Karpathy Llm Wiki
Maintain a compounding personal LLM wiki from raw sources so agents answer from your curated articles, not scattered notes.
Overview
Karpathy LLM Wiki is an agent skill most often used in Build (also Grow, Idea) that ingests sources into raw/ and compiles them into a persistent, queryable wiki/ knowledge base.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/astro-han/karpathy-llm-wiki --skill karpathy-llm-wikiWhat is this skill?
- Two-layer layout: immutable raw/ sources and agent-owned wiki/ articles
- wiki/index.md global index with link, summary, and Updated date per article
- Append-only wiki/log.md for auditable compile and maintenance operations
- Karpathy model: LLM writes/maintains wiki; human reads and queries
- Triggers on ingest, lint, 'add to wiki', and 'what do I know about' queries
- Three architecture layers: raw/, wiki/, and SKILL schema
- One-level wiki topic paths: wiki/<topic>/<article>.md
Adoption & trust: 3.6k installs on skills.sh; 1k GitHub stars; 2/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
Your research lives in files and chats that agents cannot reliably cite, so every new task re-explains the same context.
Who is it for?
Solo builders running Claude Code or similar agents who want a Karpathy-style compounding wiki tied to their repo.
Skip if: Teams that only need a one-off summary of a PDF with no ongoing maintenance or query loop.
When should I use this skill?
Building or maintaining a personal LLM-powered knowledge base; ingesting sources, querying wiki knowledge, linting wiki quality, 'add to wiki', 'what do I know about', or mentions of 'LLM wiki' or 'Karpathy wiki'.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get a structured wiki with index and log, plus workflows to ingest, compile, lint, and query—so later agent turns read stable articles instead of re-parsing dumps.
- Compiled wiki/<topic>/<article>.md files
- Updated wiki/index.md and wiki/log.md entries
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
The skill defines how to compile and own wiki/ artifacts—canonical Build work—while ingestion and indexing are ongoing product infrastructure for agent-assisted shipping. Docs subphase fits compiled wiki articles, index.md summaries, and log.md operations that turn raw material into readable persistent documentation.
Where it fits
Drop competitor notes and papers into raw/machine-learning/ then compile a wiki article before choosing a model approach.
Create wiki/backend/auth.md from raw snippets and refresh wiki/index.md so agents link the right summary row.
Append ingest operations to wiki/log.md and expand articles so support and marketing answers stay aligned with your private canon.
How it compares
A procedural wiki compiler skill—not a hosted Notion integration or generic RAG MCP server.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is karpathy-llm-wiki for?
Indie builders maintaining a personal or project knowledge base with raw sources and LLM-compiled markdown articles.
When should I use karpathy-llm-wiki?
In Build when setting up docs/agent memory; in Grow when compounding content from new sources; in Idea when ingesting research into raw/ before product decisions.
Is karpathy-llm-wiki safe to install?
It expects filesystem ownership of wiki/ and reads raw/; review the Security Audits panel on this page and avoid storing secrets in wiki articles.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Karpathy Llm Wiki
# Karpathy LLM Wiki Build and maintain a personal knowledge base using LLMs. You manage two directories: `raw/` (immutable source material) and `wiki/` (compiled knowledge articles). Sources go into raw/, you compile them into wiki articles, and the wiki compounds over time. Core ideas from Karpathy: - "The LLM writes and maintains the wiki; the human reads and asks questions." - "The wiki is a persistent, compounding artifact." ## Architecture Three layers, all under the user's project root: **raw/** — Immutable source material. You read, never modify. Organized by topic subdirectories (e.g., `raw/machine-learning/`). **wiki/** — Compiled knowledge articles. You have full ownership. Organized by topic subdirectories, one level only: `wiki/<topic>/<article>.md`. Contains two special files: - `wiki/index.md` — Global index. One row per article, grouped by topic, with link + summary + Updated date. - `wiki/log.md` — Append-only operation log. **SKILL.md** (this file) — Schema layer. Defines structure and workflow rules. Templates live in `references/` relative to this file. Read them when you need the exact format for raw files, articles, archive pages, or the index. ### Initialization Triggers only on the first Ingest. Check whether `raw/` and `wiki/` exist. Create only what is missing; never overwrite existing files: - `raw/` directory (with `.gitkeep`) - `wiki/` directory (with `.gitkeep`) - `wiki/index.md` — heading `# Knowledge Base Index`, empty body - `wiki/log.md` — heading `# Wiki Log`, empty body If Query or Lint cannot find the wiki structure, tell the user: "Run an ingest first to initialize the wiki." Do not auto-create. --- ## Ingest Fetch a source into raw/, then compile it into wiki/. Always both steps, no exceptions. ### Fetch (raw/) 1. Get the source content using whatever web or file tools your environment provides. If nothing can reach the source, ask the user to paste it directly. 2. Pick a topic directory. Check existing `raw/` subdirectories first; reuse one if the topic is close enough. Create a new subdirectory only for genuinely distinct topics. 3. Save as `raw/<topic>/YYYY-MM-DD-descriptive-slug.md`. - Slug from source title, kebab-case, max 60 characters. - Published date unknown → omit the date prefix from the file name (e.g., `descriptive-slug.md`). The metadata Published field still appears; set it to `Unknown`. - If a file with the same name already exists, append a numeric suffix (e.g., `descriptive-slug-2.md`). - Include metadata header: source URL, collected date, published date. - Preserve original text. Clean formatting noise. Do not rewrite opinions. See `references/raw-template.md` for the exact format. ### Compile (wiki/) Determine where the new content belongs: - **Same core thesis as existing article** → Merge into that article. Add the new source to Sources/Raw. Update affected sections. - **New concept** → Create a new article in the most relevant topic directory. Name the file after the concept, not the raw file. - **Spans multiple topics** → Place in the most relevant directory. Add See Also cross-references to related articles elsewhere. These are not mutually exclusive. A single source may warrant merging into one article while also creating a separate article for a distinct concept it introduces. In all cases, check for factual conflicts: if the new source contradicts existing content, annotate the disagreement with source attribution. When merging, note the conflict within the merged article. When the conflicting content lives in separate articles, note it in both and cross-link them. See `references/article-template.md` for article format. Key po