# ApplySmooth

> Proof-gated resume tailoring platform. ATS checking, keyword matching, AI-powered rewrites that refuse to fabricate, role-specific templates, and structured resume editing for job seekers who want a stronger match without fake claims.

## What ApplySmooth Does

ApplySmooth is a SaaS tool for job seekers. It tailors resumes to specific job descriptions using AI rewrites that refuse to fabricate metrics, tools, certifications, or companies the user did not supply. Every rewrite is proof-gated: the engine extracts facts from the original resume and refuses to ship changes that introduce unsupported claims.

The product is purpose-built around one observation: most AI resume tools will happily invent numbers and credentials when asked, which is exactly the failure mode job seekers cannot afford. ApplySmooth treats this as a safety problem, not a feature problem.

## Core Products

### Resume Speed (live)

The flagship product. Upload a resume (PDF or DOCX), paste a job description, and get:

- A match score showing how well the resume aligns with the JD.
- A ranked Fix Queue of improvements grouped by severity (High / Medium / Low) and by resume section (Experience, Skills, Education).
- AI rewrites that are checked against the facts in the original resume. The engine refuses to fabricate metrics, tools, certifications, companies, or job titles.
- Multi-version rewrite cache: three variant rewrites per bullet, cached for click-to-swap comparison without burning extra API calls. Hard cap of 10 fetches per line per session.
- Authenticity Check (detective score): weighted penalties for inflated or unsupported bullets, with the breakdown shown to the user.
- ATS-friendly PDF and DOCX export.
- Intelligence chat (paid tiers): grounded against the resume and JD for deeper analysis.

### Free tools (no signup required)

- ATS Resume Checker — https://applysmooth.com/ats-score — scans PDF/DOCX files for ATS-hostile formatting (tables, multi-column layouts, header-embedded contact info, missing standard sections).
- Keyword Match — https://applysmooth.com/keyword-match — compares resume text against a job description and shows keyword overlap percentage plus missing terms.
- Action Verb Checker — https://applysmooth.com/action-verbs — flags weak resume openers like "responsible for" and suggests strong action verbs.
- Buzzword Detector — https://applysmooth.com/buzzword-check — finds overused buzzwords and offers plain-English alternatives.

All free tools process data in memory and discard it after returning the result. Nothing is stored.

## Key Differentiators

1. **Proof-gated rewrites.** The AI rewrite engine extracts facts from the original resume and refuses to ship changes that introduce unsupported claims. No fabricated metrics, no invented tools, no made-up certifications, no phantom companies or job titles.
2. **Structured Fix Queue.** Improvements are grouped by resume section and ranked by severity. The user addresses the highest-impact items first.
3. **Multi-version rewrite cache.** Three rewrite variants per bullet, cached for click-to-swap comparison with zero extra API calls.
4. **Authenticity Check.** A detective score that penalizes inflated or unsupported bullets, weighted by severity. The "no numbers" penalty is highest because vague bullets are the most common failure mode.
5. **Free tier with the full rewrite engine.** Most competitors gate AI rewrites behind a paid tier. ApplySmooth's free tier includes the full editor and proof-gated rewrites, with daily run limits separating tiers.

## Pricing

- Free: 1 run/day. Resume analysis, AI rewrites with proof-gating, ATS-friendly export, PDF/DOCX import and export.
- Starter ($11/mo, $9/mo annual): 10 runs/day. Adds resume saving, sorting bullets by job fit, extra rewrite safety checks, ability to ask questions about each fix.
- Pro ($19/mo, $13/mo annual): 30 runs/day. All Starter features at higher volume.

Resume run credits expire 1 year after purchase. Cancel any time.

## Guides

- How long should a resume be in 2026 — https://applysmooth.com/how-to/how-long-should-a-resume-be — one page is the default for under ~8 years of relevant experience. Two pages are appropriate once you have multiple roles with quantified impact. Density beats length.
- How many bullet points per job — https://applysmooth.com/how-to/how-many-bullet-points-per-job — most-recent and most-relevant role gets 4–6 strong bullets. Previous relevant role: 3–4. Older or off-target: 1–3, or none.
- How to tailor a resume to a job description — https://applysmooth.com/how-to/how-to-tailor-resume-to-job-description — five-step process: extract JD signals, map to real evidence, reorder bullets by relevance, tighten the summary, run a keyword-overlap check. Aim for ~60% JD keyword coverage. Higher is suspicious, lower means you missed something.
- What is an ATS resume — https://applysmooth.com/how-to/what-is-an-ats-resume — an ATS resume is a resume that survives automatic parsing. ATS reads single-column layouts and standard section headings cleanly. It struggles with tables, two-column layouts, text in headers/footers, images of text, and creative section names.
- Should I include a photo on a resume — https://applysmooth.com/how-to/should-i-include-photo-on-resume — in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia: no. In Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, China, Japan, South Korea: still common. When unsure, default to no.

## Comparisons

- ApplySmooth vs Teal (/vs/teal): Teal offers a LinkedIn extension and builder-style editor. ApplySmooth uploads an existing resume, pins the JD beside it, and shows a structured Fix Queue. The proof-gating engine is the wedge — Teal does not publicly document an equivalent safeguard against fabricated metrics.
- ApplySmooth vs Rezi (/vs/rezi): Rezi markets AI-native rewriting. ApplySmooth differentiates on the proof-gating engine and a free tier that includes the full rewrite engine.
- ApplySmooth vs Kickresume (/vs/kickresume): Kickresume has a deep template library. ApplySmooth focuses on tailoring to a specific JD with anti-fabrication safeguards rather than template variety.

## Resume Templates

Free to download. No signup required. Role-specific templates with example bullets and keyword cues:

- Software Engineer — https://applysmooth.com/templates/software-engineer
- Data Scientist — https://applysmooth.com/templates/data-scientist
- Product Manager — https://applysmooth.com/templates/product-manager
- Designer — https://applysmooth.com/templates/designer

Each template includes 4 example bullets that show the outcome → method → scope pattern, plus 8 role-specific keyword cues recruiters expect to see.

## How the Proof-Gating Engine Works

When the user requests a rewrite, ApplySmooth runs three stages:

1. **Extract facts** — pulls every metric, tool, certification, company, and job title from the original resume into a structured fact set.
2. **Pre-check** — before the AI generates a rewrite, the prompt is constrained to only use facts in the set. The model is explicitly told not to invent.
3. **Verifier** — after the AI returns a rewrite, a separate verifier checks each claim in the rewrite against the fact set. If any claim references something not in the set, the rewrite is rejected and the user is offered the option to add evidence instead.

This applies to bullet rewrites, section rewrites, full-resume rewrites, and the Intelligence chat's Add-Evidence confirmations. There is no code path that bypasses it.

## Technical Details

- Built with Next.js 16 (App Router, Turbopack), TypeScript, Supabase (auth + Postgres + RLS), and Anthropic Claude as the sole AI provider.
- Lexical (Meta, MIT) for the structured resume editor.
- Per-IP rate limiting via Upstash Redis. Cloudflare Turnstile bot protection on signup.
- PDF and DOCX upload supported via deterministic parsers. ATS-friendly PDF and DOCX export.
- Free-tool data is processed in memory and discarded after returning a result. Nothing stored.
- Soft-delete with 7-day grace period on account deletion.
- AI calls are gated behind explicit user actions. No background polling, no auto-firing on focus events or page load.

## Privacy

- Resume content for authenticated users is stored in Supabase with row-level security. Only the user can read their own resumes.
- Free-tool inputs are processed in memory and discarded. No persistent storage.
- Product analytics are stored in a `product_events` table that explicitly does not log resume text, JD text, chat content, or PII — only metadata like booleans, counts, and latencies.
- Account deletion soft-deletes immediately, hard-deletes after 7 days, and anonymizes the user's `product_events` rows.

## Glossary

Full definitions live at https://applysmooth.com/glossary with DefinedTerm structured data per entry.

- **Proof-gated rewrite** — an AI rewrite that is checked against the facts in the original resume and refused if it introduces unsupported claims. https://applysmooth.com/glossary#proof-gated-rewrite
- **Fix Queue** — ApplySmooth's structured list of resume improvements, grouped by section and ranked by severity. https://applysmooth.com/glossary#fix-queue
- **Authenticity Check** — the weighted score that penalizes inflated or unsupported resume bullets. https://applysmooth.com/glossary#authenticity-check
- **ATS (Applicant Tracking System)** — software employers use to parse and rank resumes before a human reads them. https://applysmooth.com/glossary#ats
- **Match score** — the alignment between a resume and a specific job description, expressed as a percentage. https://applysmooth.com/glossary#match-score
- **Resume run** — one tailoring session: one resume paired with one job description. https://applysmooth.com/glossary#resume-run

## Contact and Links

- Website: https://applysmooth.com
- Pricing: https://applysmooth.com/pricing
- About: https://applysmooth.com/about
- Glossary: https://applysmooth.com/glossary
- All free tools: https://applysmooth.com/free-tools
- All guides: https://applysmooth.com/how-to
- All templates: https://applysmooth.com/templates