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.
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What the file says
# Karpathy Guidelines
Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes, derived from [Andrej Karpathy's observations](https://x.com/karpathy/status/2015883857489522876) on LLM coding pitfalls.
**Tradeoff:** These guidelines bias toward caution over speed. For trivial tasks, use judgment.
## 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:
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260428.dfccef3, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_ne6hma5k6iyzs7zq
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=jjmartres/ai-coding-agents/karpathy-guidelines
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/20592a9d25b54dcf54f3f2992155eaf4d57fa09dca132b1003947f4fdb5aabf4
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