karpathy

Karpathy Skills — Coding Discipline

Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. They bias 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.
• 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.

For bug fixes specifically, the advisor-call rule lives in the global ## Guardrails section (call the advisor before committing to an uncertain fix). Don't restate it — follow it.

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: "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.

• 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.
• 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.

• "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 check per step.

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Working if: fewer unnecessary changes in diffs, fewer rewrites from overcomplication, and clarifying questions come before implementation rather than after mistakes.