karpathy-guidelines — Skills

What it does

State your assumptions explicitly. If uncertain, ask.

If multiple interpretations exist, present them - don't pick silently.

If a simpler approach exists, say so. Push back when warranted.

If something is unclear, stop. Name what's confusing. Ask.

No features beyond what was asked.

No abstractions for single-use code.

No "flexibility" or "configurability" that wasn't requested.

Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes through explicit assumptions, simplicity, and verifiable success criteria.

Source

Repository: https://github.com/forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills

karpathy-guidelines FAQ

What does the karpathy-guidelines skill do?

Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. Use when writing, reviewing, or refactoring code to avoid overcomplication, make surgical changes, surface assumptions, and define verifiable success criteria. State your assumptions explicitly. If uncertain, ask. If multiple interpretations exist, present them - don't pick silently.

What does karpathy-guidelines require?

Strong success criteria let you loop independently. Weak criteria ("make it work") require constant clarification.

How do I install karpathy-guidelines?

Run: npx -y skills add https://github.com/forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills --skill karpathy-guidelines --agent claude-code — the source lives at github.com/forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills.

Maintain karpathy-guidelines?

Let people know it's listed here — add the badge (live metrics, light/dark aware) or a plain link to your README or docs.

[![karpathy-guidelines on getagentictools](https://getagentictools.com/badge/skills/forrestchang-andrej-karpathy-skills-karpathy-guidelines.svg)](https://getagentictools.com/skills/forrestchang-andrej-karpathy-skills-karpathy-guidelines?ref=badge)

npx agentictools info skills/forrestchang-andrej-karpathy-skills-karpathy-guidelines

The second line is the CLI lookup for this page — handy in READMEs and docs.