--- name: cover-letter-builder description: > Build a tailored cover letter by scanning the current repo for the person's background (skills, experience, projects — from plain text, Markdown, LaTeX, or any prose file) and matching it to a job posting (title, company, description). Outputs a polished Markdown file named YYYY-MM-DD-company-position.md. Use this skill whenever the user asks to write a cover letter, apply for a job, draft an application letter, or wants to generate a cover letter from a job posting — even if they just paste a job description or say "write me a cover letter for this role". --- # Cover Letter Builder ## Inputs The user must supply — or you must extract from their message: | Field | Source | |---|---| | Job title | User message or job posting | | Company name | User message or job posting | | Job description | User message or pasted text | | Repo path | Default: current working directory (`.`) | If any field is missing and cannot be inferred, ask once — all at once. --- ## Step 1: Scan the Repo Recursively scan the repo for files that contain personal/professional information. **Priority targets:** - `*.md`, `*.txt`, `*.tex`, `*.rst` — prose, CVs, bios, READMEs - `resume.*`, `cv.*`, `about.*`, `bio.*`, `profile.*` (any extension) - `CLAUDE.md` or `claude.md` — may contain identity/context - LaTeX: `.tex` files — extract text, ignore preamble/macros - Any file with keywords: experience, skills, education, projects, work, career, background **Skip:** - `node_modules/`, `.git/`, `vendor/`, `dist/`, `build/`, `*.lock`, `*.log`, binaries **LaTeX handling:** Strip LaTeX commands — extract readable text only: ```bash # fast approximation: strip \cmd{...} and environments sed 's/\\[a-zA-Z]*{[^}]*}//g; s/\\[a-zA-Z]*//g; s/[{}]//g' ``` Or use `pandoc` if available: `pandoc -t plain file.tex` **What to extract per file:** - Name, contact info - Work history: company, title, dates, responsibilities - Skills: technical, tools, languages, platforms - Education - Projects: name, description, tech used, outcomes - Achievements, metrics, certifications Synthesize everything into a single internal profile. Do not write this to disk. --- ## Step 2: Analyze the Job Posting Parse the job description for: - **Must-haves**: required skills, years of experience, specific tools/technologies - **Nice-to-haves**: preferred qualifications - **Role context**: team size, product area, company stage, mission - **Tone signals**: startup vs enterprise, technical vs cross-functional, formal vs casual - **Red flags to mirror**: specific terminology they repeat (e.g., "ownership", "shipping", "scale") --- ## Step 3: Match Profile to Posting Build a relevance map: - Which experiences directly match the role's requirements? - Which projects demonstrate the core skills? - What's the strongest 2-3 signals to lead with? - Any gaps? If yes, bridge honestly (adjacent experience, learning trajectory) — do not fabricate. --- ## Step 4: Write the Cover Letter ### Structure ``` [City, Date — optional, infer from repo if available] [Hiring Manager / "Hiring Team" if unknown] [Company Name] Opening paragraph — the hook Body paragraph 1 — strongest signal match Body paragraph 2 — second signal or narrative arc Closing paragraph — intent + call to action [Name] [Contact — if found in repo] ``` ### Writing Rules (critical — anti-AI polish) **Do:** - Write like a sharp human who knows their value — direct, confident, no hedging - Use specific numbers, names, outcomes when available ("reduced P95 latency by 40%", "led migration of 3 services") - Vary sentence length deliberately — short punches, longer explanations - Start sentences mid-thought when natural ("Three years building X taught me...") - Use contractions where it reads naturally ("I've", "it's", "that's") - Reference something specific about the company that shows genuine interest - Let personality show in 1-2 places — not every sentence **Do NOT:** - Use any of these phrases: "I am excited to", "I am passionate about", "thrilled", "leverage", "synergy", "fast-paced environment", "team player", "detail-oriented", "results-driven", "I would be a great fit", "please find attached", "do not hesitate" - Use the em dash (—) as a stylistic flourish more than once - Open with "I" as the first word of the letter - Use bullet points inside the letter body - Summarize the job description back to the employer - Start consecutive sentences with the same word - Use passive voice where active works ("was responsible for" → "ran", "owned", "shipped") - Write in lists or numbered points — prose only - Use filler transitions: "Furthermore", "Additionally", "In conclusion", "To summarize" **Tone calibration based on company signals:** - Startup/early-stage: tighter, more direct, drop formality, show builder instinct - Enterprise/corporate: slightly more structured, reference scale and process - Mission-driven: acknowledge the mission briefly, but don't overdo it ### Length - Target: 3-4 paragraphs, 250-380 words - Hard cap: 400 words - Do not pad to fill space --- ## Step 4b: Grammar & Quality Gate Run this pass on the full draft **before writing to disk**. Fix everything in-place — do not note issues and move on. ### Grammar checks - Subject-verb agreement throughout - Correct tense consistency — past tense for previous roles, present for current - Article usage: "a" vs "an", missing articles before nouns - Preposition correctness ("responsible for", not "responsible of") - Comma splices — split or join with a conjunction - Dangling modifiers — ensure the subject of an opening clause matches the main clause - Pronoun clarity — no ambiguous "it", "they", "this" without a clear referent - Hyphenation: compound modifiers before nouns ("full-stack engineer", "five-year track record") ### Sentence quality checks - No sentence over 35 words — break it up - No two consecutive sentences starting with the same word - No consecutive sentences of similar length — vary rhythm - Each paragraph must have a clear single purpose; if it doesn't, rewrite or cut - Cut any word that doesn't earn its place: "very", "really", "quite", "just", "actually", "basically", "essentially" - Cut throat-clearing openers: "As someone who...", "Throughout my career...", "With X years of experience..." ### Authenticity re-check - Re-scan for banned phrases from the Do NOT list — they sometimes creep back in during revision - Verify no sentence reads like it was generated by a language model: - Overly balanced "not only X, but also Y" constructions - Suspiciously perfect parallelism across all bullets or clauses - Abstract nouns doing the work verbs should do ("facilitation of", "enablement of") - At least one sentence must feel like *this specific person* wrote it — grounded in a real detail from their background ### Quality bar The letter passes when: - A native English speaker would find nothing to correct - It reads like it was written by a sharp professional, not assembled from templates - Every claim is traceable to something in the repo scan - Cutting any paragraph would make the letter weaker If the draft does not pass, rewrite the failing sections and re-check. Do not output a letter that doesn't clear this bar. --- ## Step 5: Output ### Filename format ``` --.md ``` Rules for slug: - Lowercase, hyphens only, no special chars - Company: `acme-corp`, `stripe`, `scale-ai` - Position: `senior-backend-engineer`, `staff-sre`, `founding-engineer` - Date: today's date in `YYYY-MM-DD` Example: `2025-11-14-stripe-staff-platform-engineer.md` ### File content format **Detect format before writing — in priority order:** 1. **User specified a format** → use it exactly as described 2. **Existing cover letter files found in repo** → extract their structure (header style, date format, signature block, footer conventions) and mirror it 3. **No prior format found** → use the default below Default (only when no existing format is detected): ```markdown # Cover Letter — [Position] at [Company] [Date] [Body of the letter] --- _Generated from repo scan. Review before sending._ ``` When mirroring an existing format: preserve section order, delimiter style, metadata fields, and any front matter — only replace the body content. Write the file to the **current working directory** (or repo root if specified). --- ## Step 6: Report to User After writing: 1. State the output path 2. Show the letter in the conversation for review 3. List the top 3 repo sources used (filename + what was extracted) 4. Flag any gaps between the job requirements and what was found in the repo --- ## Edge Cases | Situation | Handling | |---|---| | No relevant files found | Ask user to provide a summary of their background inline | | Only a README found | Extract what's there; note it's thin; produce best-effort letter | | Multiple CV/resume files | Merge; prefer the most recent by filename or date metadata | | LaTeX with complex macros | Use `pandoc` first; fall back to regex strip | | Job description is vague/short | Ask for one clarifying detail: what does "success" look like in year 1? | | Company name has spaces/symbols | Slugify: `Scale AI` → `scale-ai`, `Acme Corp.` → `acme-corp` |