002 / SYSTEM DESIGN

The Pipeline

A five-source job search collapsed into one scored, self-updating Trello pipeline.

RolePersonal automation build
ForPersonal project
Year2026
ToolsPython · Claude API · Trello · Gmail

01 — THE PROBLEM

Reviewing job postings across five sources a day was costing hours mostly spent on roles that didn't fit.

02 — CONSTRAINTS

What the system had to respect.

01Two of five job sources block scrapers outright
02API costs needed a keyword pre-filter before any model call
03No manual updates — rejections and invites had to move cards on their own

03 — THE SYSTEM

A workflow people can follow.

01

Crawl

A local Python agent crawls three job boards directly and parses Gmail alerts for two more that block scrapers.

02

Filter

A keyword pre-filter runs first to keep API costs under control.

03

Score

Every listing gets scored against a detailed personal rubric via the Claude API before a card is ever created.

04

Update

Rejections and interview invites auto-move cards based on incoming email signals — no manual updates, ever.

04 — DECISIONS

The choices that made it practical.

Decision 01

Score before a card exists.

Nothing enters Trello until it's been checked against a real rubric, not just keyword matched.

Decision 02

No manual bookkeeping.

Rejections and invites move the pipeline forward on their own, based on incoming email signals.

05 — RESULT

A five-source job search collapsed into one scored, self-updating Trello pipeline.

5Sources monitored daily
ZEROManual updates required

Reviewing job postings was taking hours — most of them wasted

Five sources a day, most of it spent on roles that didn’t fit. A triage layer felt more useful than more tabs, so a fully deployed local Python agent now crawls three job boards directly and parses Gmail alerts for the two that block scrapers outright.

Every listing gets scored against a detailed personal rubric before a Trello card ever gets created, with a keyword pre-filter running first to keep API costs down. Rejections and interview invites move their own cards based on incoming email signals — no manual updates, ever.