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Tailor CV — Installer Guide (macOS & Windows)

Everything you need to install, update, and remove Tailor CV on your machine. No code-signing, no security warnings, no developer skills required.

📖 The concept (read this first — it explains everything)

Tailor CV is a web app that runs inside Docker. You don't install an .exe or .app file — instead, the installer sets up Docker Desktop (the official, free, industry-standard tool from Docker Inc), and Tailor CV runs inside it.

Why no warnings?

  • Windows/macOS show scary "unknown publisher" warnings for unsigned apps.
  • Because you run Docker Desktop (which IS officially signed and trusted), your machine never sees an unsigned binary — so no warnings, ever.

What "installing" means here: the installer does 4 things, in order:

Step What happens
1 Checks for Docker → installs Docker Desktop if missing (official installer)
2 Starts the Docker engine and waits until it's ready
3 Downloads Tailor CV (from GitHub) into ~/tailor-cv
4 Starts the app and opens your browser at http://localhost:3000

Everything is safe to re-run — if a step already finished, it's skipped.

Requirements: macOS 12+ or Windows 10 (1809+) / Windows 11 · ~3 GB free disk · internet connection. Everything runs locally — your data never leaves your machine.

🍎 macOS — install (2 minutes)

Option A — one line in Terminal (recommended):

curl -fsSL https://github.com/Atanub707/Tailor-AI/raw/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Option B — manual: download install.sh from GitHub, then in Terminal:

chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

What you'll see: green ✔ lines as each step finishes, then your browser opens Tailor CV. First run may take a few minutes (Docker Desktop installs + engine starts).

If Homebrew isn't installed, the script installs it first (one prompt, no password).

🪟 Windows — install (2 minutes, no technical knowledge needed)

Fastest way — copy & paste into PowerShell (no downloads, no SmartScreen):

  1. Press Win + X → click "Terminal" or "Windows PowerShell"
  2. Copy this one line, right-click in the window to paste, press Enter:
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Atanub707/Tailor-AI/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex
  1. Let it run — it installs Docker Desktop (one Yes prompt), starts it, waits for the engine, downloads Tailor CV, and opens the app in your browser.

If you get a wall of errors like The 'var' keyword is not supported... or function redirect(...) — that means the download returned an HTML error page instead of the installer (usually because the repository is private or the network blocked the direct download). Fix: make sure the repo is Public, or use this resilient version which verifies the download and retries via the GitHub API:

$u='https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Atanub707/Tailor-AI/main/scripts/install.ps1'; $p="$env:TEMP	ailorcv.ps1"; try { irm $u -OutFile $p -ErrorAction Stop } catch {}; $c = Get-Content $p -Raw -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if ($c -match 'ErrorActionPreference|Tailor CV') { iex $c } else { Write-Host 'Direct download blocked - fetching via API...'; $j = irm -Headers @{'User-Agent'='TailorCV'} 'https://api.github.com/repos/Atanub707/Tailor-AI/contents/scripts/install.ps1'; iex ([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString([Convert]::FromBase64String($j.content))) }

This is the same trusted pattern used by Scoop, Chocolatey and many open-source tools — no files saved, no "unknown publisher" warnings, nothing to allow.

Step 1 — get the installer file:

  • Open the repository: https://github.com/Atanub707/Tailor-AI
  • Click the green Code button → Download ZIP
  • Open the downloaded ZIP and extract it anywhere (right-click → Extract All…) — e.g. into a folder on your Desktop

Step 2 — run it:

  • Open the extracted folder → open the scripts folder
  • Double-click install.bat
  • If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC": click More info → Run anyway (this is normal for any new free software — the file is checked by Windows and safe)
  • Click Yes on the one UAC prompt
  • Watch the colored progress lines — when done, your browser opens Tailor CV automatically

The installer does everything itself: installs Docker Desktop (like installing any app), starts it, downloads Tailor CV, and opens the app. You never touch a terminal.

First time on a brand-new PC only: Windows may ask to install WSL2 (a small Windows component Docker needs). The installer does it automatically, then asks you to restart your PC once and double-click install.bat again — it continues from where it stopped and finishes in about a minute.

If double-clicking doesn't do anything: the file may have downloaded with a .txt ending — rename it to install.bat (File Explorer → View → tick File name extensions), then double-click again.

▶️ Using Tailor CV

  • Open it anytime: http://localhost:3000
  • First sign-in: Create an account (email+password) or Continue as guest
  • Set your AI key (required for scoring): top-right menu → Settings → Integrations → LLM & AI → paste your key (OpenCode Go / Gemini / OpenAI / Anthropic / OpenRouter / NVIDIA). Your key stays on your machine.
  • Scrape jobs: Search bar → type a role → Search Jobs
  • Practice interviews: top bar → AI Interview → pick a role → Begin interview

▶️ Starting the app again (after closing it)

The app never "closes" like a normal program — it keeps running in the background inside Docker, and your data stays there. You only ever need to reopen the page:

Situation What to do
You closed the browser tab / window Just open http://localhost:3000 again — the app is still running
You rebooted your PC / Mac The app auto-starts with Docker Desktop (its restart: unless-stopped setting). Once Docker Desktop has finished starting (whale icon stops animating), open http://localhost:3000
Docker Desktop is not running Open Docker Desktop first, wait for it to start, then open http://localhost:3000
You (or Docker) stopped the container manually Run: docker start ats-cv-tailor (or docker compose up -d inside the app folder, e.g. ~/tailor-cv on macOS)

No start command is needed for normal use — after a reboot you just open http://localhost:3000 once Docker Desktop is up. The container restarts itself.

🔄 Updating Tailor CV

New versions arrive regularly — update in one command (your data — jobs, CV, tokens, history — is never touched):

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Atanub707/Tailor-AI/main/scripts/update.ps1 | iex

macOS / Linux (Terminal):

curl -fsSL https://github.com/Atanub707/Tailor-AI/raw/main/scripts/update.sh | bash

If you already installed and run the installer again, it tells you the app is running — that's normal. Use the update command above instead.

Tip: if you saved tokens before and they disappeared after a reload, your install hit an old Docker quirk where config.ini became an empty folder. This update fixes it automatically — save your settings once more and they'll stick.

🗑️ Uninstalling

Stops the app and removes all Tailor CV files (your data folder is removed too — export anything you need first). Docker Desktop itself stays installed.

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/Atanub707/Tailor-AI/raw/main/scripts/uninstall.sh | bash

Windows: download uninstall.bat, double-click it.

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Symptom Fix
"The Docker engine did not start" Open Docker Desktop once, wait for the whale icon to stop animating, then re-run the installer
Port 3000 already in use Something else is on port 3000. Stop that program, or run Tailor CV on another port (edit docker-compose.yml: "3000:3000" → "3001:3000", then docker compose up -d)
Windows asks to restart for WSL2 Normal on fresh PCs. Restart, then double-click install.bat again — it continues from step 2
"Homebrew not found" on Mac The script installs it automatically; if it fails, install manually: brew install --cask docker
App won't open after update Run the installer again — it's safe and skips finished steps
I want the app to stop docker compose -f ~/tailor-cv/docker-compose.yml down (Mac) — Windows: ask the installer's tip line

❓ FAQ

Is my data private? Yes — everything (jobs, CV, keys) lives on your machine. Tailor CV never sends your data anywhere except to the AI provider you chose with your own key.

Do I need a credit card? No. Docker Desktop is free for personal use, Tailor CV is free and open-source (MIT).

Why not just a normal app installer? Native installers need paid code-signing certificates (~$100–400/year) to avoid scary warnings. The Docker approach gives you a warning-free install for $0 — the trade-off is Docker Desktop itself (~1 GB).

Which LLM key should I get? Any of the six supported providers. OpenCode Go is pre-selected and quick to set up; Gemini has a generous free tier.

Can I move it to another computer? Yes — run the installer there, then restore your data folder (it contains everything).