# How to Vibe Code Your Own Huntr (and Stop Paying for It)

> All-in-one AI-powered career platform and job search CRM

- Site: https://huntr.co
- Category: Career & Productivity SaaS
- Platforms: Web app, Browser extension
- Verdict: **Solid side project** (62/100 vibecodeable)
- Estimated effort: 3-4 weeks of focused development

## Verdict

You can build a fully functional personal clone of the core Kanban tracker, AI resume builder, and semantic matching engine, but supporting thousands of brittle external ATS scrapers in a browser extension will require ongoing maintenance.

Building a personal-use clone of Huntr is a rewarding challenge that is entirely within reach if you scope down the Chrome extension's universal ATS autofill to a simple manual clipper and paste workflow. The web app portion—featuring Next.js, a PostgreSQL database via Neon, and direct LLM calls for resume tailoring and scoring—comes together quickly with AI assistance. However, the multi-dimensional matching logic (comparing responsibilities and qualifications rather than just keywords) requires careful prompt engineering and structured JSON outputs to yield reliable scores. If your goal is simply to manage your own job search without paying $40/mo, building this takes a few weekends of focused coding; if you expect the Chrome extension to automatically parse every obscure enterprise ATS form flawlessly on the first try, prepare for endless CSS selector debugging.

### What you can't replicate

- The 90k+ active user network and Chrome extension install base
- Enterprise B2B contracts with university career centers and bootcamps
- 9 years of continuous organic SEO authority and brand equity

## What it does

Huntr helps job seekers organize their job search on a Kanban CRM, build and tailor resumes with AI, review resumes line-by-line, generate cover letters, and clip jobs via browser extension.

### Core features

- Kanban job tracker with customizable columns and drag-and-drop state transitions
- Job card metadata extraction (salary, location, notes, contacts, interview dates)
- Map view for commute visualization
- AI resume builder with multi-template PDF exports
- Semantic job matching and keyword scanner evaluating keywords, responsibilities, and qualifications
- AI cover letter and achievement bullet generators
- AI resume review engine providing line-level critiques
- Chrome browser extension for one-click job clipping and application autofill

## The business

### Pricing

- Free: Free
- Pro: $40/mo

Founded 2017.
Team size: 5 to 7 employees.

## The hard parts

- Building a reliable Chrome extension that scrapes messy, unstructured DOMs across thousands of distinct ATS boards (Workday, Greenhouse, Lever)
- Engineering a deterministic multi-dimensional scoring engine that cleanly compares resume text against job description semantic requirements
- Robust PDF generation supporting multi-page formatting without clipping across distinct designer templates
- Form autofill engine handling custom shadow DOM inputs and complex React/Angular component wrappers in target ATS portals

## How to vibe code Huntr

### Prerequisites

- Node.js (free): Required runtime for running Next.js, package managers, and building the web application.
- GitHub (free): Version control and repository hosting for your codebase and deployment pipelines.
- Anthropic API Key (pay-per-use (~$5-10/mo)): Powers the AI resume tailoring, scoring, cover letter generation, and line-by-line critique engine.

### Recommended AI tools

- Claude Code: Agentic terminal coding tool that excels at multi-file scaffolding, API integrations, and iterative debugging.
- Cursor: AI-native code editor for reviewing visual diffs and refining the Kanban UI and resume layout templates.

### Stack

- Frontend: Next.js (App Router) with Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui
- Backend: Next.js Server Actions and API Routes
- Database: Neon (Serverless Postgres with Drizzle ORM)
- Auth: better-auth
- Payments: None (personal clone)
- Other: react-pdf for client-side resume PDF rendering and downloads, dnd-kit for Kanban board drag-and-drop interactions, Mapbox GL JS for map view and commute tracking

### Hosting

- Vercel (Hosting the Next.js web application and server actions on the Hobby tier.): $0/mo
- Neon (Serverless Postgres database storing user profiles, job applications, resumes, and contacts.): $0/mo

### Build guide

1. **Project Scaffolding & Database Schema** — Initialize the Next.js project with TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui components, and Drizzle ORM connected to Neon Postgres. Define data models for users, job applications (with status, salary, location, description), contacts, interviews, and resumes.

```
Scaffold a new Next.js App Router project using TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and standard directory structure. Configure Drizzle ORM with a Neon Postgres connection string from environment variables. Define database schemas in src/db/schema.ts for: users, jobs (id, userId, company, title, status [wishlist, applied, interviewing, offered, rejected], salary, location, latitude, longitude, description, notes, createdAt), contacts (id, userId, jobId, name, email, phone, role), and resumes (id, userId, title, contentJson, createdAt). Include migration scripts and a db client helper. Verify connection and ensure type safety across all models.
```

2. **Authentication & User Dashboard Shell** — Implement authentication using better-auth with email/password login and set up the main dashboard shell featuring navigation for the Job Tracker, Resume Builder, and Contacts.

```
Implement authentication in Next.js using better-auth with email/password credentials provider, hooking it up to our Neon Postgres Drizzle schema. Create sign-in and sign-up pages with clean Tailwind forms. Build a main dashboard layout with a sidebar navigation linking to /tracker (Job Tracker), /resumes (AI Resume Builder), /contacts (Contact Tracker), and /map (Map View). Protect all routes so unauthenticated users are redirected to sign-in.
```

3. **Kanban Job Tracker & CRUD Operations** — Build the Kanban board view for job applications supporting status columns, card creation, detailed view modals, and drag-and-drop state transitions using dnd-kit.

```
Build a Kanban job tracker view at /tracker using dnd-kit for smooth drag-and-drop column transitions (Wishlist, Applied, Interviewing, Offered, Rejected). Create a 'New Job' modal that accepts company name, job title, status, salary range, location, and description. Implement card click handlers that open a detailed slide-over view where users can update status, add private notes, log interview dates, and attach contacts. Ensure state updates optimistically and persists via Server Actions.
```

4. **AI Resume Builder & Template Engine** — Create a structured resume builder interface allowing users to manage experience entries, skills, and summaries, with real-time preview across multiple professional templates and client-side PDF export.

```
Build an AI Resume Builder at /resumes. Create a structured form editor for personal info, professional summary, work experience (company, role, dates, bullet points), education, and skills. Implement a live preview canvas supporting at least 3 distinct layout templates (e.g., Modern, Professional, Minimal) styled cleanly with CSS grid/flexbox. Integrate react-pdf or html2pdf to enable one-click PDF downloading of the formatted resume. Ensure templates look polished and ATS-friendly.
```

5. **AI Resume Tailor & Multi-Dimensional Matching Engine** — Implement the core AI feature that ingests a job description, extracts keywords, responsibilities, and qualifications, computes a match score against user resumes, and generates tailored bullet points and summaries.

```
Build the AI resume tailoring and scoring engine. Create an API route /api/ai/tailor that accepts a base resume JSON and a target job description text. Using the Anthropic API (via AI SDK), prompt Claude to: (1) Extract keywords, core responsibilities, and qualifications from the job description; (2) Calculate a multi-dimensional match score (keyword match %, responsibility coverage %, qualification match %); (3) Generate tailored summary and bullet point suggestions highlighting missing keywords. Build a companion UI at /resumes/tailor where users select a job and resume, view their match score breakdown, and bulk-accept AI suggestions into their resume.
```

6. **AI Cover Letter Generator & Resume Reviewer** — Add instant AI cover letter generation based on user profile and job descriptions, alongside a 5-minute resume critique specialist that flags weak verbs, missing metrics, and tone gaps.

```
Implement AI Cover Letter generation and AI Resume Review features. Create an API endpoint /api/ai/cover-letter that pulls user experience history and target job details to generate a polished, professional cover letter with editable output. Create an AI Resume Review page at /resumes/review where users submit their resume and target role; the backend calls Claude to produce a structured JSON critique containing line-level suggestions, identified gaps, impact metrics feedback, and a letter grade. Render the critique with one-click apply or discard actions for each suggestion.
```

7. **Map View & Contact Tracker Polish** — Integrate Mapbox GL JS to plot job application locations and commute distances on a map view, alongside a dedicated contact management table.

```
Build the Map View at /map and Contact Tracker at /contacts. For the Map View, integrate Mapbox GL JS to display user-saved job locations with custom map markers color-coded by application status, showing company name and salary on hover. For the Contact Tracker, build a searchable table listing recruiters and hiring managers linked to specific job cards, allowing users to store email addresses, phone numbers, and notes.
```

### Cost vs paying

**Starting costs (one-time):**

- AI Coding Assistant & API Credits: $25
- Total: $25 one-time

**Ongoing costs (monthly):**

- Vercel Hobby Hosting: $0/mo
- Neon Serverless Postgres: $0/mo
- Anthropic API Pay-as-you-go: ~$3-5/mo
- Total: ~$4/mo

- Paying for the SaaS instead: $40/mo (Pro plan)
- Build time: 25-35 hours
- AI tool credits: $20 (Claude Pro / Cursor) + ~$5 API usage
- Break-even: 1 month vs Pro subscription

## Sources

- [Huntr Website & Feature Pages](https://huntr.co)
- [Wobo - Huntr Review 2026 & Market Analysis](https://wobo.ai)
- [Baremetrics Case Study - How Huntr Doubled Revenue 4 Years Straight](https://baremetrics.com)
- [PitchBook Profile - Huntr](https://pitchbook.com)
- [GetLatka - Huntr Revenue and Growth Metrics](https://getlatka.com)