superpowers

Fri, 01 May 2026 17:07:42 +0800

obra/superpowers

Superpowers

Superpowers is a complete software development methodology 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 Official Marketplace

Superpowers is available via the official Claude plugin marketplace

Install the plugin from Anthropic’s official marketplace:

`1`	`/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official`

Claude Code (Superpowers Marketplace)

The Superpowers marketplace provides Superpowers and some other related plugins for Claude Code.

In Claude Code, register the marketplace first:

`1`	`/plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace`

Then install the plugin from this marketplace:

`1`	`/plugin install superpowers@superpowers-marketplace`

OpenAI Codex CLI

Open plugin search interface

`1`	`/plugins`

Search for Superpowers

`1`	`superpowers`

Select Install Plugin

OpenAI Codex App

In the Codex app, click on Plugins in the sidebar.
You should see Superpowers in the Coding section.
Click the + next to Superpowers and follow the prompts.

Cursor (via Plugin Marketplace)

In Cursor Agent chat, install from marketplace:

`1`	`/add-plugin superpowers`

or search for “superpowers” in the plugin marketplace.

OpenCode

Tell OpenCode:

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

Detailed docs: docs/README.opencode.md

GitHub Copilot CLI

1
2

copilot plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace
copilot plugin install superpowers@superpowers-marketplace

Gemini CLI

`1`	`gemini extensions install https://github.com/obra/superpowers`

To update:

`1`	`gemini extensions update superpowers`

The Basic Workflow

brainstorming - Activates before writing code. Refines rough ideas through questions, explores alternatives, presents design in sections for validation. Saves design document.
using-git-worktrees - Activates after design approval. Creates isolated workspace on new branch, runs project setup, verifies clean test baseline.
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.
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.
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.
requesting-code-review - Activates between tasks. Reviews against plan, reports issues by severity. Critical issues block progress.
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 the original release announcement.

Contributing

The general contribution process for Superpowers is below. Keep in mind that we don’t generally accept contributions of new skills and that any updates to skills must work across all of the coding agents we support.

Fork the repository
Switch to the ‘dev’ branch
Create a branch for your work
Follow the writing-skills skill for creating and testing new and modified skills
Submit a PR, being sure to fill in the pull request template.

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

Updating

Superpowers updates are somewhat coding-agent dependent, but are often automatic.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Community

Superpowers is built by Jesse Vincent and the rest of the folks at Prime Radiant.

Discord: Join us for community support, questions, and sharing what you’re building with Superpowers
Issues: https://github.com/obra/superpowers/issues
Release announcements: Sign up to get notified about new versions

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