Superpowers

Superpowers is a complete software development workflow for your coding agents, built on top of a set of composable "skills" and some initial instructions that make sure your agent uses them.

How it works

It starts from the moment you fire up your coding agent. As soon as it sees that you're building something, it doesn't just jump into trying to write code. Instead, it steps back and asks you what you're really trying to do.

Once it's teased a spec out of the conversation, it shows it to you in chunks short enough to actually read and digest.

After you've signed off on the design, your agent puts together an implementation plan that's clear enough for an enthusiastic junior engineer with poor taste, no judgement, no project context, and an aversion to testing to follow. It emphasizes true red/green TDD, YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It), and DRY.

Next up, once you say "go", it launches a subagent-driven-development process, having agents work through each engineering task, inspecting and reviewing their work, and continuing forward. It's not uncommon for Claude to be able to work autonomously for a couple hours at a time without deviating from the plan you put together.

There's a bunch more to it, but that's the core of the system. And because the skills trigger automatically, you don't need to do anything special. Your coding agent just has Superpowers.

Sponsorship

If Superpowers has helped you do stuff that makes money and you are so inclined, I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd consider sponsoring my opensource work.

Thanks!

• Jesse

Installation

Note: Installation differs by platform. Claude Code or Cursor have built-in plugin marketplaces. Codex and OpenCode require manual setup.

Claude Code (via Plugin Marketplace)

In Claude Code, register the marketplace first:

/plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace

Then install the plugin from this marketplace:

/plugin install superpowers@superpowers-marketplace

Cursor (via Plugin Marketplace)

In Cursor Agent chat, install from marketplace:

/plugin-add superpowers

Codex

Tell Codex:

Fetch and follow instructions from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/obra/superpowers/refs/heads/main/.codex/INSTALL.md

Detailed docs: docs/README.codex.md

OpenCode

Tell OpenCode:

Fetch and follow instructions from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/obra/superpowers/refs/heads/main/.opencode/INSTALL.md

Detailed docs: docs/README.opencode.md

Verify Installation

Start a new session in your chosen platform and ask for something that should trigger a skill (for example, "help me plan this feature" or "let's debug this issue"). The agent should automatically invoke the relevant superpowers skill.

The Basic Workflow

1. brainstorming - Activates before writing code. Refines rough ideas through questions, explores alternatives, presents design in sections for validation. Saves design document.

2. using-git-worktrees - Activates after design approval. Creates isolated workspace on new branch, runs project setup, verifies clean test baseline.

3. writing-plans - Activates with approved design. Breaks work into bite-sized tasks (2-5 minutes each). Every task has exact file paths, complete code, verification steps.

4. subagent-driven-development or executing-plans - Activates with plan. Dispatches fresh subagent per task with two-stage review (spec compliance, then code quality), or executes in batches with human checkpoints.

5. test-driven-development - Activates during implementation. Enforces RED-GREEN-REFACTOR: write failing test, watch it fail, write minimal code, watch it pass, commit. Deletes code written before tests.

6. requesting-code-review - Activates between tasks. Reviews against plan, reports issues by severity. Critical issues block progress.

7. finishing-a-development-branch - Activates when tasks complete. Verifies tests, presents options (merge/PR/keep/discard), cleans up worktree.

The agent checks for relevant skills before any task. Mandatory workflows, not suggestions.

What's Inside

Skills Library

Testing

• test-driven-development - RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle (includes testing anti-patterns reference)

Debugging

• systematic-debugging - 4-phase root cause process (includes root-cause-tracing, defense-in-depth, condition-based-waiting techniques)
• verification-before-completion - Ensure it's actually fixed

Collaboration

• brainstorming - Socratic design refinement
• writing-plans - Detailed implementation plans
• executing-plans - Batch execution with checkpoints
• dispatching-parallel-agents - Concurrent subagent workflows
• requesting-code-review - Pre-review checklist
• receiving-code-review - Responding to feedback
• using-git-worktrees - Parallel development branches
• finishing-a-development-branch - Merge/PR decision workflow
• subagent-driven-development - Fast iteration with two-stage review (spec compliance, then code quality)

Meta

• writing-skills - Create new skills following best practices (includes testing methodology)
• using-superpowers - Introduction to the skills system

Philosophy

• Test-Driven Development - Write tests first, always
• Systematic over ad-hoc - Process over guessing
• Complexity reduction - Simplicity as primary goal
• Evidence over claims - Verify before declaring success

Read more: Superpowers for Claude Code

Contributing

Skills live directly in this repository. To contribute:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a branch for your skill
3. Follow the writing-skills skill for creating and testing new skills
4. Submit a PR

See skills/writing-skills/SKILL.md for the complete guide.

Updating

Skills update automatically when you update the plugin:

/plugin update superpowers

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Support

• Issues: https://github.com/obra/superpowers/issues
• Marketplace: https://github.com/obra/superpowers-marketplace