Agents & Coding

andrej-karpathy-skills

One markdown file, six figures of stars

Open ✓Content, not software

What it is

A single CLAUDE.md distilling Andrej Karpathy's public observations on LLM coding failure modes into four rules — think before coding, simplicity first, surgical changes, goal-driven execution — installable as a plugin or dropped into any project.

Why it's interesting

Possibly the highest star-to-content ratio on GitHub: one markdown file, 150k+ stars. A cultural datapoint about prompts becoming artifacts. Note carefully: it is not authored by or affiliated with Karpathy, despite the name.

Use cases

  • Steering Claude Code or Cursor behavior
  • A template for writing your own CLAUDE.md

Who it's for

AI-assisted-coding practitioners

Setup

Trivial. Copy one file, or install as a plugin; requires Claude Code or Cursor

Limitations & cautions

The implied endorsement is absent — Karpathy has no connection to this repo. The advice itself is sensible but generic.

Editorial takeaway

Included less as a recommendation than as an exhibit: the moment prompt files started accumulating stars like frameworks.

Related & alternatives