The Superpowers Plugin Skills
The Superpowers Plugin is an open-source, agentic skills framework and software development methodology created by Jesse Vincent (obra) that transforms coding agents like Claude Code into structured, senior-level developers. While it is a third-party project licensed under MIT, it was officially accepted into the Anthropic Claude Code plugin marketplace on January 15, 2026, confirming its quality and reliability for users.
The 7 Phases
The plugin implements a 7-phase professional development workflow that includes Socratic brainstorming, micro-task planning, and strict Test-Driven Development (TDD) using a red-green-refactor cycle. It automatically triggers skills to break down complex projects into manageable tasks, dispatch subagents for implementation, and perform code reviews, ensuring disciplined architecture and testing without manual intervention.
Core Workflows
It provides composable skills for:
- Test-Driven Development (TDD) — enforcing red-green-refactor cycles where tests must fail before implementation
- Systematic Debugging — a four-phase methodology requiring root cause investigation before any fixes
- Socratic Brainstorming — refining requirements before coding begins
- Subagent-Driven Development — parallel agents with built-in code review checkpoints
Key Features
Key features and installation details include:
- Workflow Structure: It enforces a brainstorm-plan-implement cycle, using git worktrees for parallel task isolation and requiring passing tests before any code is committed.
- Compatibility: Although optimized for Claude Code, it also supports Codex CLI, Codex App, GitHub Copilot CLI, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and OpenCode with specific installation commands for each.
- Cost: The plugin is completely free with no hidden costs or subscription limits, suitable for both personal and commercial use.
Skill Priority Order
- Process skills first — these govern HOW to approach the work:
superpowers:brainstorming— before any creative/feature worksuperpowers:systematic-debugging— before proposing any fixsuperpowers:writing-plans— when you have multi-step requirements
- Implementation skills second — these guide execution:
superpowers:test-driven-development— before writing implementation codesuperpowers:executing-plans— when running a written planfrontend-design:frontend-design— for UI/component work
Common Triggers
| Situation | Skill to invoke |
|---|---|
| Building something new | brainstorming → then implementation skill |
| Bug or test failure | systematic-debugging |
| About to claim work is done | verification-before-completion |
| Multi-step implementation | writing-plans → executing-plans |
| Requesting a code review | requesting-code-review |
| Code review feedback received | receiving-code-review |
| Completing a feature branch | finishing-a-development-branch |
| 2+ independent tasks | dispatching-parallel-agents |
Compatibility
The Superpowers plugin works with the following harnesses:
- Claude Code
- Codex CLI
- Codex App
- Factory Droid
- Gemini CLI
- OpenCode
- Cursor
- GitHub Copilot CLI
Installation
# From the official, built-in Anthropic Marketplace
/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official# From the Superpowers Marketplace
/plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace
/plugin install superpowers@superpowers-marketplaceSee the official Superpowers Plugin GitHub repository for installation to other AI tools and harnesses.
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.
The Skills
| Skill | Phase | Description |
|---|---|---|
| brainstorming | Planning | Socratic design refinement |
| writing-plans | Planning | Detailed implementation plans |
| using-git-worktrees | Setup | Parallel development branches |
| subagent-driven-development | Setup | Fast iteration with two-stage review (spec compliance, then code quality) |
| dispatching-parallel-agents | Setup | Concurrent subagent workflows |
| executing-plans | Implementation | Batch execution with checkpoints |
| test-driven-development | Implementation | RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle (includes testing anti-patterns reference) |
| systematic-debugging | Implementation | 4-phase root cause process (root-cause-tracing, defense-in-depth, condition-based-waiting techniques) |
| verification-before-completion | Implementation | Ensure it's actually fixed |
| requesting-code-review | Review | Pre-review checklist |
| receiving-code-review | Review | Responding to feedback |
| finishing-a-development-branch | Completion | Merge/PR decision workflow |
| writing-skills | Skills Development | Create new skills following best practices (includes testing methodology) |
| using-superpowers | Help | Introduction to the skills system |