What
Andrej Karpathy's way of working, distilled into four principles for LLM coding agents. (1) Think Before Coding — state assumptions, surface ambiguity, push back when warranted. (2) Simplicity First — minimum code, no speculative abstractions, DRY+NRtW. (3) Surgical Changes — touch only what you must, trace every line to the request. (4) Goal-Driven TDD — failing test first, loop until verified, never claim solved without testing.
Applied in b00t: soul-first (learn before implement), lfmf for lessons, autolearn loop for goal-driven knowledge loading, and OODA for autonomous execution.
When to Use
Apply Karpathy's principles in every coding session. Think before implementing, keep changes minimal and surgical, and always write the failing test first.
How
- Think Before Coding: state assumptions, surface ambiguity, push back when warranted.
- Simplicity First: write minimum code, avoid speculative abstractions, follow DRY.
- Surgical Changes: touch only what you must, trace every line to the request.
- Goal-Driven TDD: write the failing test first, loop until verified, never claim solved without testing.