Kareer

A job application tracker built the KDE way - C++ with a QML/Kirigami frontend, ECM/CMake, and KDE Frameworks 6. Every application you log is stored in a local SQLite database, and every stage change is kept as history so the whole pipeline can be visualized as a Sankey diagram.

Everything the GUI can do is also available from the command line, so other tools - a resume generator, a job-search script - can log applications without ever opening a window.

Features

• Track company, title, location, remote type, source, salary range, salary expectation, notes, contact, and the date applied
• A fixed pipeline of stages (Applied, Screening, Interview, Onsite, Offer, Accepted, Rejected, Withdrawn, Ghosted) with full history of every transition. The history is editable, with a date per step, so an application you log after the fact (applied, interviewed, rejected) keeps its whole path
• A Sankey diagram of the whole pipeline, showing where applications progress and where they drop off
• Dashboard summary stats: total applications, active count, offers, response rate
• Applications with no response are marked Ghosted automatically: anything still at Applied with no activity for 30 days (adjustable, or off, under Preferences). The move is recorded in its history like any other, and the CLI notes it on stderr so --json output stays clean.
• A full CLI (kareer add|list|show|update|stage|history|delete|stats|stages) for scripting

Command line usage

Running kareer with no arguments (or an unrecognized first argument) starts the GUI. A recognized first argument runs headlessly instead - handy for other tools to call directly.

# Add an application (stage defaults to Applied, date defaults to today)
kareer add --company "Acme Corp" --title "Senior Software Engineer" \
    --location "Remote" --remote remote --source "LinkedIn" \
    --salary-min 140000 --salary-max 170000 --salary-expectation 160000 \
    --notes "Great team, async-friendly"

# Machine-readable output for scripting (prints the new record, including its id)
kareer add --company "Acme Corp" --title "Senior Software Engineer" --json

# List / filter
kareer list
kareer list --stage Interview
kareer list --company Acme --json

# Show, update, and move through the pipeline
kareer show 1
kareer update 1 --salary-max 175000
kareer stage 1 Interview

# Show or rewrite an application's stage history, one Stage=date per step
kareer history 1
kareer history 1 Applied=2026-08-01 Interview=2026-08-15 Rejected=2026-08-20

# Delete (requires --yes to actually happen)
kareer delete 1 --yes

# Summary stats and the canonical stage list
kareer stats
kareer stages

Run kareer <command> --help for the full option list of any subcommand.

Where the data lives

On first launch the GUI asks where to keep the database: the default location, a folder you choose (a synced folder, say), or an existing kareer.sqlite you already have, used where it is. You can move or switch it later under Preferences. The CLI uses the same file.

The database file is picked in this order:

1. --db <path> on the command line (GUI or any subcommand; the file is created if it doesn't exist): kareer --db ~/test.sqlite list
2. The KAREER_DB_PATH environment variable
3. The location chosen in the GUI (stored in kareerrc)
4. $XDG_DATA_HOME/kareer/kareer.sqlite (under Flatpak, that's sandboxed to the app's own data directory)

Wiring up a resume-builder tool

Any script that generates or sends out a resume can log the application in the same step:

kareer add --company "$COMPANY" --title "$TITLE" --url "$POSTING_URL" \
    --source "resume-builder" --json

Install

Tagged releases are built by CI into a single-file bundle (attached to each GitHub Release) and a hosted Flatpak repository on GitHub Pages:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists --user kareer \
  https://toservetheking.github.io/Kareer/kareer.flatpakrepo
flatpak install --user kareer io.github.toservetheking.Kareer

The repository and bundle are GPG-signed; the public key is embedded in the .flatpakrepo (and available at keys/kareer.asc).

Or install the downloaded bundle directly:

flatpak install --user ./io.github.toservetheking.Kareer.flatpak

On Arch, a PKGBUILD is maintained in dist/arch (pending AUR publication - the AUR is not accepting new accounts right now):

cd dist/arch && makepkg -si

Building

Requires Qt 6, KDE Frameworks 6, Kirigami, Kirigami Addons and the CMake toolchain. On Arch/CachyOS:

sudo pacman -S --needed cmake ninja extra-cmake-modules base-devel \
    qt6-base qt6-declarative vulkan-headers kirigami kirigami-addons \
    ki18n kconfig kcoreaddons kiconthemes kcrash kitemmodels \
    kcolorscheme qqc2-desktop-style

On Fedora 44:

sudo dnf install cmake ninja-build extra-cmake-modules gcc-c++ \
    qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qtbase-private-devel \
    qt6-qtdeclarative-devel qt6-qtquickcontrols2-devel \
    vulkan-headers kf6-kirigami-devel \
    kf6-kirigami-addons-devel kf6-ki18n-devel kf6-kcoreaddons-devel \
    kf6-kconfig-devel \
    kf6-kiconthemes-devel kf6-kcrash-devel kf6-kitemmodels-devel \
    kf6-kcolorscheme-devel qqc2-desktop-style

Then:

cmake -B build
cmake --build build
./build/bin/kareer

(If you have ninja installed, add -G Ninja to the configure step or use the ninja-dev preset: cmake --preset ninja-dev.)

Run the tests with ctest --test-dir build.

Architecture

• job.h - the Job and StageTransition plain data structs.
• jobstage.{h,cpp} - the fixed stage vocabulary: ordering, Sankey column/stacking position, and color.
• jobsdatabase.{h,cpp} - SQLite storage (via QtSql) for applications and stage history; the only class that touches the database.
• jobsmodel.{h,cpp} - QAbstractListModel wrapper over JobsDatabase for the QML application list and edit dialog.
• statsmodel.{h,cpp} - summary counters for the dashboard.
• sankeymodel.{h,cpp} - turns stage history into laid-out Sankey geometry (node columns/stacking, ribbon SVG path data); QML only draws what this hands back.
• jobfieldcatalog.{h,cpp} - the static catalog of edit-form fields and categories.
• jobeditmodel.{h,cpp} - QAbstractListModel-backed edit-form state, built from the field catalog.
• stagehistorymodel.{h,cpp} - the editable stage history shown in the edit form's Pipeline section.
• clicommands.{h,cpp} - the add/list/show/update/stage/ history/delete/stats/stages subcommands.
• appcolorscheme.{h,cpp} - QML-facing wrapper around KColorSchemeManager for the Preferences page.
• databaselocation.{h,cpp} - where the database lives: the first-run choice and the Preferences Database section.
• autoghost.{h,cpp} - marks applications with no response as Ghosted, and its Preferences setting.
• qml/ - Kirigami UI: ApplicationsPage (list + search), ApplicationEditPage (add/edit/delete form), DashboardPage (stat cards + pipeline), SankeyDiagram (the renderer), SettingsPage (the Preferences page), DatabaseSetupDialog (the first-run database choice).