Harvard CV & Cover Letter Engine
Produces professional, Harvard-standard CVs and cover letters as .docx files.
⚠️ CARDINAL RULE — NO HALLUCINATION
DO NOT hallucinate, create, infer, or assume ANY information about the person's skills,
experience, education, achievements, or background. ADHERE STRICTLY AND EXCLUSIVELY to
the information explicitly provided by the person in this conversation. If information is
missing, ask for it. Never fill in gaps with invented content.
This rule applies to every field: job titles, dates, company names, responsibilities,
quantified results, skills, languages, education details — everything. Only use what the
user has told you.
Step 0 — Collect Information
Before writing anything, determine what documents are needed and gather the necessary
context. Ask only what you don't already have from the conversation.
For CV/Resume, collect:
- Contact info: Full name, address (optional), email, phone
- Education: Institution(s), degree(s), concentration/major, GPA (optional), graduation date, thesis (optional), relevant coursework (optional), honors/awards (optional)
- Experience: For each role — organization name, city/state, job title, dates (Month Year – Month Year), and bullet-point responsibilities/achievements
- Leadership & Activities: Organizations, roles, dates, descriptions (optional)
- Skills & Interests (optional): Technical skills, languages (with fluency), lab techniques, interests
- Format preference: Bullet-style or paragraph-style experience descriptions
- Target role or industry (to guide section ordering if needed)
For Cover Letter, collect:
- Applicant's contact info: Name, address, email, phone
- Date
- Recipient: Name, title, organization, address
- Position being applied for and where it was found
- Organization context: What specifically about this organization excites the person (they must tell you — do NOT invent this)
- Key experiences from their background most relevant to this role (drawn only from what they share)
- Any specific skills or achievements they want highlighted
If any critical information is missing, ask for it before proceeding. DO NOT hallucinate, create, infer, or assume ANY information to fill gaps.
Step 1 — Select Format
Resume formats:
- Bullet style (default): Experience described as bullet points starting with action verbs
- Paragraph style: Experience described in short paragraph form, same action-verb rules apply
Ask the user which they prefer if not specified. Default to bullet style.
Step 2 — Apply Harvard Guidelines
Read references/harvard-rules.md before generating any document. All documents must strictly follow those rules.
Key rules to enforce at all times:
- Language: specific, active, fact-based, no personal pronouns, no narrative style, no slang
- Each bullet/sentence begins with an action verb (see action verbs list in the reference)
- Reverse chronological order within each section
- Sections ordered by relevance to target role
- No pictures, age, gender, or references
- Cover letter: max one page, no flowery language, minimal use of "I"
- Same font type and size on both resume and cover letter
Step 3 — Generate the Document
Use the docx npm package (v9+) to produce .docx files via a Node.js script.
All necessary patterns are included below — this skill is self-contained, no external skill files need to be read.
CV/Resume formatting rules (from Harvard templates):
Header:
[Bold, centered] FirstName LastName
[Centered] Street Address • City, State Zip • email@example.com • phone number
Section headings: Full-width, bold, with a horizontal line underneath (use paragraph border)
Education entry format:
[Bold left] Organization Name [Right-aligned] City, State
[Left] Degree, Concentration. GPA (optional) [Right-aligned] Graduation Date
[Left, italic optional] Thesis: ... (optional)
[Left] Relevant Coursework: ... (optional)
Experience entry format:
[Bold left] Organization Name [Right-aligned] City, State
[Bold left] Position Title [Right-aligned] Month Year – Month Year
• Bullet starting with action verb, describing accomplishment with quantified results where possible.
• No personal pronouns. Phrase, not full sentence.
Paragraph style alternative for experience:
[Bold left] Organization Name [Right-aligned] City, State
[Bold left] Position Title [Right-aligned] Month Year – Month Year
Short paragraph beginning with action verb. No personal pronouns. Avoid articles for flow.
Skills & Interests (optional):
Technical: [list]
Language: [list with fluency levels]
Interests: [list]
Cover Letter formatting rules:
[Date]
[Recipient Name]
[Title]
[Organization]
[Address]
Dear [Name]:
[Opening paragraph — state who you are, position applying for, source of posting, enthusiasm]
[Body paragraph 1 — most relevant experience, specific to the organization's mission]
[Body paragraph 2 — additional experience or skill, quantified where possible]
[Closing paragraph — thank reader, express desire to discuss further]
Sincerely,
[Applicant Name]
Cover letter rules:
- Address to a specific person whenever possible
- Max one page
- Give concrete examples supporting qualifications
- Use action words throughout
- Reference the job description and connect to credentials
- Match font/size to resume
Step 4 — Technical Implementation
Dependency: docx npm package
Check if already installed, install if not:
npm list -g docx 2>/dev/null | grep docx || npm install -g docx
This skill requires docx v9+. No other runtime dependencies beyond Node.js.
Page setup (US Letter, 1-inch margins)
properties: {
page: {
size: { width: 12240, height: 15840 },
margin: { top: 1440, right: 1440, bottom: 1440, left: 1440 }
}
}
Name header style
new Paragraph({
alignment: AlignmentType.CENTER,
children: [new TextRun({ text: "FirstName LastName", bold: true, size: 28, font: "Times New Roman" })]
})
Contact line with bullets
new Paragraph({
alignment: AlignmentType.CENTER,
children: [new TextRun({ text: "Address • City, State • email • phone", size: 22, font: "Times New Roman" })]
})
Section heading with border
new Paragraph({
border: { bottom: { style: BorderStyle.SINGLE, size: 6, color: "000000", space: 1 } },
spacing: { before: 240, after: 60 },
children: [new TextRun({ text: "EDUCATION", bold: true, size: 24, font: "Times New Roman" })]
})
Two-column line (org name left, city right) — use tab stops
new Paragraph({
tabStops: [{ type: TabStopType.RIGHT, position: 9360 }],
children: [
new TextRun({ text: "Organization Name", bold: true, size: 22, font: "Times New Roman" }),
new TextRun({ text: "\t", size: 22 }),
new TextRun({ text: "City, State", size: 22, font: "Times New Roman" })
]
})
Bullets (NEVER use unicode — use numbering config)
numbering: {
config: [{
reference: "resume-bullets",
levels: [{
level: 0, format: LevelFormat.BULLET, text: "•", alignment: AlignmentType.LEFT,
style: { paragraph: { indent: { left: 360, hanging: 360 } } }
}]
}]
}
// Then in paragraphs:
new Paragraph({
numbering: { reference: "resume-bullets", level: 0 },
children: [new TextRun({ text: "Action verb + achievement.", size: 22, font: "Times New Roman" })]
})
Step 5 — Output
- Generate the
.docx file(s) to /home/claude/ first
- Validate by opening the file in Word or running:
python /mnt/skills/public/docx/scripts/office/validate.py output.docx (only if that path exists in the environment; skip otherwise)
- Copy final file to
/mnt/user-data/outputs/
- Present files to user with
present_files
- Remind the user to review all content for accuracy — verify dates, titles, and wording
⚠️ FINAL REMINDER — NO HALLUCINATION
DO NOT hallucinate, create, infer, or assume ANY information about the person's skills,
experience, education, achievements, or background. If something wasn't explicitly stated
by the person, do not include it. Ask if you need more information.
