Agent skill · software engineering · sickn33
andrej-karpathy
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.
Why this skill is useful
Codifies behavioral guidelines for LLM coding practices that the AI could infer but now doesn't have to guess.
What it needs
About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 44,571 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Karpathy Guidelines Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes, derived from Andrej Karpathy's observations on LLM coding pitfalls. Tradeoff: These guidelines bias toward caution over speed. For trivial tasks, use judgment. When to Use This Skill Use when writing, reviewing, or refactoring code with an LLM. Use when a change needs to stay surgical and avoid speculative abstractions. Use when assumptions, tradeoffs, and verification criteria should be made explicit. Use when code has become overcomplicated and needs to be simplified. 1. Think Before Coding Don't assume. Don't hide confusion. Surface tradeoffs. Before implementing: 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. 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" or "configurability" that wasn't requested. No error handling for impossible scenarios. If you write 200 lines and it could be 50, rewrite it. Ask yourself: "Would a senior engineer say this is overcomplicated?" If yes, simplify. 3. Surgical Changes Touch only what you must. Clean up only your own mess. When editing existing code: Don't "improve" adjacent code, comments, or formatting. Don't refactor things that aren't broken. Match existing style, even if you'd do it differently. If you notice unrelated dead code, mention it - don't delete it. When your changes create orphans: Remove imports/variables/functions that YOUR changes made unused. Don't remove pre-existing dead code unless asked. The test: Every changed line should trace directly to the user's request. 4. Goal-Driven Execution Define success criteria. Loop until verified. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills sickn33/andrej-karpathy