Ghosted

Overview

Ghosted is a terminal-based job application tracker designed for developers navigating the modern hiring process. Built in collaboration with Claude Code, it provides both an interactive TUI for daily use and a CLI for automation—making it ideal for integration with AI agents that can parse job postings and update statuses automatically.

The project is open-sourced under the MIT license.

Dual Interface Design

The project offers two ways to interact: a rich Terminal User Interface for exploration and manual updates, and a CLI for programmatic access. Both share the same JSON data store, so changes sync instantly.

The CLI was specifically designed for AI agent integration—commands accept and output JSON, making it trivial to build automation that parses job postings from emails or websites and automatically creates tracked applications.

Status Pipeline

Applications flow through an 8-stage pipeline reflecting the real recruitment journey:

1. Saved - Bookmarked for later
2. Applied - Application submitted
3. Screening - Initial review
4. Interview - In progress
5. Offer - Received
6. Accepted - Job secured
7. Rejected - Application declined
8. Withdrawn - Candidate withdrew

Quick keyboard shortcuts (1-8) let you update status without leaving the list view.

Rich Data Tracking

Each application tracks comprehensive details beyond just company and status:

• Compensation: Salary range with smart formatting ($150k display)
• Contacts: Recruiter name and email for follow-ups
• Documents: Links to resume version and cover letter used
• Interviews: Multiple interviews with type, date, interviewer, and notes
• Follow-ups: Next action reminders

Technical Highlights

• Bubble Tea Framework: Elm-inspired architecture with clean state management and a view state machine
• Zero Database Overhead: Plain JSON files make data portable, version-controllable, and human-readable
• Smart Partial Matching: CLI accepts partial UUIDs (ghosted get abc finds first match starting with “abc”)
• Cross-Platform: Single Go binary compiles for macOS, Linux, and Windows
• Sample Data Seeding: New installations auto-populate with example applications for immediate exploration

AI Agent Pipeline

One of Ghosted’s most powerful features is its multi-agent system for automating the job application process. When you run ghosted apply on a job posting, it kicks off a coordinated pipeline:

1. Posting Parser - Extracts key details from job descriptions
2. Resume Agent - Generates a tailored resume highlighting relevant experience
3. Cover Letter Agent - Crafts a personalized cover letter addressing the role
4. Review Agent - Scores both documents (70+ to pass) and provides feedback

The pipeline supports --dry-run for generating documents without updating the tracker, and --auto-approve for fully automated workflows.

Job Board Integration

The ghosted fetch command automatically extracts job posting details from popular platforms:

• Lever - Career pages
• Greenhouse - Application portals
• Workday - Enterprise job listings
• LinkedIn - Job posts
• Ashby - Modern ATS platforms

Fetched postings are converted to markdown and stored locally for reference. From the TUI, press u to input a URL and immediately launch the agent pipeline.

Document Compilation

Ghosted integrates with Typst for professional document formatting. The ghosted compile command converts .typ files to PDFs with intelligent auto-naming:

• {company}-{position}-resume.pdf
• {company}-{position}-cover-letter.pdf

Press o in the TUI to instantly open the document folder for any application.

Building with Claude Code

This project was developed in collaboration with Claude Code, Anthropic’s AI coding assistant. The pairing workflow proved especially effective for:

• Designing the data model and status state machine
• Implementing the Bubble Tea view architecture
• Building the CLI command structure with proper flag handling
• Writing comprehensive documentation
• Building the multi-agent pipeline with proper handoffs

The experience reinforced how AI-assisted development can accelerate solo projects while maintaining code quality and architectural consistency.

Roadmap

Looking ahead, Ghosted continues to evolve. Here are the remaining planned expansions:

Proactive Pipeline Assistant

The current agent pipeline generates documents on-demand. The next evolution brings proactive assistance: monitoring your application pipeline for stale entries, suggesting follow-up timing, analyzing job posting patterns to identify best-fit opportunities, and drafting outreach messages—all without leaving the terminal.

Enhanced Document Management

While the compile command handles PDF generation, future versions will streamline document attachment through clipboard paste or drag-and-drop in the TUI. Each application would link directly to the specific resume and cover letter versions used, building a complete audit trail for interview prep.