Getting Started — Your First CV in 10 Minutes¶

Step 1: Bootstrap¶

In your local system, bootstrap the template using this command:

typst init @preview/brilliant-cv

Replace the version with the latest or any release (after 2.0.0) if needed:

typst init @preview/brilliant-cv:4.0.1

Step 2: Install Fonts¶

In order to make Typst render correctly, you will have to install the required fonts:

Roboto
Source Sans 3 (or Source Sans Pro)

Step 3: File Structure Map¶

After bootstrapping, your project will contain these files:

File / Directory	Purpose
`cv.typ`	Entry point (edit to add/remove modules)
`letter.typ`	Cover letter entry point
`profile_en/metadata.toml`	Complete configuration for the English profile
`profile_en/*.typ`	Your English content modules (edit these)
`profile_<name>/...`	Other profile variants (fr, de, it, zh provided as examples)
`assets/`	Your profile photo and logos

Tip

Don't edit the package source files under @preview/brilliant-cv — they are managed by the Typst package manager.

Step 4: Configure profile_en/metadata.toml¶

All customization for the English profile goes through profile_en/metadata.toml — it is a complete, self-contained CV configuration. See the Configuration Reference for the full set of fields.

The most important keys to set first:

awesome_color — your accent color ("skyblue", "red", "nephritis", "concrete", "darknight")
first_name / last_name — your name displayed in the header
[personal.info] — your contact details (email, phone, GitHub, LinkedIn, etc.)
header_quote — italic tagline below your name
cv_footer / letter_footer — text shown in the footer

Step 5: Add Your First Entry¶

Open profile_en/education.typ and replace its contents with:

#import "@preview/brilliant-cv:4.0.1": cv-section, cv-entry

#cv-section("Education")

#cv-entry(
  title: [Master of Data Science],
  society: [University of California],
  date: [2018 - 2020],
  location: [USA],
  description: list(
    [Thesis: Predicting Customer Churn using ML],
  ),
)

Each profile module file (education.typ, professional.typ, projects.typ, certificates.typ, publications.typ, skills.typ) imports from @preview/brilliant-cv and emits cv-* calls — cv.typ includes them in order. Add new sections by creating a new module file under profile_en/ and adding its name to the import-modules((...)) call in cv.typ.

Step 6: Compile¶

typst compile cv.typ

Step 7: (Optional) Add More Profiles¶

If you maintain CVs in multiple languages or for different target roles, copy profile_en/ to profile_<name>/ and edit the fields that differ. Each profile is independent — there is no shared root config to coordinate. See Recipes → Adding a New Profile for details.

Step 8: Go Beyond¶

It is recommended to:

Use git to manage your project — track changes and tag releases of your CV (git tag cv-v1, git tag cv-v2).
Use typstyle and pre-commit to keep your .typ files consistently formatted.
Use typos to catch spelling mistakes if your CV is in English.
Wire up CI to compile your CV on every push — see Recipes → CI/CD with GitHub Actions.