I wrote the manual Karpathy said was missing for agentic AI(github.com)
43 pointsby nick2837a month ago11 comments
  • nick2837a month 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 :)

    • PaulHoulea month ago
      You have source code for this kind of system?
      • nick2837a month 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
    • dingnutsa month ago
      [dead]
  • MattDaEskimoa month 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

    • nick2837a month 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.

  • npallia month 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
    • a month ago
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    • jennyholzer3a month 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.

      • dsr_a month 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.

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

        Everything else will be dated by Monday.

      • aleph_minus_onea month 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?

        • a4ismsa month ago
          Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is utterly impossible to parody an AI hyper-enthusiast in such a way that someone won't mistake for the genuine article.
        • jennyholzer3a month ago
          [flagged]
          • twodavea month ago
            No need to be dismissive.
  • stack_framera month 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

    • reconnectinga month 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...

      • nick2837a month 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
      • arduanikaa month ago
        Okay, so the submitted title is a lie? "I wrote the manual..." Would you consider changing it to something more honest?
        • reconnectinga month ago
          It's not me who decides. I just pointed out that the irrelevant date is related to the AI generated nature of this text.
          • arduanikaa month ago
            Ah. My bad, yelling at the messenger. But the actual "author", who might also be the submitter (nick = Nicola?), has some explaining to do. There's a lie in the submission title, and the same lie in the github readme intro.

            Thanks for helping alert us all to the sloppiness and deceit. And thanks to all who flagged.

            • nick2837a month ago
              i genuinely wrote the thing myself. i wrote it in notion and had lots of spelling/grammar mistakes and no formatting, so i asked claude code to put it into a markdown file and polish the writing. im not going to sit here and do this myself bc this is not my full time job and im just trying to get my ideas out into the world
        • tedivma month ago
          The person you are responded to isn't the author of the post.
          • arduanikaa month ago
            Fair point, but neither is this lying "Nicola Sahar" character.
            • nick2837a month ago
              what am i lying about exactly?
        • throwaway314155a month ago
          Oh come on.
          • arduanikaa month ago
            Come on and what? We are dazzled by this cool new tech and so now precision in speech no longer matters?
            • jennyholzer3a month ago
              Human language is the new code; precision in speech is outdated and irrelevant
              • arduanikaa month ago
                You almost had me there, I'll admit, but then I looked at your (short, new) comment history for a Poe's Law check. A much-needed perspective around here! Keep it up, and good luck staying on the right side of the site guidelines -- your shtick is close to the edge, but very refreshing if done well.
        • a month ago
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      • 000ooo000a month 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.

        • nick2837a month ago
          i genuinely wrote this in a day. ive been in ai for 9 years, well before chatgpt came out. i used Claude Code to turn it from my notion draft (spelling mistakes, no formatting, etc) into a well-formatted markdown file. you don't need to believe me, move on with your life. the guide is free and is meant to genuinely help someone use AI in a better way
        • sho_hna month ago
          You are not talking to the author. The comment was a quote from TFA, written (or, well, prompted) by someone else.
          • a month ago
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          • 000ooo000a month ago
            I know, that's why I'm quoting the author and not the commenter, and why I said "you (TFA author)"
    • nick2837a month ago
      thanks i fixed this!
  • mjmasa month 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...

  • _aira month ago
    It would be nice if there were a domain specific language that could help with the internal consistency problem
    • nick2837a month ago
      i agree. it's still very early with AI programming in general, so this might evolve in the next few years
  • johnnyfiveda month ago
    Pls consider donating this to the Linux foundation and making tons of announcements about it.

    Tag them in tweets too

    • nick2837a month ago
      Thanks, will do that!
  • Havoca month ago
    Thanks for sharing
  • OutOfHerea month 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.

    • nick2837a month 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.

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