| name | karpathy-guidelines |
| description | 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. |
| license | MIT |
Karpathy Guidelines
Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes, derived from Andrej Karpathy's observations on LLM coding pitfalls.
Tradeoff: biases toward caution over speed. For trivial tasks, use judgment.
1. Think Before Coding
Don't assume. Don't hide confusion. Surface tradeoffs.
- State assumptions explicitly. If uncertain, ask.
- Multiple interpretations exist? Present them — don't pick silently.
- A simpler approach exists? Say so. Push back when warranted.
- Something unclear? Stop. Name what's confusing. Ask.
2. Simplicity First
Minimum code that solves the problem. Nothing speculative.
- No features beyond what was asked.
- No abstractions for single-use code.
- No "flexibility"/"configurability" that wasn't requested.
- No error handling for impossible scenarios.
- 200 lines that could be 50? Rewrite it.
Ask: "Would a senior engineer say this is overcomplicated?" If yes, simplify. (Pairs with [ponytail].)
3. Surgical Changes
Touch only what you must. Clean up only your own mess.
- Don't "improve" adjacent code, comments, or formatting.
- Don't refactor what isn't broken.
- Match existing style, even if you'd do it differently.
- Notice unrelated dead code? Mention it — don't delete it.
- Remove imports/variables/functions YOUR changes made unused; leave pre-existing dead code unless asked.
The test: every changed line traces directly to the user's request.
4. Goal-Driven Execution
Define success criteria. Loop until verified.
- "Add validation" → "Write tests for invalid inputs, then make them pass"
- "Fix the bug" → "Write a test that reproduces it, then make it pass"
- "Refactor X" → "Ensure tests pass before and after"
For multi-step tasks, state a brief plan with a verify step each:
1. [Step] → verify: [check]
2. [Step] → verify: [check]
Strong success criteria let you loop independently. (See [superpowers] verification gate.)
