I wrote the manual Karpathy said was missing for agentic AI

https://github.com/nicolasahar/morphic-programming

by nick2837 • 7 months ago

43 40 7 months ago

nick283712• 7 months ago

I've been building with CLI AI agents (Claude Code specifically) for several months and noticed some powerful patterns emerging that have 10x’d my productivity.

Stuff like …

1. Morphability - natural language as executable, morphable code 2. Abstraction - encapsulating tasks into reusable commands 3. Recursion - stacking abstractions for leverage 4. Internal Consistency - the immune system of your AI system 5. Reproducibility - crash-resilient by design 6. Morphic Complexity - knowing when you've over-engineered 7. End-to-End Autonomy - what your system can do without human intervention 8. Token Efficiency - maximizing useful work per token 9. Mutation & Exploration - controlled self-improvement

Link: https://github.com/nicolasahar/morphic-programming

its free and i dont need anything from you except genuine feedback

also included system design patterns, psychological tips, and example commands :)

PaulHoule• 7 months ago

You have source code for this kind of system?

nick283712• 6 months ago

i'm working on it. but the fastest thing you can do is download the guide (markdown file) and have Claude Code review / incorporate it into its own Claude.MD

Havoc• 7 months ago

Thanks for sharing

npalli• 7 months ago

LOL, this is the list to keep in your head for this so called "manual". Best of luck of those who will work through this. BTW, Karpathy made that comment in 2025 not 2024.

  Morphability - natural language as morphable code
  Abstraction - tasks become reusable commands
  Recursion - stack abstractions for leverage
  Internal Consistency - prevent system drift
  Reproducibility - crash-resilient design
  Morphic Complexity - recognize over-engineering
  E2E Autonomy - measure actual capabilities
  Token Efficiency - maximize work per token
  Mutation & Exploration - controlled self-improvement

jennyholzer32• 7 months ago

AI in 2026 is really all about morphability.

If you aren't using multiple agents, subagents, and autonomous MCP abstractions to construct a detailed morphological model of your codebase, you'll never appreciate the sublime bliss of man-machine union that the enlightened among us here have come to know.

aleph_minus_one• 7 months ago

If you aren't using multiple agents, subagents, and autonomous MCP abstractions to construct a detailed morphological model of your codebase, you'll never appreciate the sublime bliss of man-machine union that the enlightened among us here have come to know.

Is this serious or satire?

sho_hn2• 7 months ago

Genuine Agent Zen is when your instructions .md contains but a single line, "Do!"

Everything else will be dated by Monday.

dsr_2• 7 months ago

That is so January 1. Get with the program. Your approach is obsolete. You will fall behind in the global arms race. It's almost January 3, it's time for a new methodology!

Pro-tip: move to an earlier timezone so you can get the real edge on your competition.

stack_framer• 7 months ago

Inspired by Andrej Karpathy's tweet[0] on Dec 26, 2024

The tweet was in 2025, not 2024.

[0] https://x.com/karpathy/status/2004607146781278521

reconnecting2• 7 months ago

From the author: "A Few Disclaimers (1)

Yes, this manual was AI generated. However, the core ideas, first principles, and outline for this manual are all ..."

1. https://github.com/nicolasahar/morphic-programming/blob/main...

arduanika5• 7 months ago

Okay, so the submitted title is a lie? "I wrote the manual..." Would you consider changing it to something more honest?

000ooo0002• 7 months ago

"Used AI"
"Wrote this in a day"
"So please forgive any imprecision or inaccuracies"

Um, no? You (TFA author) want people to read/review your slop that you banged together in a day and let the shit parts slide? If you want to namedrop some AI heavy hitter to boost your slop, at least have the decency to publish something you put real effort into.

nick283712• 6 months ago

i wrote the manual on notion and asked it to put it in a markdown file and fix my spelling and grammar. if you read the disclaimer full, i specifically state i did not use it for brainstorming or adding net new ideas

nick283712• 6 months ago

thanks i fixed this!

MattDaEskimo• 7 months ago

English - or better put: human language - is not the "new code". Since the inception of programming a person could ask another to write code.

This manual is hallucinated nonsense.

The only interesting part is how people uneducated in computers and mathematics always seem to fall into the topic of recursion with AI

nick283712• 6 months ago

you can continue to believe in the old paradigm, or accept reality for what it is.

someone who abstracts themselves up will be able to move and ship 100x faster than you in the next 12 months.

OutOfHere• 7 months ago

No. Just no. You wrote a manual for using AI for software development is all, limited to a specific approach.

You did not write a manual for applying agentic AI more broadly and generally, which is what it is about. You completely missed the mark.

nick283712• 6 months ago

right at the top of Part 2: "The examples I give are going to be software engineering/coding specific, but they can be applied to any digital task."

you can genuinely use these principles for anything you want to do on your computer. I don't just use Claude Code for programming.

_air• 7 months ago

It would be nice if there were a domain specific language that could help with the internal consistency problem

nick283712• 6 months ago

i agree. it's still very early with AI programming in general, so this might evolve in the next few years

johnnyfived• 7 months ago

Pls consider donating this to the Linux foundation and making tons of announcements about it.

Tag them in tweets too

nick283712• 6 months ago

Thanks, will do that!

mjmas• 7 months ago

How did you get a wrong Twitter link? And the updated note has two off-by-one errors.

https://github.com/nicolasahar/morphic-programming/commit/c3...

nick283712• 6 months ago

thanks i fixed both!

I wrote the manual Karpathy said was missing for agentic AI

Related Stories