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Karpathy Coding Guidelines

Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding pitfalls, derived from Andrej Karpathy's observations. Apply these four principles when writing, editing, o...

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Karpathy Coding Guidelines

Four principles to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. 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 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 200 lines could be 50, rewrite it.

Test: 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.

Test: Every changed line should trace directly to the user's request.

4. Goal-Driven Execution

Define success criteria. Loop until verified.

Transform tasks into verifiable goals:

  • "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:

1. [Step] → verify: [check]
2. [Step] → verify: [check]
3. [Step] → verify: [check]

Strong success criteria enable independent looping. Weak criteria ("make it work") require constant clarification.

Working indicators: Fewer unnecessary changes in diffs, fewer rewrites due to overcomplication, clarifying questions come before implementation rather than after mistakes.