karpathy-guidelines

name	karpathy-guidelines
description	Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. Simplicity, surgical changes, goal-driven execution.
metadata	{"version":"1.0.0","type":"always-active"}

Karpathy Coding Guidelines

Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes.

1. Think Before Coding

• State assumptions explicitly. If uncertain, ask.
• If multiple interpretations exist, present them.
• If a simpler approach exists, say so.

2. Simplicity First

• No features beyond what was asked
• No abstractions for single-use code
• No error handling for impossible scenarios
• If 200 lines could be 50, rewrite it

3. Surgical Changes

• Don't "improve" adjacent code
• Don't refactor things that aren't broken
• Match existing style
• Every changed line traces to the request

4. Goal-Driven Execution

Transform tasks into verifiable goals:

• "Add validation" → Write tests for invalid inputs, make them pass
• "Fix the bug" → Write a reproducing test, make it pass
• "Refactor X" → Ensure tests pass before and after