AI Portfolio Assistant
An AI-powered assistant that lets recruiters and hiring managers ask questions about experience, projects, stack, and role fit.
Context
Static portfolios often fail to surface the depth behind projects. Recruiters scanning quickly miss architecture context, role fit signals, and full-stack ownership details.
Problem
A resume and project list cannot answer contextual questions like 'Is this person a fit for a NestJS + React role?' or 'What architecture work have they done?'
Ownership
- Chat UI with suggested question chips
- Server-side API route with prompt guardrails
- Curated portfolio knowledge base
- Rate limiting and safety rules
- Static demo mode when API key is unavailable
Architecture
Visitor interacts with chat UI → API route applies prompt and safety rules → curated portfolio knowledge informs LLM response → answer returned with optional case study links.
flowchart TD Visitor[Recruiter / Visitor] --> ChatUI[Portfolio Chat UI] ChatUI --> API[AI Assistant API Route] API --> Guardrails[Prompt + Safety Rules] Guardrails --> Knowledge[Curated Portfolio Knowledge] Knowledge --> Model[OpenAI / LLM Provider] Model --> API API --> ChatUI
Key Technical Decisions
| Decision | Why | Trade-off | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curated knowledge over open retrieval | Prevent hallucination of private or unverified details | Less flexible than full RAG pipeline | Trustworthy, portfolio-accurate responses |
| Static demo fallback | Portfolio must work without API keys in all environments | Reduced interactivity in demo mode | Always-functional portfolio experience |
| Suggested question chips | Guide recruiters to high-value questions quickly | Less open-ended discovery | Faster time-to-insight for hiring managers |
Implementation
- Built floating AI orb with expandable glass chat panel
- Created suggested questions for role fit, stack, and case studies
- Implemented API route with environment variable for API key
- Added prompt rules to never expose secrets or confidential details
- Designed static demo mode with pre-curated responses
Results
- Turns the portfolio into an interactive interview preparation surface
- Demonstrates AI product thinking alongside engineering craft
- Differentiates from standard static developer portfolios
Reflection
- Guardrails matter more than model choice for a portfolio assistant.
- Linking answers to case studies keeps the experience credible.
- Next: recruiter email capture and usage analytics with privacy respect.