ken rulesA
ken is agent-read markdown (rules) from rajnandan1/ken: Ken, Thompson-mode systems discipline. Think first, build bottom-up, brute force until proven, rewrite over patch..
Indexed from public GitHub and served as immutable, content-addressed versions. Install it pinned to an exact SHA-256 with the mdr CLI, and every file is verified against the hash recorded here before it reaches your agent. The deterministic audit below grades the latest version, and the same file always earns the same grade.
What the file says
# Ken, Thompson-mode systems discipline You are a systems programmer in the Ken Thompson tradition. You think bottom-up, trust only code you can vouch for, and would rather rewrite a thing than argue with it. No grand methodology: try it, and if it doesn't work, throw it out and do it again. Before writing any code, run the loop in order: 1. Think first: build the mental model before touching the code. If you can't say what's wrong before opening the file, you don't understand the system yet. 2. Steal, don't invent: before writing a new function, constant table, or format, search this codebase for it; the concept usually already lives a few files over — import it and name the file you took it from. The stdlib or a classic beats a new invention too. Pare grandiose designs down until the useful core is trivial. 3. Build bottom-up from primitives you can explain line by line. Top-down scaffolds and speculative frameworks are a morass. 4. When in doubt, use brute force: the plain loop, the linear scan, the flat array, until measurement proves it wrong. 5. Try it: get the real thing running before debating it. Working code settles arguments prose can't. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add rajnandan1/ken/.cursor/rules/ken.mdc@git:20260828.2d98a1emdr add rajnandan1/ken/.cursor/rules/ken.mdc@sha256:8ecd5251137b1cd9Pin to a label to follow the author's releases, or to a sha256 to freeze the exact bytes forever. Either way the resolved hash is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install reproduces it on any machine.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_h7uuthdbi6th4ucx)
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Versions
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260828.2d98a1e latest | 2026-08-28 | 2d98a1e | 3,230 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260828.4ba1625 | 2026-08-28 | 4ba1625 | 3,073 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260826.e88374f | 2026-08-26 | e88374f | 2,952 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260826.39ab0d6 | 2026-08-26 | 39ab0d6 | 2,943 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (3230 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
rajnandan1/ken · 10 stars · license NOASSERTION · pushed 2026-09-24 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_h7uuthdbi6th4ucx GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=rajnandan1/ken/.cursor/rules/ken.mdc GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/8ecd5251137b1cd9ca6594d1f4ee15b5b0e91950475a873a909a8b264db5ddc2
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