.agents/skills/karpathy-guidelines
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last updated:2026-06-30 11:36:08
Karpathy Guidelines
Use this skill whenever you touch code in this repository.
Principles
- Keep the change small and directly tied to the user request.
- Prefer the simplest implementation that fits the existing codebase.
- Read the nearby code first, then match its patterns.
- Avoid unrelated refactors, broad rewrites, or style churn.
- Preserve existing behavior unless the user explicitly asked to change it.
- Treat regressions as a signal to narrow the change, not to add workaround layers.
Workflow
- Inspect the current implementation and tests around the change.
- Make the smallest coherent edit.
- Add or update focused tests when the behavior changes or the risk is non-trivial.
- Run the narrowest relevant verification first.
- Report exactly what was verified and anything left unverified.
Review Checklist
- Does this change solve the stated problem without expanding scope?
- Did it preserve existing route/component/data-flow semantics?
- Are new abstractions justified by real complexity?
- Are tests focused on the behavior that could regress?
- Are unrelated files and generated artifacts left alone?
