What Templating Engine Does Hiring Agent Use for Section Parsing?

Hiring Agent uses Jinja2 as its templating engine for section parsing, leveraging a centralized TemplateManager class to render resume sections into LLM-ready prompts before processing.

Hiring Agent, an open-source resume parsing tool maintained by InterviewStreet, handles unstructured PDF data by converting it into structured prompts for large language models. The section parsing workflow depends entirely on Jinja2 templates to format raw resume text into specific prompts for work history, education, skills, and other categories.

How TemplateManager Configures the Jinja2 Environment

The core implementation lives in prompts/template_manager.py, where the TemplateManager class initializes a Jinja2 Environment using a FileSystemLoader. This loader automatically discovers all *.jinja files stored under the prompts/templates directory at runtime.

The manager exposes a render_template method that accepts a template name (corresponding to the filename without extension) and keyword arguments for variable substitution. This architecture decouples prompt formatting from business logic, allowing developers to modify LLM prompts by editing Jinja files without touching Python code.

Rendering Section Templates for Resume Parsing

When parsing resumes, Hiring Agent maps distinct resume sections to specific template files. Each section type—work experience, education, skills—has a dedicated Jinja template that defines how raw text should be presented to the LLM.

Work, Education, and Skills Templates

The template files follow a strict naming convention: work.jinja, education.jinja, and skills.jinja reside in prompts/templates/. These files contain pure Jinja2 syntax, supporting variable interpolation via {{ variable }}, conditionals with {% if %}, and iteration loops.

For example, when extracting work history, the code invokes:

template_manager = TemplateManager()
prompt = template_manager.render_template("work", text_content=resume_text)

The text_content variable passes the raw PDF extract into the template, where Jinja expressions format it according to the specific section's prompt requirements.

Code Implementation Examples

The following patterns demonstrate how to interact with the templating system across different contexts.

Loading and Rendering a Section Template

To render any resume section, instantiate TemplateManager and call render_template with the section identifier:

from prompts.template_manager import TemplateManager

# Initialize manager (scans prompts/templates/ for *.jinja files)

tm = TemplateManager()

# Render the "work" section template

work_prompt = tm.render_template(
    "work",                    # corresponds to work.jinja

    text_content=resume_text   # variable referenced inside the template

)

print(work_prompt)   # Formatted prompt ready for LLM consumption

Integrating TemplateManager in PDF Processing

The pdf.py module demonstrates production usage during PDF processing. The PDFProcessor class maintains a TemplateManager instance and renders section-specific prompts before LLM invocation:

from prompts.template_manager import TemplateManager

class PDFProcessor:
    def __init__(self):
        self.template_manager = TemplateManager()

    def parse_section(self, section_name, raw_text):
        # Render Jinja template for the specific section

        prompt = self.template_manager.render_template(
            section_name,
            text_content=raw_text
        )
        # Send prompt to LLM and process response...

        return prompt

Creating Custom Section Templates

Adding support for new resume sections requires only a new Jinja file. Create prompts/templates/hobbies.jinja:

You are a helpful assistant. Extract the candidate's hobbies from the following text:
{{ text_content }}

Then render it without modifying Python code:

tm = TemplateManager()
hobbies_prompt = tm.render_template("hobbies", text_content=resume_text)

The FileSystemLoader automatically discovers any new *.jinja files placed in the templates directory, requiring no additional registration steps.

Integration Across the Hiring Agent Codebase

Beyond resume parsing, the Jinja2 templating system powers multiple components through the same TemplateManager interface:

• pdf.py: Renders templates for each resume section before LLM processing
• github.py: Applies templates when selecting and describing GitHub repository projects
• evaluator.py: Uses the mechanism for rendering evaluation criteria and system messages
• prompts/templates/: Houses all section-specific Jinja files including work.jinja, education.jinja, and skills.jinja

Summary

• Jinja2 powers all section parsing in Hiring Agent through the TemplateManager class located in prompts/template_manager.py
• The system uses FileSystemLoader to automatically discover *.jinja templates in the prompts/templates/ directory
• Developers render section prompts via render_template(section_name, text_content=...) called from pdf.py, github.py, and evaluator.py
• New resume sections require only the creation of a new .jinja file, with no Python code changes necessary

Frequently Asked Questions

What templating engine does Hiring Agent use for section parsing?

Hiring Agent uses Jinja2 as its templating engine. The TemplateManager class in prompts/template_manager.py instantiates a Jinja2 Environment configured with a FileSystemLoader that loads all *.jinja files from prompts/templates/. This setup enables dynamic prompt generation for different resume sections like work experience and education.

How do I add a new section template to Hiring Agent?

Create a new file in prompts/templates/ with a .jinja extension, such as certifications.jinja. Write your prompt using standard Jinja2 syntax, including variables like {{ text_content }}. The TemplateManager automatically detects new files in the templates directory, and you can immediately render them by calling tm.render_template("certifications", text_content=your_text).

Where is the TemplateManager instantiated in the codebase?

The TemplateManager is instantiated in several key modules: pdf.py initializes it for resume section parsing, github.py uses it for GitHub project selection prompts, and evaluator.py leverages it for rendering evaluation criteria. Each module creates an independent instance via TemplateManager().

Can I use conditionals and loops in Hiring Agent templates?

Yes, because Hiring Agent uses standard Jinja2 syntax, you can utilize advanced features including {% if %} statements, {% for %} loops, and built-in filters within your *.jinja files. The Jinja2 Environment processes these constructs when render_template is called, enabling sophisticated logic for formatting resume text before LLM submission.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}