Job Application Tracker

A modern, full-stack web application for tracking job applications with an intuitive UI built with Vue.js and PrimeVue.

🚀 Features (Phase 1 - MVP)

• ✅ Complete CRUD Operations: Create, read, update, and delete job applications
• ✅ Rich Data Tracking: Company name, position, location, job type/level, status, dates, notes
• ✅ Modern UI: Built with PrimeVue v4 components and Aura theme
• ✅ Data Persistence: PostgreSQL database with automatic schema creation
• ✅ Containerized: Fully Dockerized application with single-command deployment
• ✅ Production Ready: Gunicorn WSGI server, nginx reverse proxy, health monitoring

📋 Prerequisites

• Docker (version 20.10+)
• Docker Compose (version 2.0+)
• Bun (optional, for local frontend development)

🏃 Quick Start

1. Clone and Setup

# Navigate to project directory
cd /root/projects/JobApplicationTracker

# Generate environment configuration
chmod +x scripts/setup_env.sh
./scripts/setup_env.sh

The setup script will:

• Auto-generate secure passwords and secret keys
• Prompt for application host (default: localhost:8080)
• Prompt for optional Google Tag Manager ID
• Create a .env file with all configuration

2. Start the Application

# Build and start all services
docker compose up --build

This will start:

• PostgreSQL 16 database
• Flask backend with Gunicorn (Python 3.12)
• Vue 3 frontend with PrimeVue v4
• Nginx reverse proxy

3. Access the Application

Open your browser and navigate to:

http://localhost:8080

🛠️ Development

Backend Development

# View backend logs
docker compose logs -f backend

# Access backend container
docker compose exec backend bash

# Run database migrations (if needed)
docker compose exec backend python -c "from app.database import db; from app import create_app; app = create_app(); app.app_context().push(); db.create_all()"

Frontend Development

For local development with hot-reload:

cd frontend
bun install
bun run dev

The dev server will start at http://localhost:5173 with API proxying to the backend.

Database Access

# Access PostgreSQL CLI
docker compose exec postgres psql -U tracker_user -d job_tracker

# Backup database
docker exec job_tracker_postgres pg_dump -U tracker_user job_tracker > backup.sql

# Restore database
docker exec -i job_tracker_postgres psql -U tracker_user job_tracker < backup.sql

🏗️ Architecture

Tech Stack

Backend:

• Python 3.12
• Flask (web framework)
• SQLAlchemy (ORM)
• PostgreSQL 16 (database)
• Gunicorn (WSGI server)

Frontend:

• Vue 3 (framework)
• PrimeVue v4 (UI library, Aura theme)
• Vite (build tool)
• Bun (package manager)
• Axios (HTTP client)

Infrastructure:

• Docker & Docker Compose
• Nginx (reverse proxy)
• Single Docker network (job_tracker_network)

Directory Structure

JobApplicationTracker/
├── backend/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── __init__.py       # Flask app factory
│   │   ├── config.py         # Configuration
│   │   ├── database.py       # SQLAlchemy setup
│   │   ├── models.py         # Database models
│   │   └── routes.py         # API endpoints
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── requirements.txt
│   └── gunicorn.conf.py
├── frontend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/       # Vue components
│   │   ├── services/         # API service
│   │   ├── App.vue          # Root component
│   │   └── main.js          # Vue app entry
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── package.json
│   └── vite.config.js
├── nginx/
│   ├── nginx.conf.template  # Nginx config with env vars
│   └── Dockerfile
├── scripts/
│   └── setup_env.sh         # Environment setup script
├── .env.example             # Environment variables template
├── docker-compose.yml       # Docker orchestration
└── README.md

🔌 API Endpoints

All API endpoints are prefixed with /api/:

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/health	Health check
GET	/api/applications	List all applications
POST	/api/applications	Create new application
GET	/api/applications/<id>	Get single application
PUT	/api/applications/<id>	Update application
DELETE	/api/applications/<id>	Delete application

Example API Calls

# Health check
curl http://localhost:8080/api/health

# Create application
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/applications \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "company_name": "Acme Corp",
    "position_title": "Senior Developer",
    "location": "Remote",
    "job_type": "Full-time",
    "status": "Applied"
  }'

# List all applications
curl http://localhost:8080/api/applications

🛑 Stopping the Application

# Stop all services
docker compose down

# Stop and remove volumes (WARNING: deletes all data)
docker compose down -v

🐛 Troubleshooting

Issue: Port 8080 already in use

# Find and kill process using port 8080
lsof -ti:8080 | xargs kill -9

# Or change APP_HOST in .env to use different port

Issue: Database connection failed

# Check if PostgreSQL is running
docker compose ps postgres

# View PostgreSQL logs
docker compose logs postgres

# Restart PostgreSQL
docker restart postgres

Issue: Frontend not loading

# Rebuild nginx container
docker compose up --build nginx

# Check nginx logs
docker compose logs nginx

📚 Environment Variables

All configuration is managed through the .env file:

Variable	Description	Default
APP_HOST	Application hostname	localhost:8080
POSTGRES_DB	Database name	job_tracker
POSTGRES_USER	Database user	tracker_user
POSTGRES_PASSWORD	Database password	Auto-generated
SECRET_KEY	Flask secret key	Auto-generated
BACKEND_CORS_ORIGIN	CORS origin	http://localhost:8080
GTM_ID	Google Tag Manager ID	Empty

🔐 Security Notes

• Never commit .env to version control
• Auto-generated secrets use cryptographically secure random generation
• CORS is configured to only allow requests from configured origin
• Input validation on both frontend and backend

🚧 Roadmap

Phase 2: Document Management (Upcoming)

• Resume and cover letter uploads
• Document storage in Docker volumes
• File download functionality

Phase 3: AI Integration (Planned)

• OpenAI job description parsing
• Automatic field extraction
• AI-powered resume/cover letter feedback

Phase 4: Authentication (Planned)

• JWT-based authentication
• User session management
• Protected routes

Phase 5: Advanced Features (Planned)

• In-browser PDF/DOCX viewing
• Analytics dashboard
• Advanced filtering and search

📄 License

This project is proprietary.

🤝 Contributing

This is a personal project. For inquiries, please contact the repository owner.