Cover Letter

You run a Dockerized MCP server that creates professional PDF cover letters using LaTeX, with built-in folder management so you can organize applications by company, role, or status. It provides a fast, isolated environment and sanitizes inputs to keep your file system safe while producing polished PDFs.

How to use

You interact with the server through an MCP client by invoking the available tools to generate letters and manage folders. The server is designed to output PDFs into a structured downloads directory and to auto-create folders as you organize your letters. Use descriptive names, target folders, and optional custom filenames to keep your collection tidy and easy to browse.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before starting:

Docker Desktop must be installed and running.

Claude Desktop must be the latest version with MCP support.

Git is needed to clone the repository.

Step 1 — Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/cover-letter-mcp.git
cd cover-letter-mcp

Step 2 — Create downloads directory

mkdir downloads

Step 3 — Build the Docker image

docker build -t cover-letter-mcp .

Step 4 — Configure Claude Desktop

Add a MCP server configuration to Claude Desktop so you can issue cover letter requests from the Claude interface. Create a config block that points to the Docker-based server and maps a local downloads directory into the container.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cover-letter-generator": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "-v",
        "/path/to/your/cover-letter-mcp/downloads:/downloads",
        "cover-letter-mcp",
        "python",
        "server.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Configure the downloads path

Replace /path/to/your/cover-letter-mcp/downloads with the actual path on your host where you want PDFs stored. Example mappings:

Windows:  "C:/Users/YourUsername/path/to/cover-letter-mcp/downloads:/downloads"
macOS/Linux:  "/Users/YourUsername/path/to/cover-letter-mcp/downloads:/downloads"

Step 5 — Restart Claude Desktop

Restart Claude Desktop to load the new MCP server configuration and apply the Docker-based server. After restart, you can start sending requests to generate and organize cover letters.

Available tools

generate_cover_letter

Generates a PDF cover letter from structured data and places the output in the configured downloads directory, with optional folderPath and filename to organize and name the file.

create_folder

Creates a new folder inside the downloads directory, allowing nested folder structures for organizing cover letters.

list_folders

Lists all folders and files within the downloads directory or a specified subdirectory to help you browse your collection.