Placed Interview Coach

AI-powered interview preparation via the Placed API. No MCP server required — all calls are made directly with curl.

API Key

Load the key from ~/.config/placed/credentials, falling back to the environment:

if [ -z "$PLACED_API_KEY" ] && [ -f "$HOME/.config/placed/credentials" ]; then
  source "$HOME/.config/placed/credentials"
fi

If PLACED_API_KEY is still not set, ask the user:

> "Please provide your Placed API key (get it at https://placed.exidian.tech/settings/api)"

Then save it for future sessions:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.config/placed"
echo "export PLACED_API_KEY=<key_provided_by_user>" > "$HOME/.config/placed/credentials"
export PLACED_API_KEY=<key_provided_by_user>

How to Call the API

placed_call() {
  local tool=$1
  local args=${2:-'{}'}
  curl -s -X POST https://placed.exidian.tech/api/mcp \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $PLACED_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"id\":1,\"method\":\"tools/call\",\"params\":{\"name\":\"$tool\",\"arguments\":$args}}" \
    | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(d['result']['content'][0]['text'])"
}

Available Tools

Usage Examples

Start a mock interview:

placed_call "start_interview_session" '{
  "resume_id": "res_abc123",
  "job_title": "Senior Software Engineer",
  "difficulty": "hard",
  "company": "Google"
}'
# Returns: session_id + first question

Answer a question:

placed_call "continue_interview_session" '{
  "session_id": "sess_abc123",
  "user_answer": "I would approach this by first clarifying requirements..."
}'
# Returns: feedback on your answer + next question

Get session feedback:

placed_call "get_interview_feedback" '{"session_id":"sess_abc123"}'

List system design cases:

placed_call "list_interview_cases"
# Returns: Design Twitter, Design URL Shortener, Design Netflix, Design Uber, etc.

Start a system design interview:

placed_call "start_system_design" '{"case_id":"design-twitter","difficulty":"senior"}'

Get behavioral questions:

placed_call "get_behavioral_questions" '{
  "target_role": "Engineering Manager",
  "focus_categories": ["leadership", "conflict-resolution", "failure"]
}'

Save a STAR story:

placed_call "save_story_to_bank" '{
  "situation": "Led team through major refactor",
  "task": "Reduce technical debt while shipping features",
  "action": "Created phased plan, mentored junior devs, set clear milestones",
  "result": "30% faster deployments, reduced bugs by 25%",
  "category": "leadership"
}'

Interview Types

Technical (Coding)

• Difficulty: easy, medium, hard
• Clarify requirements → code → explain trade-offs → test with examples

System Design

Framework: Requirements → High-Level Architecture → Database Design → Scalability → Fault Tolerance → Trade-offs

Behavioral

Use the STAR method for every answer:

• Situation — Context and background
• Task — Your responsibility
• Action — What you specifically did
• Result — Outcome with metrics

Tips

• Think out loud during technical interviews — explain your reasoning
• Start system design with constraints and scale requirements
• Use specific metrics in STAR answers ("reduced latency by 40%")
• Save strong stories to the bank so they're reusable across interviews
• Practice the same case at different difficulty levels to build confidence