talaria

Talaria

A job-hunt board that runs on your own computer. An AI assistant finds jobs that fit you, tells you honestly where you stand, tailors your resume, writes your cover letters, and fills in application forms. Nothing is ever sent to an employer until you say so.

You don't need to know anything about AI or programming to use it. This guide starts from zero and walks you through every step. Set aside about 20 to 30 minutes the first time.

Contents: What you get · Before you start · Setup · Daily use · Troubleshooting · Privacy · Developers

Already comfortable with a terminal?

You need Node.js 20.19+ and Hermes Agent signed in to an AI provider (step 3 below). On Windows, double-clicking Talaria.bat installs both for you. Otherwise:

git clone https://github.com/sehgalbhavya/talaria.git
cd talaria
npm install
npm start

Open http://127.0.0.1:5178 and follow the setup screen. Everyone else, read on.

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What you get

Column on the board	What happens there
Discovered	Talaria searches job boards and company career pages and drops good matches here, each with a fit score.
Hermes is on it	You hand a job to your AI assistant (called Hermes). It studies the job against your resume.
Needs you	Hermes asks you a few short questions (why this company? what should I lead with?). You answer, and it writes a tailored resume and cover letter. You refine them together, in plain words.
Applied	You press Finalize. Talaria submits the form for you (on Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby sites) or gives you a ready-to-use kit of PDFs and text to paste.
Interviewing / Offer	Track replies. Talaria can read your Gmail and move cards for you.

Your data stays on your computer. The only things that leave it are the messages sent to your AI account and public job-board searches.

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Words you'll see

Word	What it means
Hermes	A free program on your computer that acts as the AI assistant. It connects to an AI account you already have.
Provider	The company whose AI Hermes uses (OpenAI/ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and so on).
Terminal	A window where you type commands. On Windows it's called PowerShell. You only ever paste lines from this guide into it.
Node.js	A free program Talaria needs to run.
Repository ("repo")	The folder of Talaria's files on GitHub.

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What you need before you start

1. A computer with an internet connection. Windows 10/11 is the best-tested. Mac and Linux should work too (see the notes in step 2).
2. An AI account you already pay for or get free. Pick one:
   • a ChatGPT plan (Plus, Pro or Business), which also covers Codex, or
   • GitHub Copilot (free for verified students and teachers), or
   • an API key from a provider such as OpenRouter, Google Gemini, Anthropic or OpenAI. (An API key is a long password that lets a program use an AI service. It's usually billed per use.)
3. Your resume as a PDF, Word file, text, or LaTeX file (.tex or an Overleaf .zip).
4. Google Chrome is not required. Talaria brings its own browser window for submitting forms.

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Setup, step by step

Step 1: Download Talaria

Easiest way (no extra software):

1. On this GitHub page, click the green Code button, then Download ZIP.
2. Right-click the ZIP file, choose Extract All, and pick a place you'll remember, such as your Desktop.
3. You now have a folder called talaria-main (or similar). This is "the Talaria folder".

If you already use Git:

git clone https://github.com/sehgalbhavya/talaria.git

Step 2: Install everything and start Talaria

Windows: one double-click

Open the Talaria folder and double-click Talaria.bat.

The first time, a Set up Talaria window opens. It checks your computer and lists what Talaria needs, what each part is for and how big it is:

Part	What it's for	Size
Node.js	Runs Talaria. A private copy goes inside the Talaria folder; nothing else on your computer changes.	about 30 MB
Hermes	The AI assistant that reads your resume, scores jobs and writes your applications. Installed by its own official installer.	about 1 GB
Talaria's packages	The building blocks Talaria is made of.	about 200 MB
Browser for applications (optional, ticked)	A separate browser Talaria uses to fill in and submit application forms.	about 150 MB
MiKTeX (optional)	Only if your resume is a LaTeX file: keeps its exact design.	about 250 MB

Anything you already have shows a green tick and is left alone. Nothing is downloaded until you press Install. Then two progress bars show which step it's on and how far the current download is. Show details shows every message as it happens; the same is saved in data\setup-log.txt. Installing Hermes takes longest, often 5 to 15 minutes. No admin rights are needed, except for MiKTeX, where Windows may ask you to allow it. If something fails, the window tells you what happened, and Try again carries on from that step.

When it says You're ready to go, press Start Talaria. A black window appears and fills with text; that's normal. When it's ready, your web browser opens Talaria at http://127.0.0.1:5178.

Keep the black window open while you use Talaria. Closing it stops the app. Next time, double-click Talaria.bat again and you're back where you left off; the setup window only comes back if something it needs has gone missing. To add MiKTeX or the browser for applications later, double-click Run setup in the setup folder.

Windows antivirus warning? Some antivirus programs wrongly flag a file called uv.exe that Hermes installs. It's a safe, well-known tool. See the Hermes README if yours complains.

Mac or Linux: two installs, then one command

1. Install Node.js: go to https://nodejs.org, download the LTS version and run the installer (version 20.19 or higher).

2. Install Hermes by pasting this into a terminal, then close the terminal and open a new one:

   curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash
   

3. Open a terminal inside the Talaria folder and run:

   ./talaria.sh
   

   It installs Talaria's packages on the first run, starts Talaria and opens your browser at http://127.0.0.1:5178. (If you see permission denied, run chmod +x talaria.sh once first.)

Optional extras: for submitting applications, run npx playwright install chromium in the Talaria folder (about 150 MB). To keep a LaTeX resume's exact design, install TeX Live (or MacTeX on a Mac). Talaria is built and tested on Windows, so please report any Mac or Linux problems.

Step 3: Sign in to your AI account

You only do this once, in a terminal (Windows: press the Windows key, type PowerShell, press Enter). Pick the option that matches what you have.

Option A: ChatGPT or Codex plan

hermes auth add openai-codex --type oauth

A browser window opens. Sign in to ChatGPT and approve. When the terminal says it's done, you're connected. There's no API key and no extra bill; it uses your plan's allowance. If you use it heavily you may hit your plan's limits, and Talaria will pause and retry automatically.

Option B: GitHub Copilot

1. Install the GitHub command-line tool. On Windows:

   winget install --id GitHub.cli
   

   On Mac: brew install gh. On Linux, follow https://cli.github.com.

2. Sign in:

   gh auth login
   

   Choose GitHub.com, HTTPS, and Login with a web browser, then follow the prompts.

3. Make sure Copilot is switched on for your account at https://github.com/settings/copilot.

Option C: An API key (OpenRouter, Gemini, Anthropic, OpenAI, and others)

hermes model

It shows a menu. Pick your provider and paste your key when asked. Keep your key private. Never share it or post it online.

You can also do this step later, from inside Talaria's setup screen (step 4). It shows the same commands with a Copy button and a Test the connection button.

Step 4: First-time setup in Talaria

The first time you open Talaria, a guided setup gets to know you. It takes about 10 minutes, and if you close the window halfway it picks up where you left off.

1. Welcome. What Talaria will ask you and what to have ready.
2. Connect the AI. Talaria checks that Hermes is installed, asks which AI account you have, and shows you the exact sign-in command. Press Test the connection. When it says It works!, continue.
3. Your resume. Drag your resume in (or paste its text). Hermes reads it in the background while you carry on, and a note at the top of the screen tells you when it's done. It never invents experience you don't have.
4. Your story. Four short questions in your own words: why you do this work, what you're proudest of, what you want next, and who you are outside work. Your cover letters are written from this. Skip any you like.
5. What you're after. The roles and level you want; where and how you want to work (locations, remote, visa sponsorship, salary); and what matters to you (topics you'd love, deal-breakers, companies to skip). Hermes fills in suggestions from your resume, but never overwrites what you've chosen.
6. Is this you? Check and fix what Hermes took from your resume: your details, headline, summary and skills.
7. Where to look. Choose the job boards to search, and add your own sources: any company by name, or the link to its careers page. Suggest companies asks Hermes for ones that fit you. Under Your job boards you can also add any other job board by pasting its link (a niche board, a country's job site, a community's jobs page). Talaria reads its job feed or its listings, or has Hermes search within the site when neither can be read. Put {query} in the link where the search words go to search it once for each of your roles.
8. Review & start. A summary of everything, with an Edit link for each part, and whether Autopilot should search for new matches every few hours.

Then press Start the hunt. A short tour of the board follows, and the first jobs show up in a minute or two.

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Using Talaria day to day

1. Open Talaria.bat and look at Discovered. Click a card to read the job and see your fit: why you'd get it, why you might not, and how to improve your odds.
2. Not interested? Dismiss it. Interested? Hand it to Hermes.
3. Open the cards in "Needs you." Answer Hermes's questions. It then drafts your resume and cover letter. In the workspace you can say things like "lead with my design work" or "make the cover letter warmer". Every version is saved under Versions, so you can go back.
4. Press Finalize & submit when you're happy. Talaria opens the company's form in its own browser window, fills every field, attaches your files and submits. It saves a screenshot of every submission in data/applications/.
5. Track replies. Move cards to Interviewing or Offer, or let the Gmail connection do it.

PhD positions

Talaria can look for funded PhD positions alongside jobs, on their own side of the board.

1. Turn on Profile → Sources → PhD positions and list your research fields (for example haptics, XR, automotive HMI, generative UI). Optionally add countries; empty means anywhere in Europe.
2. Switch the board to PhDs and press Find PhDs. Hermes searches academic job boards (EURAXESS, Academic Positions, jobs.ac.uk, FindAPhD, Varbi) and university and lab pages, one focused search per pair of fields. Closed positions and duplicates are skipped. PhDs are also searched with every normal job search while this is on.
3. PhD cards carry a PhD tag and their application deadline. Hermes judges them on research fit, asks you research questions (what excites you in the project, an idea you'd bring), builds an academic CV that leads with your research work, and writes a motivation letter instead of a cover letter.

Use All / Jobs / PhDs at the top of the board to see one kind or both.

Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl K opens the command palette, n adds a job from a link you found, / filters the board, Esc closes a panel.

Safety rules that always hold

• Only applications you approved are submitted. Autopilot never submits anything.
• Legal and personal questions are never guessed. Work authorization and visa answers use only what you've told Talaria. Diversity questions get prefer not to say or are left blank.
• It stops and asks when a form needs something it doesn't know. The question appears under Needs you, and your answer is remembered.
• CAPTCHAs: solve them yourself in Talaria's browser window and it carries on.
• Jobs on other sites (Workday, company portals and so on) use the Apply kit: PDFs plus copy buttons, so you can paste them in yourself.

Optional connections (in Settings)

Gmail replies. Talaria reads replies to jobs you've applied to and moves the cards (a rejection turns a card red, an interview invitation moves it to Interviewing). It needs a Google app password, a special password just for this app:

1. Turn on 2-Step Verification for your Google account (https://myaccount.google.com/security).
2. Go to https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords and create one named Talaria.
3. Paste it into Settings → Gmail. It's stored only on your computer, in data/gmail.json, and you can delete it in your Google account at any time.

LinkedIn. Settings → LinkedIn → Connect opens LinkedIn in Talaria's window and you sign in yourself; Talaria never sees your password. It reads up to 20 postings at a human pace and never uses Easy Apply. LinkedIn's terms forbid automated access, so there is some risk to your account. Leave this off if that worries you.

Chat with your board from Hermes. In Settings, Talaria shows a one-line command that lets you ask Hermes things like "what's waiting on me?" from a terminal.

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Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
node is not recognized	On Windows, double-click Talaria.bat: its setup window installs Node.js. On Mac or Linux, close the terminal and open a new one, or reinstall Node.js (step 2).
hermes is not recognized	Close the terminal and open a new one. If it still fails, double-click Talaria.bat (Windows) or run the Hermes install line (step 2) again.
Setup stopped with an error	Press Try again. If it keeps failing, open data\setup-log.txt in the Talaria folder: the last lines say what went wrong.
The black window closes right away	Open a terminal in the Talaria folder and run npm install, then npm start. Read the message it prints.
The page says "Waiting for the Talaria server…"	The black window was closed or is still starting. Reopen Talaria.bat and wait a minute.
"Test the connection" fails for ChatGPT/Codex	Run hermes auth add openai-codex --type oauth again and finish the browser sign-in.
"Test the connection" fails for Copilot	Run gh auth login again, and check Copilot is switched on at github.com/settings/copilot. The model may also need enabling there.
Answers are very slow or paused	Your AI plan's limit was reached. Talaria pauses and retries when it resets. You can switch models in Settings.
Resume won't upload	If it's a scanned PDF, paste the text instead. Photos of text can't be read.
LaTeX resume won't compile	Install MiKTeX: on Windows, open the setup folder, double-click Run setup and switch MiKTeX on. Or get it from https://miktex.org. Then restart Talaria.
Applications won't submit	The browser for applications may be missing: on Windows, double-click Run setup in the setup folder and switch it on (or run npx playwright install chromium in the Talaria folder), then restart. Then check Settings → Applying → Submit applications for me is on.
Port 5178 is already in use	Talaria is probably already running in another window. Close it, or open http://127.0.0.1:5178.
Something else is wrong	Open the Activity page in Talaria. It shows what every Hermes task did and any error it hit.

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Your data and privacy

Everything Talaria stores lives in the data/ folder next to the app: your profile, jobs, drafts, screenshots, and (if you connect it) your Gmail app password. This folder is not part of the GitHub repository and is never uploaded. Back it up if you care about your history, and never share it, because it contains your personal details.

Messages to your AI provider (your resume text, the job text, your answers) pass through Hermes. Nothing goes to an employer until you press Finalize.

To start completely fresh, use Settings → Start over.

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Updating Talaria

Updates never touch your data: your profile, jobs and drafts live in data/, which updates don't include. Close Talaria's window first, then:

• If you used Git: run git pull in the Talaria folder, then start Talaria again.
• If you downloaded the ZIP: download the new ZIP, extract it, and copy your old data/ folder into the new folder. Then start Talaria from the new folder.

The launcher (Talaria.bat or talaria.sh) rebuilds the app on every start and installs any new packages an update brings, so there's nothing else to do. The first start after such an update takes a minute longer.

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For developers

npm install
npm run dev        # hot-reloading app at http://localhost:5177 (API on 5178)
npm run typecheck  # TypeScript check
npm start          # production build + server at http://127.0.0.1:5178

• Front end: React, Vite, Tailwind, in web/. Server: Node + Express + TypeScript (run with tsx), in server/. Shared types are in shared/.
• All AI work goes through the Hermes CLI (server/lib/hermes.ts), under a dedicated Hermes profile called talaria. Remove it any time with hermes profile delete talaria.

Project layout

Path	What's there
server/index.ts	Express API and static file server.
server/agents/	The jobs Hermes does: scouting, fit analysis, tailoring, applying, Gmail, LinkedIn, autopilot.
server/sources/	Job-board adapters (public, key-free feeds) and company career pages.
server/lib/	Hermes bridge, JSON store, browser automation, LaTeX and PDF rendering.
server/mcp.ts	MCP server that lets Hermes chat with your board.
shared/	Types shared by server and web.
web/src/	The React app: views/ are pages, components/ are building blocks.

Environment variables

All optional. Copy .env.example for a list; the launchers don't load it, so set them in your shell.

Variable	Default	Purpose
TALARIA_PORT	5178	Port the server listens on.
TALARIA_DATA_DIR	./data	Where your profile, jobs and drafts are stored.
TALARIA_HERMES_PROFILE	talaria	Hermes profile used for agent calls. Set it empty to use your default profile.
TALARIA_HEADLESS	unset	1 hides the browser window while applying.
TALARIA_BROWSER_PROFILE	data/browser-profile	Folder for the automation browser's sign-ins.
HERMES_HOME	Hermes default	Where Hermes keeps its config.

Want to help? See CONTRIBUTING.md.

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License

MIT. Free to use, change and share.

Disclaimer

Talaria is a personal tool, not affiliated with LinkedIn, Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, OpenAI, GitHub or Nous Research. Review every application before it goes out; you are responsible for what you submit. Automated access to some websites may be against their terms of service. Use the optional connections at your own risk.