> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.karpathy.phronesisagent.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Karpathy Skills: Four LLM Coding Guidelines for Claude

> Four behavioral guidelines that make Claude Code and Cursor more disciplined and goal-driven—derived from Andrej Karpathy's observations on LLM pitfalls.

<div data-product-guide-index className="flex w-full flex-col gap-8">
  <div className="flex max-w-[540px] flex-col gap-2 self-center text-center">
    <h1 className="font-serif text-[30px] font-medium leading-9 tracking-tight text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50">
      Karpathy Skills
    </h1>

    <p className="text-balance text-sm leading-relaxed tracking-tight text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400">
      Four behavioral guidelines that fix the most common LLM coding mistakes—wrong assumptions, overengineering, drive-by edits, and vague execution.
    </p>
  </div>

  <div className="grid grid-cols-1 gap-4 sm:grid-cols-2">
    <Card title={<span className="product-guide-feature-card-title">Get started</span>} icon="rocket" href="/introduction" className="product-guide-feature-card" size={64}>
      <span className="product-guide-feature-card-description">Understand the four principles and install the plugin in minutes.</span>
    </Card>

    <a href="/principles/think-before-coding" className="flex flex-col gap-4 rounded-none border bg-gray-50 p-4 outline-none shadow-sm shadow-gray-950/5 transition hover:border-primary hover:shadow-md dark:bg-gray-950 dark:shadow-black/20 dark:hover:border-primary">
      <Icon icon="brain" color="rgb(var(--primary))" size={18} className="shrink-0" />

      <div className="flex flex-col gap-1">
        <span className="font-serif text-base font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50">Think Before Coding</span>

        <span className="text-sm leading-relaxed text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400">
          Surface assumptions, present tradeoffs, and stop when confused.
        </span>
      </div>
    </a>

    <a href="/principles/simplicity-first" className="flex flex-col gap-4 rounded-none border bg-gray-50 p-4 outline-none shadow-sm shadow-gray-950/5 transition hover:border-primary hover:shadow-md dark:bg-gray-950 dark:shadow-black/20 dark:hover:border-primary">
      <Icon icon="minimize-2" color="rgb(var(--primary))" size={18} className="shrink-0" />

      <div className="flex flex-col gap-1">
        <span className="font-serif text-base font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50">Simplicity First</span>

        <span className="text-sm leading-relaxed text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400">
          Minimum code that solves the problem—nothing speculative.
        </span>
      </div>
    </a>
  </div>

  <hr className="border-0 border-t border-border" />

  <div className="flex flex-col gap-4">
    <h2 className="font-serif text-xl font-medium leading-normal text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50">Common tasks</h2>

    <div className="grid grid-cols-1 gap-4 sm:grid-cols-2">
      <a href="/installation" className="flex flex-col gap-4 rounded-none border bg-gray-50 p-4 outline-none shadow-sm shadow-gray-950/5 transition hover:border-primary hover:shadow-md dark:bg-gray-950 dark:shadow-black/20 dark:hover:border-primary">
        <Icon icon="plug" color="rgb(var(--primary))" size={18} className="shrink-0" />

        <div className="flex flex-col gap-1">
          <span className="font-serif text-base font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50">Install the Claude Code plugin</span>

          <span className="text-sm leading-relaxed text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400">
            Add the plugin via the Claude Code marketplace in two commands.
          </span>
        </div>
      </a>

      <a href="/guides/cursor" className="flex flex-col gap-4 rounded-none border bg-gray-50 p-4 outline-none shadow-sm shadow-gray-950/5 transition hover:border-primary hover:shadow-md dark:bg-gray-950 dark:shadow-black/20 dark:hover:border-primary">
        <Icon icon="mouse-pointer-click" color="rgb(var(--primary))" size={18} className="shrink-0" />

        <div className="flex flex-col gap-1">
          <span className="font-serif text-base font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50">Set up Cursor rules</span>

          <span className="text-sm leading-relaxed text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400">
            Apply the same guidelines in Cursor with a committed project rule.
          </span>
        </div>
      </a>

      <a href="/guides/customization" className="flex flex-col gap-4 rounded-none border bg-gray-50 p-4 outline-none shadow-sm shadow-gray-950/5 transition hover:border-primary hover:shadow-md dark:bg-gray-950 dark:shadow-black/20 dark:hover:border-primary">
        <Icon icon="sliders-horizontal" color="rgb(var(--primary))" size={18} className="shrink-0" />

        <div className="flex flex-col gap-1">
          <span className="font-serif text-base font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50">Customize the guidelines</span>

          <span className="text-sm leading-relaxed text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400">
            Merge with project-specific rules and tune for your workflow.
          </span>
        </div>
      </a>

      <a href="/guides/examples" className="flex flex-col gap-4 rounded-none border bg-gray-50 p-4 outline-none shadow-sm shadow-gray-950/5 transition hover:border-primary hover:shadow-md dark:bg-gray-950 dark:shadow-black/20 dark:hover:border-primary">
        <Icon icon="code-2" color="rgb(var(--primary))" size={18} className="shrink-0" />

        <div className="flex flex-col gap-1">
          <span className="font-serif text-base font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-gray-50">See real examples</span>

          <span className="text-sm leading-relaxed text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400">
            Before-and-after code examples showing each principle in action.
          </span>
        </div>
      </a>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>