Accept All

Risk Level: 🟡 Caution Advised to 🔴 DANGER (context-dependent)

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Guide Entry

ACCEPT ALL (v.): The practice of accepting AI-generated code without reading the diff. Coined by Andrej Karpathy as part of his “vibe coding” workflow: “I ‘Accept All’ always, I don’t read the diffs anymore.”

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The Karpathy Context

When Karpathy described Accept All, he was:

• Building personal projects
• Prototyping ideas
• Experimenting with LLM capabilities
• Working at low stakes

This context matters. Accept All at scale or in production is a different game entirely.

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When Accept All Works

🟢 Safe to Accept All

Prototypes nobody will use:

"Make the button blue"
[Accept All]
"Add a loading spinner"
[Accept All]

Stakes: Zero. Speed: Maximum. Vibes: Excellent.

Learning exercises:

"Show me how to use this library"
[Accept All]
[Run it, see what happens, learn]

Throwaway experiments:

"Let's try approach X"
[Accept All]
[Evaluate, probably delete]

🟡 Accept All with Caution

Internal tools: Accept All, but test before deploying.

Non-critical features: Accept All, but review before commit.

Paired with good tests: Accept All, but run the test suite.

🔴 Never Accept All

Production code: Always review diffs before shipping.

Security-related code: Always review line by line.

Financial calculations: Always verify logic manually.

Anything with user data: Always check for vulnerabilities.

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The Accept All Spectrum

Full Accept All ←————————————————→ Full Review
     ↑                                    ↑
 Karpathy                            Production
 Prototyping                         Systems

 Fast, risky                      Slow, safe

Your position on this spectrum should match your stakes.

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Upgrading from Accept All

When you need to transition from prototype to production:

Level 1: Glance All

Accept quickly, but glance at what changed.

[See diff] [Notice nothing crazy] [Accept]

Level 2: Scan All

Read file names and rough changes.

[Which files changed?] [What's the gist?] [Accept]

Level 3: Review Key

Accept most, review critical paths.

[Accept UI changes] [Review auth changes] [Accept tests]

Level 4: Review All

Read every diff before accepting.

[Read] [Understand] [Verify] [Accept or Modify]

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The Accept All Safety Net

If you’re going to Accept All, protect yourself:

1. Version Control

git commit -m "checkpoint before vibing"

So you can always go back.

2. Tests

npm test

So failures are caught automatically.

3. CI/CD

Automated checks catch what you miss.

4. Code Review

Someone else reviews before merge.

5. Staging Environment

Deploy to staging before production.

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The Anti-Pattern

"Accept All" + "Push to Main" + "No Tests" + "Production"
= Incident waiting to happen

Each safety net you remove increases risk exponentially.

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The Street Rule

“Accept All is a tool, not a policy. Use it where appropriate, not everywhere.”

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Move to Make

Define your personal Accept All policy:

1. Where can I Accept All safely?
2. Where must I always review?
3. What safety nets do I have in place?

Write it down. Follow it.