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Agent skill

Karpathy Guidelines

by VKirill in VKirill/claude-lane-stack

Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. An agent skill from VKirill/claude-lane-stack.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Karpathy Guidelines

skills CLI
$ npx skills add VKirill/claude-lane-stack --skill karpathy-guidelines -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install VKirill/claude-lane-stack karpathy-guidelines --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/VKirill/claude-lane-stack.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/lane-stack/skills/karpathy-guidelines .claude/skills/karpathy-guidelines && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
karpathy-guidelines
GitHub stars
122
Token cost
~573 tokens
SKILL.md length
288 words
Files
2
Skills in repo
49
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. An agent skill from VKirill/claude-lane-stack.

  • Works in 4 steps: Think Before Coding → Simplicity First → Surgical Changes → …
  • Refactoring code
  • SKILL.md covers 1. Think Before Coding, 2. Simplicity First, 3. Surgical Changes and 4. Goal-Driven Execution, plus 1 more section
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Karpathy Guidelines is an agent skill from VKirill/claude-lane-stack. Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. Use when writing, reviewing, or refactoring code. Derived from Andrej Karpathy's LLM coding pitfalls.

Its SKILL.md is about 570 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 1 other file (for example `CHANGELOG.md`).

It sits in Development, covering Refactoring. The repository describes itself as: Multi-agent AI coding factory for one person — Claude Code PM + Codex/Qwen/Grok/Kimi/AGY writers, durable conveyor, auto-merge to main. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Refactoring code
  • Tasks that involve Refactoring

Example prompts

  • “/karpathy-guidelines”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Think Before Coding
  2. Simplicity First
  3. Surgical Changes
  4. Goal-Driven Execution

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 45fa19e. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

    • x.com

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Karpathy Guidelines loads about 573 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 45 tokens; SKILL.md has 288 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~45
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~573

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from VKirill/claude-lane-stack at commit 45fa19e, republished under its MIT licence (© VKirill). 288 words, ~573 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/karpathy-guidelines/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
karpathy-guidelines
description
Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. Use when writing, reviewing, or refactoring code. Derived from Andrej Karpathy's LLM coding pitfalls.
license
MIT

Karpathy Guidelines

Derived from Karpathy on LLM coding pitfalls. Bias: caution over reckless speed. Trivial tasks — use judgment.

1. Think Before Coding

Don't assume. Don't hide confusion. Surface tradeoffs.

  • State assumptions explicitly. If uncertain, ask (Lane Pilot writer: see below).
  • Multiple interpretations → present them; don't pick silently.
  • Prefer simpler approaches; push back when warranted.
  • Unclear → stop, name the confusion, ask.

Inside a Lane Pilot writer thread (LANE_PILOT_AGENT_TYPE set) nobody answers mid-task, and a question in prose is not recognised: when the contract is unclear or contradictory, change no files and make the first line of your answer NEEDS_HUMAN: <one question for the project owner>. Everything you can look up or decide yourself (see Autonomy zone) you decide.

2. Simplicity First

Minimum code that solves the problem. Nothing speculative.

  • No features beyond the ask.
  • No single-use abstractions or fake "flexibility".
  • No error handling for impossible cases.
  • 200 lines that could be 50 → rewrite.

3. Surgical Changes

Touch only what you must. Clean up only your own mess.

  • Don't "improve" adjacent code, comments, or formatting.
  • Don't refactor what isn't broken.
  • Match existing style.
  • Unrelated dead code → mention, don't delete.
  • Remove only what your change made unused.

Test: every changed line traces to the user request.

4. Goal-Driven Execution

Define success criteria. Loop until verified.

  • "Add validation" → tests for invalid inputs, then make them pass.
  • "Fix the bug" → failing test first, then green.
  • Multi-step: step → verify: command list.

Strong criteria → autonomous loop. Weak ("make it work") → clarify first (in a Lane Pilot writer thread: the NEEDS_HUMAN: first line above).

Autonomy zone (MAY)

Inside the task scope, decide tech details, edit order, and local design without asking.
Do not ask the user what you can look up in the repo or docs.

© VKirill, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file in plugins/lane-stack/skills/karpathy-guidelines of VKirill/claude-lane-stack.

  • SKILL.md
  • CHANGELOG.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 45fa19e

Compare with similar skills

Karpathy Guidelines next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Karpathy Guidelines compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Karpathy Guidelines this skillVKirill/claude-lane-stack122—~573Automated safety check: PassMIT
Guidelinesakash-network/node1.1k20 repos~577Automated safety check: PassMIT
Migrate Core Code to Submodulestinyhumansai/openhuman42k—~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassGPL-3.0
Component Refactoringlangflow-ai/langflow155k—~3.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Ponytail Lazy Developer ModeDietrichGebert/ponytail160k1 repos~873Automated safety check: PassMIT
ast-grep Structural Searchcode-yeongyu/oh-my-openagent70k—~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Karpathy Guidelines

What does Karpathy Guidelines do?

Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. An agent skill from VKirill/claude-lane-stack. Karpathy Guidelines is an agent skill from VKirill/claude-lane-stack. Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes.

When should I use Karpathy Guidelines?

Karpathy Guidelines fits situations like: refactoring code; tasks that involve Refactoring.

How do I install Karpathy Guidelines in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add VKirill/claude-lane-stack --skill karpathy-guidelines -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/lane-stack/skills/karpathy-guidelines in VKirill/claude-lane-stack) into .claude/skills/karpathy-guidelines in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Karpathy Guidelines in Codex?

Run `npx skills add VKirill/claude-lane-stack --skill karpathy-guidelines -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/lane-stack/skills/karpathy-guidelines in VKirill/claude-lane-stack) into .agents/skills/karpathy-guidelines in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Karpathy Guidelines in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add VKirill/claude-lane-stack --skill karpathy-guidelines -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/karpathy-guidelines, .gemini/skills/karpathy-guidelines, .github/skills/karpathy-guidelines and .opencode/skills/karpathy-guidelines in your project.

What does Karpathy Guidelines need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Karpathy Guidelines is instructions for the agent only.

Does Karpathy Guidelines access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. As links in the text: x.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Karpathy Guidelines safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Karpathy Guidelines use?

Karpathy Guidelines is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Karpathy Guidelines use?

About 573 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.3k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Karpathy Guidelines?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Karpathy Guidelines: Guidelines (akash-network/node, 1.1k stars), Migrate Core Code to Submodules (tinyhumansai/openhuman, 42k stars), Component Refactoring (langflow-ai/langflow, 155k stars) and Ponytail Lazy Developer Mode (DietrichGebert/ponytail, 160k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Karpathy Guidelines?

VKirill (a GitHub user) maintains it in VKirill/claude-lane-stack, which has 122 GitHub stars. The repository holds 49 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: VKirill/claude-lane-stack on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.