forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills
andrej-karpathy-skills is a single CLAUDE.md file that distills four coding principles aimed at fixing the most common ways LLM coding assistants go wrong. The guidance is derived from Andrej Karpathy's public observations on where models tend to fail: making unfounded assumptions, overcomplicating solutions, drifting into unrelated edits, and shipping without verifiable success criteria. The four principles are: Think Before Coding (surface assumptions, present multiple interpretations, push back on unclear requests rather than guessing), Simplicity First (write the minimum viable solution, no speculative features or unnecessary abstractions), Surgical Changes (edit only what is required, preserve existing style, avoid drive-by refactors), and Goal-Driven Execution (turn the task into verifiable success criteria and loop until complete). The file is meant to drop into the root of any repository so Claude Code, Cursor, or other AI coding tools pick it up as project memory. Installation supports three paths: the Claude Code plugin marketplace (`/plugin marketplace add` + `/plugin install`), a single-line curl into a new project, or copying the rules into Cursor's project rules. The project is MIT-licensed, framework-agnostic, and prioritizes caution over speed on non-trivial tasks.
git clone https://github.com/forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills.git
Quick Start Example
# Option A — Claude Code plugin (recommended)
/plugin marketplace add forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills
/plugin install andrej-karpathy-skills@karpathy-skills
# Option B — Drop CLAUDE.md into a new project
curl -o CLAUDE.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills/main/CLAUDE.md