Skills / Engineering workflow / Superpowers
Superpowers
Makes your agent ask what you want, plan it, test first, and review its own work.
What Superpowers does
Superpowers is a software development method packaged as skills. Once installed, your agent stops jumping straight into code: it asks what you are really trying to do, shows you a spec in readable chunks, writes a step-by-step plan, and then works through it task by task with tests and reviews.
It contains 15 skills covering brainstorming, planning, test-driven development, systematic debugging, code review, git worktrees and writing new skills. They trigger on their own, so you do not have to remember any commands. The project's philosophy is short: tests first, process over guessing, simplicity, and evidence before claiming success.
Use it when
- You want an agent that can work autonomously for longer without drifting from the plan.
- You like test-driven development, or want your agent to enforce it.
- You want a consistent process across Claude Code, Codex and Cursor.
Skip it when
- You want quick one-off edits without a planning step.
- You disagree with strict test-first rules; the TDD skill deletes code written before its test.
How it works
- brainstorming draws out what you want before anything is built and plays it back for correction.
- using-git-worktrees creates an isolated branch and checks the tests pass before work starts.
- writing-plans breaks the approved design into 2–5 minute tasks with exact file paths and verification steps.
- subagent-driven-development (or executing-plans) works through the tasks, reviewing after each one.
- test-driven-development enforces red, green, refactor; requesting-code-review blocks on critical issues; finishing-a-development-branch offers merge, PR, keep or discard.
How to install Superpowers
Claude Code
/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-officialCodex CLI
/pluginsSearch for superpowers and choose Install Plugin. In the Codex app, open Plugins in the sidebar and add it from the Coding section.
Cursor
/add-plugin superpowersAntigravity
agy plugin install https://github.com/obra/superpowersIf you use several agents, install Superpowers separately in each one.
Prompts to try
- Let's build a CLI that syncs my Notion tasks to Todoist
- Fix the flaky checkout test and make sure it stays fixed
- Figure out what went wrong with superpowers in this session
Tips and gotchas
- Read the spec chunks it shows you. Approving a design you skimmed defeats the point of the brainstorming step.
- If a skill fires when it should not, ask the agent to figure out what went wrong with superpowers; the diagnosing skill reads the transcript and reports with line-level evidence.
- Expect longer, more autonomous runs; it is not unusual for the agent to work for a couple of hours on an approved plan.
FAQ
Who makes Superpowers?
Jesse Vincent and the team at Prime Radiant. It is open source under MIT.
Is Superpowers available for Codex?
Yes, through the official Codex plugin marketplace in both the Codex app and the CLI.
Do I need to call the skills myself?
No. The using-superpowers skill makes the agent check for a relevant skill before every task.
Superpowers or ECC?
Superpowers is a focused method with 15 skills. ECC is a much larger toolbox with hundreds of skills, hooks, memory and security scanning.
Related skills
Everything Claude Code (ECC)
A full engineering system for your agent: plan, test, review, verify, remember.
PLANNING · SKILLgrill-me
A relentless interview that turns a loose idea into decisions you can defend.
SKILL AUTHORING · SKILLskill-creator
Anthropic's own skill for writing skills, with tests and benchmarks built in.
This page summarises the project's own SKILL.md and README, checked on 2026-10-16. Star count from GitHub on 2026-10-16. Commands change between releases, so check the repository if one fails. Written by Skillary; not affiliated with Jesse Vincent (Prime Radiant). See how we review skills.