andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode
Andrej Karpathy skills for your Cursor or VS Code editor
Install / Use
npx skills add mbeijen/andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscodeInstalls into whichever agent you are using.
.cursorrules
Cursor IDE rules (legacy)
Quality Score
Category
Development & EngineeringSupported Platforms
Tags
Our assessment of andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode
andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode scores 66/100 on our quality scale, 3901st of 4,613 Development & Engineering skills we index.
Its .cursorrules is 3.1 KB long, split into 6 sections and no code examples: a solid amount of guidance for an agent.
It has 274 GitHub stars, a meaningful sign that others use it.
Maintenance, license and trust
- The repository was last updated about 9 months ago. That is recent enough to be usable, but agent tooling moves fast, so check the instructions against your agent's current version.
- Our last check on 2026-10-20 found the source still online.
- No license is declared. By default that means all rights are reserved: you can read it, but reusing or redistributing it is not clearly permitted. Ask the author before building on it commercially.
- Its trust signals score 77/100, with 3 cautions from licensing, adoption, age or documentation. These come from repository metadata, not a code audit — read the skill file before letting an agent act on it.
Safety scan
No issues foundOur scan of the whole file found no instruction hijacking, hidden characters, credential access, data exfiltration or destructive commands. An AI review of the same text found nothing harmful.
AI review by kimi-k2.7-code on 2026-09-24. Automated pattern scan on 2026-09-24. It catches known dangerous patterns, not every risk — read a skill before letting an agent act on it.
andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode compared with similar skills
All 4 of these similar skills score higher than andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode; compare them before choosing.
| Skill | Score | Stars | Updated | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode (this skill)by mbeijen | 66 | 274 | 9mo ago | .cursorrules |
| taste-skillby Leonxlnx | 100 | 110.8k | 1d ago | CLAUDE.md |
| ai-job-searchby ai-job-search-dev | 100 | 69.9k | today | CLAUDE.md |
| claude-howtoby luongnv89 | 100 | 46.6k | 3d ago | CLAUDE.md |
| algorithmic-artby anthropics | 100 | 177.9k | 44d ago | SKILL.md |
Frequently asked questions
- How do I install andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode?
- Run
npx skills add mbeijen/andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode. The install tabs above show the steps for each supported agent. - Which AI agents does andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode work with?
- It is written for Cursor, as a .cursorrules file. Other agents that read the same format can often use it too.
- Is andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode safe to use?
- Our scan of the whole file found no instruction hijacking, hidden characters, credential access, data exfiltration or destructive commands. An AI review of the same text found nothing harmful. It declares no license and scores 77/100 on trust signals. Skills are instructions an agent will follow, so read the file before installing it and do not approve commands you do not understand.
- Is andrej-karpathy-skills-cursor-vscode still maintained?
- The repository was last updated about 9 months ago. That is recent enough to be usable, but agent tooling moves fast, so check the instructions against your agent's current version.
Skill content
View source on GitHubAndrej Karpathy Skills (Cursor & VS Code)
Turns the Karpathy-inspired coding guidelines into rule files you can use in Cursor and VS Code.
Disclaimer: This plugin was written using the Cursor agent as part of the Samotics AI Challenge Day.
Install (recommended)
VS Code: Open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X), search for “Andrej Karpathy Skills”, and install.
Cursor: Cursor uses the Open VSX Registry, not the Microsoft Marketplace. Search for “Andrej Karpathy Skills” in the Extensions view, or install from Open VSX:
About the “untrusted publisher” warning: VS Code may show a warning that the publisher is not verified. This extension is new; Microsoft requires publishers to have had an extension on the marketplace for at least 6 months before they can apply for the verified badge. The warning is expected and safe to accept. Verification will be requested once eligible.
After installing, open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P) and run:
- Karpathy Rules: Add to project (.cursor/rules) — adds the guidelines to
.cursor/rules/withalwaysApply: true(recommended for Cursor). - Karpathy Rules: Add to .cursorrules (legacy) — appends to
.cursorrulesin the project root.
The four principles
- Think Before Coding — Don’t assume; surface tradeoffs and ask when unclear.
- Simplicity First — Minimum code, no speculative features or abstractions.
- Surgical Changes — Touch only what’s needed; don’t “improve” unrelated code.
- Goal-Driven Execution — Define success criteria and verify (e.g. with tests).
A note on “just markdown”
I find it a bit wild that extensions for your editor can be little more than a markdown file of sixty-odd lines—no runtime, no dependencies—and still resonate enough to get 3,500+ stars on GitHub, like the original Claude Karpathy skills repo. The leverage is in the instructions, not the machinery. This extension is a small step to get that same content one click away in Cursor and VS Code.
If this repo is useful to you, don’t forget to ⭐ star it—it helps others find it.
Manual setup (without the extension)
If you prefer not to use the extension:
- Cursor: Copy
rules/karpathy-guidelines.mdinto your project as.cursor/rules/karpathy-guidelines.md(or.mdc); addalwaysApply: truein frontmatter if desired. - Legacy: Copy the contents into a
.cursorrulesfile in your project root.
License
Guidelines adapted from forrestchang/andrej-karpathy-skills (MIT). This repo’s conversion and extension are under the same spirit; see upstream for exact terms.
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Languages
Trust signals
From repository metadata: license, adoption, age and documentation. Not a code audit — see the Safety scan above for what the skill file itself contains.