✈️ InterviewPilot

AI-Powered Interview Platform — End-to-End Interview Automation

InterviewPilot is a full-stack MERN application that automates the complete interview lifecycle — from AI-generated questions to live coding rounds to detailed performance reports — and integrates natively with CareerSync, a job aggregation platform I built. Together, they form a production-grade, cross-platform hiring ecosystem built by a single developer.

🌐 Live Demo  ·  📽 Demo Video  ·  🔗 CareerSync (Sibling Project)

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🧠 The Big Idea — Cross-Platform Hiring Ecosystem

Most job platforms stop at the application stage. InterviewPilot picks up exactly where they leave off.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     CAREERSYNC  (Platform 1)                        │
│   Students browse jobs → Apply → Company shortlists candidate       │
│                              │                                      │
│           Company clicks "Start Interview Process" 🚀               │
└──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┘
                               │  REST API call (shared API secret)
                               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   INTERVIEWPILOT  (Platform 2)                      │
│                                                                     │
│   📧 Invite email sent to student automatically                     │
│   🤖 Gemini AI generates role-specific questions from resume        │
│   💬 Student completes HR + Technical rounds                        │
│   💻 Student solves live coding problem (Monaco Editor + Judge0)    │
│   📊 AI generates full performance report with roadmap              │
│                              │                                      │
│        Score sent back to CareerSync automatically ✅               │
└──────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┘
                               │  REST API callback
                               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   CAREERSYNC  — Recruiter sees score on applicant panel             │
│   "Overall Score: 82/100 · View Full Report →"                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

No human interviewer needed. No scheduling. No coordination. Fully automated.

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⚡ Feature Highlights

🤖 AI-Driven Interview Engine

• Google Gemini API generates personalized interview questions based on the candidate's actual resume and target role
• Gemini evaluates every answer in real time and returns a score (0–10) + constructive feedback
• After completion, Gemini produces a full performance report with strengths, weaknesses, and a personalized improvement roadmap
• Multi-key rotation pattern prevents rate limiting across concurrent sessions

💻 Live Coding Round

• In-browser Monaco Editor (the same engine that powers VS Code)
• Supports JavaScript, Python, and C++
• Code is compiled and executed against hidden test cases via Judge0 API
• AI reviews the submitted code independently and gives code-quality feedback

📡 Real-Time Recruiter Dashboard

• Socket.IO powers live updates — recruiters see candidate progress in real time as they answer each question
• No refresh needed: session:started → session:progress → session:completed events stream live
• Compare multiple candidates side-by-side with a built-in comparison view

🔗 CareerSync Integration (Cross-Platform)

• Shared JWT_SECRET means a token from CareerSync is valid on InterviewPilot — zero re-authentication
• Students enter the interview via a one-time invite link (no account creation required)
• After interview completes, scores are automatically pushed back to CareerSync via a secure callback API
• Both platforms communicate using a shared INTERVIEWPILOT_API_SECRET — not exposed to the client

📄 PDF Reports

• Downloadable PDF interview reports generated server-side with PDFKit
• Recruiters can download and share reports with hiring managers

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🛠 Tech Stack

Frontend

Technology	Purpose
React 19 + Vite	UI framework + build tool
Tailwind CSS	Utility-first styling
Framer Motion	Page transitions + micro-animations
Monaco Editor	In-browser VS Code-style code editor
Recharts	Score radar charts + analytics
Socket.IO Client	Real-time session updates
React Router v6	Client-side routing

Backend

Technology	Purpose
Node.js + Express.js	REST API server
MongoDB + Mongoose	Database + ODM
Socket.IO	Real-time bidirectional events
JSON Web Tokens	Auth (shared secret with CareerSync)
Google Gemini API	Question generation + answer evaluation + report generation
Judge0 API	Remote code execution + test case evaluation
Resend API	Transactional invite emails
PDFKit	Server-side PDF report generation
pdf-parse	Resume PDF text extraction

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🗂 Project Structure

InterviewPilot/
├── client/                         # React + Vite frontend
│   └── src/
│       ├── components/
│       │   ├── common/             # Navbar, Sidebar, Modal, Loader
│       │   ├── interview/          # QuestionCard, AnswerInput, Timer
│       │   ├── coding/             # CodeEditor, TestCasePanel, LanguageSelector
│       │   ├── report/             # ScoreCard, RadarChart, RoadmapSection
│       │   └── recruiter/          # CandidateRow, CompareTable, StatusBadge
│       ├── pages/                  # 13 pages covering all user flows
│       ├── context/                # AuthContext, InterviewContext
│       ├── hooks/                  # useSocket, useInterview
│       └── utils/                  # axios instance, socket singleton
│
└── server/                         # Node.js + Express backend
    ├── models/                     # User, InterviewSession, PracticeSession
    ├── routes/                     # auth, interviews, recruiter, practice, careersync
    ├── controllers/                # Business logic for each route group
    ├── services/                   # gemini, judge0, email, report, socket services
    ├── middleware/                  # JWT auth, API secret verification
    └── utils/                      # Token generator, Gemini key rotator

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🔐 Authentication Architecture

InterviewPilot has three distinct auth flows by design:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  1. CareerSync Invite Flow  (Most common)                        │
│     Student receives email → clicks /interview/join/TOKEN        │
│     NO login required — invite token is the credential           │
│     Single-use, 48-hour expiry                                   │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  2. Practice Mode  (Standalone student)                          │
│     Student registers/logs in on InterviewPilot                  │
│     Standard JWT auth → /practice, /dashboard                   │
│     Same JWT_SECRET as CareerSync = zero friction                │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  3. Recruiter Login                                              │
│     Recruiter logs in at /recruiter/login                        │
│     JWT with role: 'recruiter' → /recruiter/dashboard            │
│     Live Socket.IO room per session                              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18+
• MongoDB (local) or MongoDB Atlas account
• Google Gemini API key(s)
• Judge0 RapidAPI key
• Resend API key

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/itsmrajguru/InterviewPilot.git
cd InterviewPilot

2. Set up the backend

cd server
npm install
cp .env.example .env
# Fill in your values in .env
npm run dev

3. Set up the frontend

cd client
npm install
# .env already present — update VITE_API_BASE_URL if needed
npm run dev

Environment Variables (server .env)

PORT=8000
MONGO_URI=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/InterviewPilot
JWT_SECRET=your_shared_jwt_secret
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=your_refresh_secret
RESEND_API_KEY=re_your_key
FROM_EMAIL="InterviewPilot <hr@yourdomain.com>"
GEMINI_API_KEY_1=your_key_1
GEMINI_API_KEY_2=your_key_2
GEMINI_API_KEY_3=your_key_3
JUDGE0_API_KEY=your_rapidapi_key
JUDGE0_API_HOST=judge0-ce.p.rapidapi.com
INTERVIEWPILOT_API_SECRET=your_shared_secret_with_careersync
CAREERSYNC_BACKEND_URL=https://careersync-backend.onrender.com
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173

🤝 Related Projects

This project is part of a 3-project portfolio ecosystem:

Project	Description	Status
CareerSync	Full-stack job aggregation platform (Internshala-style)	✅ Live
GuruAI	AI career consultant chatbot, integrated into CareerSync	✅ Live
InterviewPilot	AI interview platform, bridges with CareerSync	🚧 In Development

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👨‍💻 About the Developer

Mangesh Rajguru — Third-year Computer Engineering student from Pune, India.

Building production-grade full-stack systems independently — from database design and AI integration to real-time features and cross-platform API architecture.

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InterviewPilot is built with ❤️ as part of the CareerSync ecosystem.

If this project impressed you — the other two are live and deployed. Check them out.