Why Garry Tan’s Claude Code Setup Has Gotten So Much Love, And Hate

Y Combinator’s famed CEO Garry Tan told a SXSW audience that he’s sewage “cyber psychosis” and is hardly sleeping because he’s truthful excited to beryllium moving pinch AI agents.

“I slumber for illustration 4 hours a nighttime correct now,” he told his interviewer, chap VC Bill Gurley, during an on-stage question and reply Saturday. “I person cyber psychosis, but I deliberation for illustration a 3rd of nan CEOs that I cognize person it arsenic well,” he joked astir his existent AI obsession. (At least, we dream he was joking. AI-induced psychosis can really beryllium a vulnerable condition.)

“Once you effort it, you’ll realize: it’s for illustration I was capable to recreate my startup that took $10 cardinal successful VC superior and 10 people, and I worked connected that for 2 years, and I took anti-narcoleptics — for illustration I remember, you know, benignant of being connected for illustration modafinil,” he described, referencing nan sleep-preventing supplier that’s celebrated pinch nan startup hustle-culture crowd. (Tan sold his Y Combinator-backed blogging startup Posterous, to Twitter backmost successful 2012.)

But now, his psyche is truthful amped moving pinch AI agents, it’s a earthy insomnia.

“I don’t request modafinil pinch this revolution. Like I’m up. I slept astatine 4 a.m. I woke up astatine 8 a.m,” he said. “I wanted to slumber more, but I couldn’t because: let’s spot what’s going connected pinch nan 10 workers. I’ve sewage for illustration 3 different projects going correct now.”

He’s truthful excited astir his agents that connected March 12, conscionable 2 days earlier nan interview, he proudly, freely shared his Claude Code (CC) setup connected Github nether an unfastened root license. The setup included six “opinionated” Claude Code skills he developed. Skills are reusable prompts stored successful typical “skill.md” files.

“I’ve been having specified an astonishing clip pinch Claude Code, I wanted you to beryllium capable to person my *exact* accomplishment setup,” he posted connected X. He called his Claude Code setup “gstack.”

Since past he’s added respective much skills. The gstack GitHub repository presently says location are 13, but it seems for illustration each hr Tan tweets astir thing new.

In 1 post, he gave an illustration of really his setup works. First, he gets Claude’s sentiment connected wheter a startup thought aliases characteristic is simply a bully thought utilizing a accomplishment wherever Claude acts for illustration CEO. He uses different accomplishment to person Claude constitute nan characteristic arsenic an engineer, and different to reappraisal its ain activity for bugs and information issues arsenic a codification reviewer. Other skills screen design, documentation, and truthful on.

The emotion for gstack began immediately: His tweet went viral connected X and trended connected Product Hunt. It’s deed astir 20,000 stars connected GitHub pinch 2,200 “forks,” meaning group who person taken nan files to modify for themselves.

But soon aft releasing gstack, Tan posted a tweet that caused a heap of hate, too.

He wrote that a CTO friend told him gstack was “god mode” that instantly recovered a information flaw successful his company’s codification and predicted it will beryllium wide used.

To quote conscionable a fewer of nan galore hater comments aft that: One laminitis posted to X, “1) Garry should beryllium embarrassed for tweeting this. (2) If it’s true, that CTO should beryllium fired immediately.”

Vlogger Mo Bitar did a return on gstack called “AI is making CEOs delusional” successful which he pointed retired that nan task was fundamentally “a bunch of prompts” successful a matter file. The vlogger summarized nan communal complaint: developers who usage Claude Code already person their ain versions of this.

Added 1 personification connected Product Hunt, “Garry, let’s beryllium clear and honest: if you weren’t nan CEO of YC, this wouldn’t beryllium connected PH.”

So who’s right? Is gstack a uniquely useful measurement to activity pinch Claude Code? Or unremarkable? I asked nan experts, including Claude (which, not amazingly perfectly loved it). I besides queried ChatGPT and Gemini, some of which were amazingly positive.

Gstack is simply a group of “reasonably blase punctual workflows, but they’re not ‘magical,’” ChatGPT opined. “The existent penetration present is that AI coding useful champion erstwhile you simulate an engineering org structure. Not erstwhile you conscionable ask: ‘build this feature.’”

Gemini called nan setup “sophisticated” adding that “gstack is fundamentally a ‘Pro’ configuration. It is little astir making coding easier and much astir making it correct.”

Claude called gstack “a mature, opinionated strategy built by personification who really uses it heavily,” adding, “It’s 1 of nan amended examples of Claude Code accomplishment creation retired there.”

We’ll return that arsenic a thumbs up from an master connected nan topic.

On Monday, Tan explained successful different X post, “I took modafinil conscionable to enactment awake longer to beryllium capable to move nan momentary crystalline structures I had successful my encephalon into lines of codification earlier slumber aliases quality distraction turned it to grains of sand. I emotion coding but I emotion coding pinch AI moreover more. I speak it listens and we create. I spot nan building and it is built. There is nary much powerful an acquisition to maine than that.”

Tan did not respond to our aggregate requests for comment.