rendercv
Resume builder for academics and engineers
What it is and what it does
RenderCV is a resume and CV builder that lets you write your document as YAML and automatically generates a polished PDF. Instead of wrestling with formatting in a word processor, you describe your education, experience, and skills in structured YAML, then run a single command to produce a PDF with professional typography, consistent spacing, and your choice of design theme.
The package handles all the layout work for you—margins, alignment, font sizing, and color schemes are managed by the theme and design configuration. It includes multiple themes (Classic, Engineeringresumes, Sb2nov, Moderncv, Engineeringclassic, Harvard, Ink, Opal, Ember) and supports customization of colors, typography, page margins, and other design details through YAML configuration. It also supports multiple languages through locale settings and includes strict validation to catch errors before PDF generation.
Use it for:
- Maintain your resume in version control as plain text YAML, making it easy to track changes and collaborate.
- Generate multiple PDF versions with different themes or designs from a single YAML source file.
- Ensure consistent professional typography and layout without manual formatting adjustments.
- Quickly update your CV content and regenerate the PDF without reformatting the entire document.
- Use with AI agents via the RenderCV skill to programmatically create or edit CVs.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
RenderCV converts a YAML resume file into a professionally typeset PDF with multiple design themes, handling layout, typography, and formatting automatically.
Yes. RenderCV is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, installs with low friction, and solves a real problem—separating resume content from presentation. It's well-suited for academics and engineers who want version-controllable, professionally formatted CVs without the overhead of word processors. The MIT license imposes no restrictions. Requires Python 3.12+.
Install
rendercv on PyPI
pip
pip install rendercvuv
uv add rendercvpoetry
poetry add rendercvInstalling rendercv
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel. Actively maintained with recent releases; requires Python 3.12 or later.
License in practice
MIT license permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions, making it suitable for both personal and commercial projects.
Quickstart
pip install 'rendercv[full]'
rendercv new "John Doe"
# Edit John_Doe_CV.yaml with your content
rendercv render "John_Doe_CV.yaml"
Requires Python 3.12 or later.
Verify before relying
- Whether the 'full' extra installs additional optional dependencies beyond the six runtime deps listed.
- What PDF rendering engine or system dependencies may be required for PDF generation.
- Whether all nine design themes mentioned in the description are included in version 2.8.
Package facts
| License | MIT (permissive) |
| Python support | supports the current Python release (>=3.12) |
| Install friction | low — pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 6 — jinja2, markdown, phonenumbers, pydantic-extra-types, pydantic, ruamel-yaml |
| Maintenance | actively maintained — 146 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 161,843/month — #10,620 on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-14) |
| Known vulnerabilities | none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14) |
Evidence: rendercv-2.8-py3-none-any.whl
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