How we make this

• Everything is written from the 2026 NEC.
• AI writes the answers to your questions. Our own code then checks every section it cites against the 2026 code text.
• The calculators are ordinary code, not AI. Automated tests check them against hand-worked answers.
• Practice questions are drafted with AI help and published only after a machine check backs the answer.
• We show section numbers and our own words, never code text.
• No licensed electrician reviews the content yet. We’re adding one, and reviewed pages will say so.

When you ask Shorty a question, three things happen:

1. Anthropic’s Claude reads the question and picks the NEC articles most likely to hold the answer. If the question isn’t about the electrical code, Shorty says so instead of guessing.
2. Google’s Gemini writes the answer using only the text of those articles, and tags each claim with the section it relies on.
3. Our citation checker, which is ordinary code with 85 automated tests, compares each cited passage with the 2026 code text. A solid yellow tag means the claim matched. A dashed tag means it couldn’t be matched, so check that one yourself.

A matched tag tells you the section says what Shorty quoted. It doesn’t tell you the rule fits your job: local amendments, exceptions, and the edition your AHJ enforces still matter. Shorty is a reference, not a substitute for the code book or the inspector.

The calculators run the same code on this site, in the iPhone app, and in Ask Shorty’s other apps. They don’t use AI. 64 automated tests check them against hand-worked answers, and every NEC section a calculator names is checked against the 2026 code text.

The bending calculators are trade math, not code rules. Bender take-up and markings vary by manufacturer, so check yours. Each calculator page shows its formula, its assumptions, and a worked example computed by the calculator itself.

The trade simulations were built with AI help and run in your browser. Each one has a rules engine that decides what the inspector passes or fails. Automated tests run every job’s right and wrong answers through that engine. A separate code review checked each rule against the 2026 code text, and a play-test checked that each game is clear to use.

The inspector cites section numbers only. It doesn’t quote code text, so keep your code book open.

Practice questions are drafted with AI help. A question is admitted to the bank only after an automated check passes:

• Numeric answers are recomputed with the same calculators the app uses.
• Code facts must be backed by a short passage that matches the 2026 code text.
• Duplicates are rejected.

The free practice tests on this site use only questions that passed those checks. Before publishing, each question on them was also read against the section it cites. That review is how we caught the error in the corrections list below.

The NFPA owns the text of the National Electrical Code. We show section numbers, short section titles, and our own plain-English explanations, not the code text itself. Read the sections in your own code book. NFPA also offers free read-only access to its codes at nfpa.org.

Ask Shorty is written from the 2026 NEC. Many states and cities still enforce the 2023 edition or older ones, and some amend the code. Before you rely on an answer, check which edition your AHJ enforces. When a section number changed between editions, our pages say so where we know about it.

We don’t store the text of your questions, and neither the app nor this site needs an account. The privacy page covers what each AI provider receives, what the site measures, and what stays on your phone.

When we find a mistake, we fix it and list it here. Found one? Email the section and a screenshot to matt@kaizumi.com.

• October 15, 2026Added Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity to this site. The privacy page now describes both, including the cookies they set.
• October 15, 2026Fixed the arithmetic in the explanation of a box fill practice question. The answer, 29.25 in³, was right; the explanation counted the two device yokes wrong.
• October 15, 2026Corrected the privacy page, which said this site had no analytics. It uses Vercel Web Analytics, as described there now.
• October 14, 2026The homepage calculator list cited Article 220 for dwelling service load. In the 2026 NEC it's Article 120.