Design Philosophy
Ten non-obvious choices, each one earned by a mistake. You don't need to understand all of them to use the hub — but read this before changing anything.
1. Your experience lives in one place
Facts scattered across five resume versions will eventually contradict each other. profiles/master.md is the single source of truth — every achievement, title, and timeline goes here. When you need a tailored resume, the AI pulls from this, not from last week's draft.
Historical resumes in resumes-archive/ or 简历/ are read-only backups, not data sources.
2. Set your direction once
Repeating "I'm looking for X type of role" every session is tedious and unreliable. Write your target level and industry at the top of AGENTS.md — the AI reads it every session. When you change direction, change that one file.
3. Job applications and grant proposals are different things
Applying for a corporate role and applying for a research grant don't use the same materials — different format, tone, and which achievements "deserve mention." master.md for job search, research.md for grants (opt-in). Merging them makes both worse.
4. Sensitive originals stay out of the repo
IDs, contracts, appointment letters, diplomas, tax records — don't commit them. verification/references.md records where each file lives; the originals stay on your own drive or cloud sync. The repo can be shared or demoed at any time without worrying about leaks.
5. Before a high-stakes submission, verify what you've written
Senior-role interviews, grant reviews — worth a pass before you submit. Run workflows/verification.md and cross-check every degree, employer, title, project number, and quantified claim against public sources. Two independent sources is the bar.
If something doesn't hold up, fix it now — better than having the interviewer or reviewer find it.
6. When it's done, archive it
todo.md holds only pending work. When something is done, tell the AI to archive it — the item moves to changelog.md, dated. A to-do full of [x] marks may feel productive, but it obscures what actually needs doing.
7. Each application gets its own folder
jobs/applications/{company}-{role}-{YYYY-MM-DD}/ — JD, resume, cover letter, interview prep, all together. Same company, second attempt = new folder, don't overwrite. The date is mandatory — it shows your pace and lets you return to any specific run.
8. Interview stories and factual records are separate
profiles/stories.md holds STAR narratives polished for speaking aloud. master.md holds raw factual records. A story is crafted to land; facts are recorded to be accurate. Different purposes — keep them separate.
9. Pick one language for the hub
Choose Chinese or English at bootstrap, then don't mix. The templates, AI instructions, and workflow prose all assume a single language. Mixing leads to inconsistent output. The resumes themselves can target either language per application — that's a separate choice.
10. Don't lock yourself into one AI IDE
AGENTS.md is the cross-IDE standard for context files. If your IDE wants a different location (Cursor's .cursor/rules/, Windsurf's .windsurfrules), symlink or copy. Don't write the content in a vendor-specific format — switching tools shouldn't require rewriting your context.
Frameworks referenced
Each design choice here traces back to an established source. See Frameworks for the full list.