# Karpathy Guidelines (agent skill)

> Karpathy Guidelines is an agent skill (a SKILL.md file) from multica-ai/andrej-karpathy-skills. Behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes. It works with Claude Code and Cursor and has 217,301 GitHub stars. Install it by copying the skill folder into your agent's skills directory.

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. Tradeoff: These guidelines bias toward caution over speed. For trivial tasks, use judgment.

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | https://github.com/multica-ai/andrej-karpathy-skills |
| Skill path | skills/karpathy-guidelines/SKILL.md |
| Skill name | karpathy-guidelines |
| GitHub stars | 217,301 |
| Installs on skills.sh | 3 |
| License | MIT |
| Skills in repo | 1 |
| Plugin marketplace | karpathy-skills |
| Official | no |
| Works with | Claude Code, Cursor |
| Category | Docs & writing |
| Last commit | Apr 20, 2026 |

## When it triggers

- Use when writing, reviewing, or refactoring code to avoid overcomplication, make surgical changes, surface assumptions, and define verifiable success criteria.

## Add this skill

### Claude Code

```sh
/plugin marketplace add multica-ai/andrej-karpathy-skills
/plugin install andrej-karpathy-skills@karpathy-skills
```

In the Claude apps, zip the skill folder and upload it under Customize > Skills > + > Upload a skill (code execution must be on).

### ChatGPT / Codex

```sh
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/multica-ai/andrej-karpathy-skills.git
cp -r andrej-karpathy-skills/skills/karpathy-guidelines .agents/skills/karpathy-guidelines   # repo; ~/.agents/skills for all projects
```

### Cursor

```sh
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/multica-ai/andrej-karpathy-skills.git
cp -r andrej-karpathy-skills/skills/karpathy-guidelines .cursor/skills/karpathy-guidelines   # project; ~/.cursor/skills for all projects
```

Sources (checked 2026-10-07): https://code.claude.com/docs/en/skills, https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12512180-using-skills-in-claude, https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/build-skills, https://cursor.com/docs/context/skills

skills.sh listing: https://www.skills.sh/multica-ai/andrej-karpathy-skills/karpathy-guidelines

---

Canonical page: https://appsgit.com/skills/multica-ai-karpathy-guidelines
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