📨 Cover Letter Generator

This project implements a simple web application for creating cover letters (job application letters).
It consists of three main components:

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🧩 Components

🟦 Java / Spring Boot Backend (backend/)

Provides a REST API that receives applicant data, invokes a Python generator, and returns the generated cover letter as a PDF.

🐍 Python Script (python/generate_cover_letter.py)

Generates a natural-sounding cover letter text based on the provided data.
It simulates the stylistic variance of a Large Language Model (LLM) by randomly selecting between multiple phrasing options.

🅰️ Angular Frontend (frontend/)

Offers a simple form for entering applicant information and downloads the generated PDF.

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⚙️ Requirements

• Java 17 – to run the Spring Boot backend (e.g., via OpenJDK or AdoptOpenJDK)
• Maven – to build and run the backend (mvn spring-boot:run)
• Python 3 – for the generator script (in the python/ folder); no external libraries required
• Node.js + Angular CLI (≥ v17) – to run the frontend
  (Alternatively, the frontend can be built and served as static HTML/JS files on any web server.)

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📁 Project Structure

cover-letter-generator/
├── backend/               # Spring Boot service (Java)
│   ├── pom.xml            # Maven configuration
│   └── src/main/java/
│       └── com/example/anschreiben/
│           ├── AnschreibenBackendApplication.java
│           ├── CoverLetterController.java
│           ├── CoverLetterRequest.java
│           └── CoverLetterService.java
├── python/
│   └── generate_cover_letter.py   # Generates the cover letter text
├── frontend/             # Angular client (TypeScript / HTML / CSS)
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── angular.json
│   ├── tsconfig*.json
│   └── src/
│       ├── index.html
│       ├── main.ts
│       └── app/
│           ├── app.module.ts
│           ├── app.component.ts
│           ├── app.component.html
│           └── app.component.css
└── README.md

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🚀 Running the Backend

Navigate to the backend directory and start the application with Maven:

cd backend
mvn spring-boot:run

The REST service will then be available at http://localhost:8080.

API Endpoint

POST http://localhost:8080/api/generate

Example Request Body

{
  "applicantName": "Max Mustermann",
  "applicantAddress": "Example Street 1, 12345 Example City",
  "applicantEmail": "[email protected]",
  "applicantPhone": "+49 123 456789",
  "jobTitle": "Software Engineer",
  "companyName": "Example Company GmbH",
  "strengths": "Teamwork, Java and Angular experience",
  "motivation": "the opportunity to develop innovative products"
}

Response

A PDF file containing the generated cover letter.

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💻 Running the Frontend

Install dependencies and start the Angular development server:

cd frontend
npm install
npm start

The client will be available at http://localhost:4200.

Note: In app.component.ts, the backend URL is hardcoded as
http://localhost:8080/api/generate.
If you host backend and frontend differently or use a proxy, adjust this URL accordingly.

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🧾 PDF Generation

The Java backend uses Apache PDFBox to convert the text from the Python script into a PDF document.
The text is written line-by-line and automatically continues on new pages if needed.
The resulting file is named Anschreiben.pdf by default.

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📝 Notes

• The Python text generation is intentionally simple and does not replace a real LLM.
  For production use, you can integrate an external API (e.g., OpenAI or a local Hugging Face model).

• The CORS configuration in the controller is currently permissive.
  Restrict allowed origins for production environments.

• When adding or renaming form fields, update the corresponding:

  • Frontend form
  • Backend request class (CoverLetterRequest)
  • Python script parameters

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💡 Tips

• Ensure UTF-8 encoding for all components to correctly display special characters (ä, ö, ü, ß).
• Use a font like DejaVuSans.ttf (already included) for full Unicode support in PDFs.

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Good luck creating your cover letter! ;)