SMF·NOVORESUME
Can a prompt replace Novorésumé?
Résumés & job search — one-page resume builder
Exhibit tracking slip
Verdict
Novorésumé is unusual twice over: it charges once instead of monthly, and its product is a constraint rather than a feature list — everything is pushed towards one dense, readable page. The constraint is the interesting part to rebuild, because a generator that refuses to produce a second page forces the editing decisions a recruiter would otherwise make for you.
Exhibit A — The prompt
Received on31.07.2026Build a resume generator whose defining rule is that the output is exactly one page.
Content lives in a single YAML or JSON file. Rendering goes through an HTML template and a print stylesheet to a one-page PDF via headless Chromium.
The rule is enforced, not suggested. After rendering, count the pages: more than one is a build failure, and the error message must name the last entry that fitted and the first that did not, so the next action is obvious. Write that test first, with a fixture that is deliberately three bullets too long.
Give the author two levers before cutting content, both explicit in the data file rather than hidden in CSS: a `density` value that scales leading and margins within a bounded range, and a per-entry `bullets: N` cap that keeps only the first N bullets of an entry in the rendered output while leaving the rest in the file. Print a short report after each build — page fill percentage, and how many bullets each cap is currently hiding — so you can see how close to the edge you are.
Add a plain-text export produced from the same data, not scraped from the PDF, for the application forms that ask you to paste your resume into a textarea.
Do not build a live in-browser editor, and do not add a second-page escape hatch. The moment two pages are allowed, the constraint stops doing its job.Opening prefills the prompt — press enter to run it.
Exhibit B — What you lose
- B.1 the template catalogue and its colour and typeface presets
- B.2 the in-browser editor with live preview
- B.3 matching cover-letter designs
- B.4 someone else keeping the file for you between job searches
Prior art
- RenderCVLicense: MIT
Exhibit C — Why people still pay: layout constraints and templates
Twenty euros once, with no subscription to remember to cancel, is an honest price for a document most people need for six weeks every four years.
Questions
Can I import my Novorésumé document?
There is no structured export, so you retype the content into the data file once. It takes twenty minutes and it is the last migration this document will ever need.
Is one page actually right for everyone?
No, and the tool should not pretend otherwise — academic CVs and senior technical roles in some markets expect more. This build is deliberately opinionated for the common case; if your field expects three pages, raise the page limit in one constant and lose the constraint that made it interesting.
What does it cost to run?
Nothing. There is no server, no key and no account — it is a script and a file on your machine.
What is the one thing that does not survive the rebuild?
Seeing the layout react as you type. Novorésumé's live preview makes the fit problem visible continuously; your version tells you about it once, at build time, after the fact.
Related tools
Receipt