karpathy-guidelines SKILL.md skillA
karpathy-guidelines from jnpiyush/agentx is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add jnpiyush/agentx/karpathy-guidelines@git:20260926.3d88bf1Pins git:20260926.3d88bf1 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- jnpiyush/agentx
- Path
.github/skills/development/karpathy-guidelines/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 6
- Latest version
- git:20260926.3d88bf1, committed Sep 26, 2026
- First version recorded
- Apr 18, 2026
- Size
- 8,348 bytes
- Repository stars
- 19
- License
- Apache-2.0
Use when writing, reviewing, or refactoring code to avoid LLM coding mistakes. Apply Karpathy's principles to avoid overcomplication, make surgical changes, surface assumptions, and define verifiable success criteria.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Karpathy Guidelines Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. Adapted from [Andrej Karpathy's observations](https://x.com/karpathy/status/2015883857489522876) on LLM coding pitfalls and the upstream MIT-licensed [karpathy-guidelines skill](https://github.com/multica-ai/andrej-karpathy-skills/blob/main/skills/karpathy-guidelines/SKILL.md). > **MANDATORY in Frontier**: These four guidelines are NON-optional for every > Frontier execution (coding, refactor, review, pipeline). Complete the > "Self-Check Before Handoff" checklist before any handoff. See the always-on > rule in `.github/instructions/project-conventions.instructions.md`. **Tradeoff:** These guidelines bias toward caution over speed. The only exemption is a genuinely trivial change (single-line typo, obvious config rename) whose success criteria are self-evident. ## When to Use Load this skill when: - Writing new code or features - Refactoring or modifying existing code - Reviewing code (yours or another agent''s) - Debugging when the cause is not obvious - Producing pipelines, IaC, or any artifact that ships to production ## Rationalization Table Reject these shortcuts. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add jnpiyush/agentx/karpathy-guidelines@sha256:e5844d2071e20711The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260926.3d88bf1, 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.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_zd5fxnazgbklisv6)
4 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 6 versions of this file, between Apr 18, 2026 and Sep 26, 2026, about one every 32 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260926.3d88bf1 latest | 2026-09-26 | 3d88bf1 | 8,348 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260915.f17c505 | 2026-09-15 | f17c505 | 8,624 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260903.b3f2610 | 2026-09-03 | b3f2610 | 8,608 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260530.55f7137 | 2026-05-30 | 55f7137 | 8,586 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260517.4703a79 | 2026-05-17 | 4703a79 | 8,183 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260418.25fe486 | 2026-04-18 | 25fe486 | 6,674 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (8348 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
jnpiyush/agentx · 19 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-11-04 · branch master
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_zd5fxnazgbklisv6 GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=jnpiyush/agentx/karpathy-guidelines GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/e5844d2071e20711832bfae364b5303b9da96ba55a860b7a952914e1c02f190b
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.