Using the API

The Reactive Resume REST API lets your own scripts, extensions and automations read and change your documents and job applications. You authenticate with an API key that you create in Settings. This guide walks you through creating a key, making your first request and revoking the key when you’re done.

Before you start

You need a Reactive Resume account. The examples use the hosted instance at https://rxresu.me. If you self-host, replace it with your own address.
An API key acts as you. Anyone who has it can read and edit your documents, so treat it like a password.

Create an API key

Open AI & developer settings

Select your name at the bottom of the sidebar, choose Settings, then open AI & developer. You can also press ⌘ K (Ctrl K on Windows and Linux) and type “API keys”.

Start a new key

In the API keys section, select New key.

Name the key and choose when it expires

Under What’s it for?, enter a name that reminds you where the key is used, such as “Resume sync script”. Under Expires, choose 30 days, 90 days or Never, then select Create key.

New API key dialog with the name Resume sync script entered and 90 days selected under Expires — The New API key dialog

Copy the key

Select Copy, store the key somewhere safe (a password manager or your deployment’s secret store), then select Done.

New API key dialog showing the generated key with a Copy button and the warning Copy it now. For your security, it won't be shown again. — The key is shown once, right after you create it

Reactive Resume shows the key only once. If you lose it, revoke it and create a new one.

Your keys are listed in the API keys table with the date each was created, the date it was last used and when it expires. Expired keys disappear from the list and stop working.

API keys table listing two keys, Claude Desktop that never expires and Resume sync script that expires on 29 Dec 2026, each with a Revoke button — The API keys section in AI & developer settings

Make your first request

The REST API lives under /api/openapi on your instance. Send your key in the x-api-key header.

curl "https://rxresu.me/api/openapi/resumes" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

The response is a JSON array of your resumes, without their full content:

[
  {
    "id": "01a0efa5-6529-745e-950a-521ef5b8afc7",
    "name": "Game Developer Resume",
    "slug": "game-developer-resume",
    "tags": ["games"],
    "isPublic": false,
    "showDownloadButtons": true,
    "isLocked": false,
    "createdAt": "2026-09-30T00:09:49.101Z",
    "updatedAt": "2026-09-30T00:09:49.101Z"
  }
]

Fetch one resume with its full data, using an ID from the list:

curl "https://rxresu.me/api/openapi/resumes/01a0efa5-6529-745e-950a-521ef5b8afc7" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

For request bodies, send JSON with Content-Type: application/json. For example, create a resume filled with sample content:

curl -X POST "https://rxresu.me/api/openapi/resumes" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "name": "Product Designer Resume", "tags": ["design"], "withSampleData": true }'

The response is the new resume’s ID as a JSON string.

To change a few fields in a resume without sending the whole document, use JSON Patch.

Find the endpoint you need

Every endpoint, with its parameters, request body and responses, is listed in the API Reference tab of these docs. Your own instance also serves the machine-readable OpenAPI document at /api/openapi/spec.json (for example https://rxresu.me/api/openapi/spec.json). Use the spec from the version you run when you generate a client.

Area	Paths	What you can do
Resumes	`/resumes`, `/resumes/{id}`	List, read, create, import, update, patch, lock, duplicate, move to Trash, set a sharing password, download a PDF, read version history and statistics
Cover letters	`/cover-letters`	List, read, create, update, duplicate, export and import letters, restore versions, refresh their design from a resume
Documents	`/documents`	Work across resumes and letters: rename, tag, lock, link to an application, move to Trash, restore, delete now
Applications	`/applications`	Track job applications: stages, notes, interviews, attached PDFs, bulk changes, import, statistics
AI	`/ai-providers`, `/ai`, `/agent`	Manage your AI providers, run AI tools such as resume import from PDF, work with assistant conversations
Account	`/auth/account/export`, `/auth/account`	Export your account data, delete your account

Additional app workflows have REST endpoints:

Workflow	Endpoint
PDF, JSON Resume, Reactive Resume v4/current, LinkedIn imports	`POST /resumes/file-imports`
PDF, Word, Markdown and JSON exports	`GET /resumes/{id}/exports/{format}`, `GET /cover-letters/{id}/exports/{format}`
Editor content checks and job-term matching	`GET /resumes/{id}/checks`, `POST /resumes/{id}/job-matches`
Public PDF readability checker	`POST /pdf-checks`
File uploads and deletion	`POST /files`, `DELETE /files`
Web search integration settings and connection tests	`/integrations/web-access`
Sign-in, sessions, profile, passwords, two-factor authentication, passkeys and API keys	`/api/auth/*` (outside `/api/openapi`)

Authentication workflows use Better Auth’s native HTTP API and its own error contract. Your instance publishes their specification at /api/auth/open-api/generate-schema; use that specification for the enabled authentication methods. Browser interactions such as zoom, print dialogs and local undo do not require separate server endpoints: use document changes, versions and exports for the corresponding data workflows. GET /api/health (outside /api/openapi) reports whether the instance and its database and storage are healthy. It needs no key.

Imports and exports

File imports accept a multipart form. The format is one of PDF, REACTIVE_RESUME, REACTIVE_RESUME_V4, JSON_RESUME or LINKEDIN; the maximum file size is 10 MiB. PDF imports read the text layer without AI. AI-assisted PDF and Word parsing remain available under /ai/pdf-parses and /ai/docx-parses; save the resulting data through /resumes/imports.

curl "https://rxresu.me/api/openapi/resumes/file-imports" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "format=JSON_RESUME" -F "[email protected]"

curl "https://rxresu.me/api/openapi/resumes/RESUME_ID/exports/docx" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" -o resume.docx

Exports accept pdf, docx, md or json and return a downloadable file. They enforce document ownership. The public checker accepts a multipart file (PDF, maximum 25 MB) and optional jobDescription text. It stores nothing, examines at most 30 pages and reports truncation or skipped checks. Parsing has a 45-second deadline. Hosting-provider request limits still apply.

Pagination and partial updates

Collection endpoints support limit (1–100) and offset (zero-based). For existing array responses, omitting both preserves the complete array for compatibility. Supplying only offset selects a page size of 20. The X-Total-Count header reports the total before slicing; paginated responses also include X-Limit and X-Offset. The cover-letter list retains its existing { items, total } response and default pagination.

curl "https://rxresu.me/api/openapi/resumes?limit=20&offset=20" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" -i

Use PATCH for partial application, interview, timeline-entry and cover-letter updates. Resume content uses JSON Patch at /resumes/{id}; metadata uses PATCH /resumes/{id}/metadata. Resource-oriented paths such as /resumes/{id}/copies and /documents/{type}/{id}/trash are preferred for new integrations. Existing verb-based routes, partial PUT routes, response shapes and enum values remain supported.

Retries

State-changing operations do not implement Idempotency-Key. Treat mutations as unsafe to retry automatically, including requests that timed out: the change might already have happened. Read the current resource before deciding whether to repeat a write. Repeating create, copy, import or AI operations can create duplicates or incur provider charges.

Authentication methods

The API accepts three kinds of credentials:

x-api-key: <key>: an API key from Settings. Use this for scripts and servers.
Authorization: Bearer <token>: an OAuth access token, which MCP clients get when you connect them with OAuth. See Using the MCP server.
The session cookie of a signed-in browser.

Send one credential. When several are present, the server tries API key, bearer token, then session cookie, using the first valid credential. Cookie-authenticated requests with a foreign Origin or cross-site fetch metadata are rejected; explicit API keys and bearer tokens do not rely on browser cookies. Account deletion (DELETE /auth/account) requires a browser session; API keys and OAuth tokens receive 403 FORBIDDEN. Delete your account in Settings → Account. A private request without valid credentials gets 401 with the code UNAUTHORIZED. Public operations are marked with security: [] in the OpenAPI specification. Public resumes still enforce visibility, trash status and sharing passwords, and redact private data. REST data responses use Cache-Control: no-store. Uploaded profile images are public; other uploaded files require the owner’s credentials, including conditional download requests. Assistant attachments are not exposed through the uploads URL. Unknown and unauthorized file URLs return 404.

Limits

Limit	Value
Requests per API key	1,000 per hour
Changes to one resume, document or application (create, update, patch, lock, duplicate, delete)	300 per minute
PDF downloads of one resume (`GET /resumes/{id}/pdf`)	5 per minute
Public PDF checks per client address	5 per minute
REST request body size (before endpoint-specific limits)	40 MiB
AI requests	20 per minute
Request body size on Vercel installations	4.5 MB (see Large RPC requests)

Procedure limits apply in production. When you hit a limit, the API responds with 429. On a self-hosted installation, FLAG_DISABLE_API_RATE_LIMIT turns off the per-key limit together with the sign-in limits; the procedure limits also turn off (see Environment variables).

Errors

Errors come back as JSON with a machine-readable code, the HTTP status and a message. Validation errors also include the failing fields in data.issues.

{ "defined": false, "code": "NOT_FOUND", "status": 404, "message": "Not Found" }

Branch on code rather than on the message text. Invalid input uses 400, missing authentication 401, forbidden actions 403, missing or inaccessible resources 404, conflicts 409, oversized requests 413, rate limits 429, and unexpected failures 500. Unexpected failures do not expose internal exception details.

Revoke a key

Find the key

Open Settings, then AI & developer. In the API keys table, find the key you want to stop.

Revoke it

Select Revoke. The key stops working at once, and a message confirms which key you revoked.

Message reading Revoked Claude Desktop. Apps using it stop working now, with an Undo link — Revoking a key shows an Undo action

Undo if you revoked the wrong key

Select Undo in the message to turn the key back on. When the message closes, the key is deleted for good.

The RPC endpoint

The web app talks to the server through oRPC at /api/rpc, using the same procedures, authorization and validation as the REST API. It uses oRPC’s own wire format, and its procedure names follow the app’s source code rather than a published contract. For integrations, use the REST API under /api/openapi, which has a documented, generated specification.

Changes from v5

If you built against the v5 API, check these changes:

Structured dates. Dated entries have a dates object (start, end, present). The text fields period and date are still returned, but the server rewrites them from dates on every save, so writing only the text has no effect. See Using the patch API.
Cover letters are their own documents. Resumes no longer hold cover letters. Use the /cover-letters endpoints. If you send a resume that still contains a cover-letter section (for example an old export), the server saves each letter as a separate cover letter and removes the section from the resume.
Application link. GET /resumes/{id} includes applicationId for a tailored resume. Trash and automatic naming remain managed through the documents API.
No cover-letter PDF from resumes. GET /resumes/{id}/pdf only accepts target=resume (or no target). Old signed download links that ask for a cover letter return 404.
Delete moves to Trash. DELETE /resumes/{id} and DELETE /cover-letters/{id} move the document to Trash for 30 days. Use the /documents/restore and /documents/purge endpoints to bring it back or delete it at once.
Application stages. The rejected stage and the archived flag are gone. Close an application with the closed stage and a closedReason (not-selected, withdrew, accepted-other or no-response).
Resume versions. Versions have a kind and an optional name instead of a free-text label.

Self-hosters upgrading an installation can read Migrating from v5.

Using the patch API

Change individual fields of a resume with JSON Patch.

Using the MCP server

Let AI clients such as Claude or Cursor work with your documents.

JSON resume schema

The structure of resume data, for validation and code generation.

Large RPC requests

How large request bodies reach Vercel installations.

Getting Started

Account

Documents

Resume Editor

Design

Checking Your Resume

Cover Letters

Sharing and Exporting

AI Assistant

Career and Application Workspaces

Application Tracker

Integrations

Use Cases

Comparisons

Self-Hosting

Server Configuration

Upgrade Guides

Contributing

Community

Legal

Before you start

Create an API key

Make your first request

Find the endpoint you need

Imports and exports

Retries

Authentication methods

Limits

Errors

Revoke a key

The RPC endpoint

Changes from v5

Using the patch API

Using the MCP server

JSON resume schema

Large RPC requests

​Before you start

​Create an API key

​Make your first request

​Find the endpoint you need

​Imports and exports

​Pagination and partial updates

​Retries

​Authentication methods

​Limits

​Errors

​Revoke a key

​The RPC endpoint

​Changes from v5

​Related guides

Using the patch API

Using the MCP server

JSON resume schema

Large RPC requests

Before you start

Create an API key

Make your first request

Find the endpoint you need

Imports and exports

Pagination and partial updates

Retries

Authentication methods

Limits

Errors

Revoke a key

The RPC endpoint

Changes from v5

Related guides