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obra/superpowers · 314k stars · Intermediate · 10 min · 2026-11-08

Run a skills-driven development workflow with Superpowers

An agentic skills framework that makes your coding agent brainstorm, plan, test first and review before it ships.

TL;DR

Superpowers is a software development methodology for coding agents, built from composable skills that trigger automatically. Install it for your harness, then ask for something to build and the agent brainstorms and plans before writing code.

Why this repo matters

Agents tend to jump straight into code. Superpowers makes them step back, ask what you are really trying to do, produce a spec in digestible chunks, and then follow an approved plan. The README says agents can work autonomously for a couple of hours without deviating from that plan.

Best practices

  • Let skills trigger on their own: the agent checks for relevant skills before any task, and the workflows are mandatory rather than suggestions.
  • Approve the design before implementation; planning starts only after you sign off.
  • Keep tasks bite-sized (2-5 minutes each) with exact file paths, complete code and verification steps.
  • Follow red/green TDD: write a failing test, watch it fail, write minimal code, watch it pass; code written before tests is deleted.
  • Review between tasks; critical issues block progress.
  • Verify before declaring success ("evidence over claims").

How-to

Where do I start?

1. Which harness do I install it for?

Installation differs per harness, and you install separately for each one you use. For Claude Code:

/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official

For GitHub Copilot CLI:

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

Next: How do I know it works?

Try it

In a throwaway repo, ask your agent for a small feature such as the todo list. Watch for the brainstorming questions, approve the design, then check that the plan lists tasks with file paths and verification steps.

Pitfalls

  • Installing for one harness does not cover others; install separately for each.
  • If a skill fires when it should not, stays silent, or the agent ignores its plan, ask it to "figure out what went wrong with superpowers in this session" to invoke diagnosing-superpowers.
  • The project does not generally accept contributions of new skills, so do not plan on upstreaming yours.

Next steps