returns grounding warnings for rewrites that stray far from the source.

The Tools

The server exposes 27 tools, grouped by what they do to your data. Nothing deletes a resume or job.

Read-only (13). These never change anything.

Tool	What it does
get_status	Data location, record counts, templates and limits. Claude calls it first.
get_resume_schema	The resume JSON schema plus authoring rules.
list_resumes	Your resumes, newest first. Masters are the tailoring sources.
get_resume	A resume’s data, cover letter and outreach message.
get_job	A stored job description with its keywords.
get_resume_job	The job a tailored resume was written for.
extract_document_text	Reads a local PDF, DOCX, DOC, MD or TXT file into markdown.
validate_tailored_resume	A dry run of the checks a tailored save must pass.
score_resume	Keyword match and ATS score for a saved resume or a draft.
parse_check_file	ATS parse check of a local PDF or DOCX.
parse_check_resume	ATS parse check of a saved resume as rendered. Needs the app running.
verify_resume	One render, then page count, parse check, keyword score and issues. Needs the app running.
list_applications	Tracker cards, optionally for one column.

Adds new records, or refreshes a value that can be recomputed (6).

Tool	What it does
create_master_resume	Creates a master resume from structured data Claude built.
add_job	Stores a job description, with the keywords Claude extracted for scoring.
save_tailored_resume	Saves a tailored resume as a new version. Rejected if it breaks the checks.
tailor_and_verify	Validates, saves and verifies a tailored resume in one call.
recalculate_ats_score	Recomputes and stores a tailored resume’s ATS score, like the builder’s Recalculate button.
create_application	Adds a tracker card.

Overwrites what’s stored (8). These are marked as destructive in MCP, so your client may ask you to approve them.

Tool	What it does
update_resume	Replaces a resume’s structured data.
set_resume_title	Renames a resume (80 characters at most).
set_cover_letter	Stores a cover letter, replacing the old one.
set_outreach_message	Stores an outreach message, replacing the old one.
set_default_master	Makes a master the default tailoring source.
set_job_keywords	Attaches keywords to a job, replacing the old ones.
export_resume_pdf	Renders a saved resume to PDF. Overwrites any file already at that path. Needs the app running.
update_application	Moves or edits a tracker card.

Pick the target before an overwrite: look at what’s there first. tailor_and_verify and save_tailored_resume never overwrite anything, because they add a new tailored resume.

The Typical Flow

Claude’s built-in instructions walk it through these steps:

1. Look around. get_status, then list_resumes and get_resume. To import a file: extract_document_text, get_resume_schema, then create_master_resume.
2. Add the job. add_job with the job description and the keywords Claude pulled out of it.
3. Write the tailored resume from the source resume.
4. Tailor and verify. tailor_and_verify validates the draft, saves it, renders it once, parse-checks it and scores it. If saved is false, nothing was written: Claude fixes the violations and calls it again.
5. Fix the issues. For each code in issues, Claude edits with update_resume and checks again with verify_resume. recalculate_ats_score refreshes the score the builder shows after edits.
6. Export. export_resume_pdf writes the final file. Without an output path it goes to an exports folder inside the data folder.

A saved tailored resume appears in the web app like any other. If the job has keywords, the save stores its ATS score, and unless Claude turns it off, it adds a card to the Applied column of the application tracker.

If verification fails after the save, the result says saved: true with a verify_error. Claude shouldn’t save again; it calls verify_resume instead.

Issue Codes

verify_resume and tailor_and_verify list what needs attention in issues:

Code	What it means
over_page_limit	The PDF has more pages than the max_pages Claude asked for.
text_layer	The PDF has too little extractable text, under 50 visible characters.
multi_column	The parse check found a multi-column layout.
garbled_glyphs	The extracted text contains garbled characters (the check warned or failed).
low_order_fidelity	The PDF’s reading order scores below 0.9 against your resume’s data.
fields_missing	A field from your resume’s data is missing or garbled in the PDF text.
roundtrip_truncated	The round trip stopped at its limit of 300 fields, so later fields weren’t checked.
injectable_keywords	Job keywords your master resume already supports, but this resume lacks.
render_failed	The PDF couldn’t be rendered. The keyword score is still returned.

On multi_column or low_order_fidelity, Claude is told to suggest a single-column template. See PDF Templates for the options. The round trip checks Resume Matcher’s own render against your data. It isn’t a test against a real ATS.

Limits

• Five master resumes. create_master_resume fails once you have five. Delete one in the web app first.
• Imports up to 4 MB. extract_document_text and parse_check_file read files up to 4 MB. Import takes PDF, DOCX, DOC, MD and TXT. Parse check takes PDF and DOCX.
• One database. The server uses the same database as the web app when both run from the same checkout. DATA_DIR moves the SQLite file. DATABASE_URL selects PostgreSQL instead, see Use PostgreSQL Instead of SQLite.

Troubleshooting

Claude Desktop can’t start the server or can’t find uv

Put the absolute path of uv in command, as shown above, and restart Claude Desktop. A bare uv only works where your shell’s PATH is inherited.

PDF tools fail with “PDF rendering failed”

Start the web app. The message names the frontend address it tried, http://localhost:3000 by default. If yours runs elsewhere, set FRONTEND_BASE_URL in apps/backend/.env. Also run the Playwright Chromium step in Installation, unless Chrome or Edge is installed. verify_resume and tailor_and_verify still return the keyword score. tailor_and_verify has already saved the resume, so once the app is up, call verify_resume instead of saving again.

Claude sees no resumes, but the web app has them

The server is using a different database. Ask Claude to call get_status. It reports data_dir, the record counts and backend (sqlite or postgresql). If the counts don’t match your dashboard, the web app is running from a different checkout, or DATA_DIR or DATABASE_URL differ between the two. That is the case for Docker installs, since their data sits in the Docker volume.

“Database is busy. Retry the same call.”

Another write was in progress. Ask Claude to repeat the call.

Next Steps

• Installation for the local setup the server needs
• Features for what you can do in the web app with the same resumes
• Use PostgreSQL Instead of SQLite to point the app and the server at a PostgreSQL database