February 12, 2026
Cargo cult or code cult?
65 Lines of Markdown, a Claude Code Sensation
Dev world gasps: 65-line “think first” cheat sheet sparks star frenzy
TLDR: A tiny 65-line “think before coding” guide exploded in popularity and got ported across editors. The community is split between calling it cargo-cult hype and praising it as useful wisdom—even without AI—turning a simple markdown file into the week’s most dramatic developer debate.
A 65-line “rules” file telling coders to think before coding just went viral, snagging thousands of GitHub stars and quick-and-dirty ports to both VS Code Marketplace and open-vsx.org. Cue the comment section meltdown. The hottest take? Skeptics calling it cargo cult programming—rituals and vibes instead of measurable results. One commenter fumed that without ways to track outcomes, we’re sliding into superstition dressed up as productivity.
Others dialed the drama to 11: one labeled the whole AI scene “bro science,” roasting the endless parade of hacks and magical prompt tricks. Another invoked internet lore, dubbing large language models (LLMs) “eternal September”—a never-ending flood of newbies crowning themselves “thought leaders” and drowning out signal with hype. But it’s not all doom: a practical voice chimed in that these 65 lines might help humans, even without AI—like a mini pep talk taped to your monitor. Meanwhile, the publishing saga (green checkmarks, verification waits, foundation sign-ups) added bureaucratic comedy to the mix. The vibe? Half the crowd believes this tiny guide is a miracle; the other half thinks it’s modern snake oil. Either way, the stars keep ticking up, and the memes are unstoppable.
Key Points
- •A popular “Karpathy-Inspired Claude Code Guidelines” extension is a 65-line Markdown file outlining four principles, including “Think Before Coding.”
- •The author ported the rules file into extensions for both VS Code and Cursor using Codex CLI.
- •On the VS Code Marketplace, non-verified publishers trigger install warnings; verification requires six months with at least one published extension before applying.
- •Publishing to Cursor required accounts on open-vsx.org and the Eclipse Foundation, linking GitHub, signing an Eclipse agreement, and filing a GitHub Issue to claim a namespace.
- •Initial testing showed ambiguous impact due to AI models’ non-deterministic behavior; the author was unsure whether refactoring results improved.