rendercv/docs/user_guide/index.md

User Guide

This document provides everything you need to know about the usage of RenderCV.

Installation

RenderCV doesn't require a \LaTeX installation; it comes with it!

1. Install Python (3.10 or newer).

2. Run the command below to install RenderCV.

pip install rendercv

Getting started with the new command

To get started, navigate to the directory where you want to create your CV and run the command below to create the input files.

rendercv new "Your Full Name"

This command will create the following files:

• A YAML input file called Your_Name_CV.yaml.

  This file will contain all the content and design options of your CV.

• A directory called classic.

  This directory contains the \LaTeX source code of RenderCV's default built-in theme, classic. You can update its contents to tweak the appearance of the output PDF file.

• A directory called markdown.

  This directory contains the Markdown source code of RenderCV's default Markdown template. You can update its contents to tweak the Markdown and HTML output of the CV.

Options of the new command

The new command has some options:

• #!bash --theme "THEME_NAME": Generates files for a specific built-in theme, instead of the default classic theme. Currently, the available themes are: {{available_themes}}.

rendercv new "Your Full Name" --theme "THEME_NAME" 

• #!bash --dont-create-theme-source-files: Prevents the creation of the theme source files. By default, the theme source files are created.

rendercv new "Your Full Name" --dont-create-theme-source-files

• #!bash --dont-create-markdown-source-files: Prevents the creation of the Markdown source files. By default, the Markdown source files are created.

rendercv new "Your Full Name" --dont-create-markdown-source-files

Structure of the YAML input file

The YAML input file contains all the content and design options of your CV. A detailed explanation of the structure of the YAML input file is provided here.

Rendering the CV with the render command

To render a YAML input file, run the command below.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml"

This command will generate a directory called rendercv_output, which contains the following files:

• The CV in PDF format, Your_Name_CV.pdf.
• \LaTeX source code of the PDF file, Your_Name_CV.tex.
• Images of each page of the PDF file in PNG format, Your_Name_CV_1.png, Your_Name_CV_page_2.png, etc.
• The CV in Markdown format, Your_Name_CV.md.
• The CV in HTML format, Your_Name_CV.html.
• Some log and auxiliary files related to the \LaTeX compilation process.

If the theme and Markdown source files are found in the directory, they will override the default built-in theme and Markdown template. You don't need to provide all the source files; you can just provide the ones you want to override.

Options of the render command

The render command has some options:

• #!bash --use-local-latex-command "LATEX_COMMAND": Generates the CV with the local \LaTeX installation, i.e., runs LATEX_COMMAND. By default, RenderCV uses its own TinyTeX distribution.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --use-local-latex-command "pdflatex" 

• #!bash --output-folder-name "OUTPUT_FOLDER_NAME": Generates the output files in a folder with the given name. By default, the output folder name is rendercv_output. The output folder will be created in the current working directory.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --output-folder-name "OUTPUT_FOLDER_NAME"

• #!bash --latex-path LATEX_PATH: Copies the generated \LaTeX source code from the output folder and pastes it to the specified path.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --latex-path "PATH"

• #!bash --pdf-path PDF_PATH: Copies the generated PDF file from the output folder and pastes it to the specified path.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --pdf-path "PATH"

• #!bash --markdown-path MARKDOWN_PATH: Copies the generated Markdown file from the output folder and pastes it to the specified path.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --markdown-path "PATH"

• #!bash --html-path HTML_PATH: Copies the generated HTML file from the output folder and pastes it to the specified path.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --html-path "PATH"

• #!bash --png-path PNG_PATH: Copies the generated PNG files from the output folder and pastes them to the specified path.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --png-path "PATH"

• #!bash --dont-generate-markdown: Prevents the generation of the Markdown file.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --dont-generate-markdown

• #!bash --dont-generate-html: Prevents the generation of the HTML file.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --dont-generate-html

• #!bash --dont-generate-png: Prevents the generation of the PNG files.

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --dont-generate-png

• #!bash --ANY.LOCATION.IN.THE.YAML.FILE "VALUE": Overrides the value of ANY.LOCATION.IN.THE.YAML.FILE with VALUE. This option can be used to avoid storing sensitive information in the YAML file. Sensitive information, like phone numbers, can be passed as a command-line argument with environment variables. This method is also beneficial for creating multiple CVs using the same YAML file by changing only a few values. Here are a few examples:

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --cv.phone "+905555555555"

rendercv render "Your_Name_CV.yaml" --cv.sections.education.1.institution "Your University"

Multiple `#!bash --ANY.LOCATION.IN.THE.YAML.FILE "VALUE"` options can be used in the same command.

Creating custom themes with the create-theme command

RenderCV is a general \LaTeX CV framework. It allows you to use any \LaTeX code to generate your CVs. To begin developing a custom theme, run the command below.

rendercv create-theme "mycustomtheme"

This command will create a directory called mycustomtheme, which contains the following files:

├── mycustomtheme
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── Preamble.j2.tex
│   ├── Header.j2.tex
│   ├── EducationEntry.j2.tex
│   ├── ExperienceEntry.j2.tex
│   ├── NormalEntry.j2.tex
│   ├── OneLineEntry.j2.tex
│   ├── PublicationEntry.j2.tex
│   ├── TextEntry.j2.tex
│   ├── SectionBeginning.j2.tex
│   └── SectionEnding.j2.tex
└── Your_Full_Name_CV.yaml

The files are copied from the classic theme. You can update the contents of these files to create your custom theme.

Each of these *.j2.tex files is \LaTeX code with some Python in it. These files allow RenderCV to create your CV out of the YAML input.

The best way to understand how they work is to look at the source code of built-in themes:

• templates of the classic theme
• templates of the engineeringresumes theme
• templates of the sb2nov theme
• templates of the moderncv theme

For example, the content of ExperienceEntry.j2.tex for the moderncv theme is shown below:

\cventry{
    ((* if design.show_only_years *))
    <<entry.date_string_only_years>>
    ((* else *))
    <<entry.date_string>>
    ((* endif *))
}{
    <<entry.position>>
}{
    <<entry.company>>
}{
    <<entry.location>>
}{}{}
((* for item in entry.highlights *))
\cvline{}{\small <<item>>}
((* endfor *))

The values between << and >> are the names of Python variables, allowing you to write a \\LaTeX CV without writing any content. They will be replaced with the values found in the YAML input. Also, the values between ((* and *)) are Python blocks, allowing you to use loops and conditional statements.

The process of generating \\LaTeX files like this is called "templating," and it's achieved with a Python package called Jinja.

Also, the __init__.py file found in the theme directory is used to define the design options of the custom theme. You can define your custom design options in this file.

For example, an __init__.py file is shown below:

from typing import Literal

import pydantic

class YourcustomthemeThemeOptions(pydantic.BaseModel):
    theme: Literal["yourcustomtheme"]
    option1: str
    option2: str
    option3: int
    option4: bool

Then, RenderCV will parse your custom design options from the YAML input, and you can use these variables inside your *.j2.tex files as shown below:

<<design.option1>>
<<design.option2>>
((* if design.option4 *))
    <<design.option3>>
((* endif *))

Options of the create-theme command

The create-theme command has some options:

• #!bash --based-on "THEME_NAME": Generates a custom theme based on the specified built-in theme, instead of the default classic theme. Currently, the available themes are: {{available_themes}}.

rendercv create-theme "mycustomtheme" --based-on "THEME_NAME"