Upgrade Your Coding Agent

Does this sound familiar?

You hand a new feature to your agent and step away.
Thirty minutes later, there are 1,500 lines of code for something different from what you asked for.
Not a single test.
You’ve lost the time.

The PM says, “Just build a quick version.”
The agent starts coding immediately.
Once it’s finished, you discover that the real problem was somewhere else.
A short design discussion could have saved four hours.

Give it a large task at once, and the agent loses its way halfway through.
It changes fifty files, and you can’t see which changes matter.
During review, you have to read everything again from the beginning.

Where it goes wrong

1. Coding starts without a plan.
   Intent, design and task breakdown are skipped. The output looks plausible but misses the real problem.

2. Tests come afterward.
   Tests added after implementation can approve behavior that doesn’t match the intent. If you never saw a test fail, you don’t know whether it checks the behavior.

3. Context drifts.
   In a long session, the agent forgets the original intent. The later work no longer matches the earlier decisions.

4. Worktrees become tangled.
   New work starts on top of an existing branch instead of in an isolated checkout.

About the skill

Superpowers is a plugin that changes how a coding agent works.
Instead of jumping into code, it connects brainstorming, design, small task plans, TDD implementation, two-stage review and worktree cleanup into one cycle.
The agent checks which skill applies before starting the task and follows it when there’s a match.

Recommended for:

• Solo developers who leave an agent working autonomously for hours
• Teams trying to establish TDD while agents keep skipping tests
• People who want a consistent way to split large work into smaller tasks

Key features

• brainstorming
  Clarify intent and constraints before coding.
  Use a question-and-answer process to understand what the user actually wants.

• writing-plans
  Break the agreed specification into tasks that take two to five minutes.
  Each task includes exact file paths and a verification method.

• subagent-driven-development
  Start a fresh subagent for each task.
  Review in two stages: specification compliance, then code quality.

• using-git-worktrees
  Create an isolated worktree and verify a clean test baseline.

• using-superpowers
  Not sure where to begin? Invoke this skill first.

Workflow

CH 01. Install

Claude Code users can install it in one line:

/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official

Also supports Codex CLI, Codex App, Factory Droid, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Cursor and GitHub Copilot CLI. Find the same plugin name through the appropriate installation channel.
After installation, it does not need to be invoked separately for every task.

CH 02. First use

Start a new conversation and invoke using-superpowers.
Ask for a new feature. Rather than immediately coding, the agent asks questions such as “Who will use this, and in what situation?”
It presents design sections for approval before implementation begins.

CH 03. Autonomous implementation

Once the design is approved, the agent splits the work into tasks, assigns each to a fresh subagent and reviews the result in two stages.
Little human intervention is needed within the cycle.
The workflow aims to keep autonomous work aligned with the original intent, even after a long session.

Is it really free? Is there a payment or subscription?

It’s completely free under the MIT license, with no premium tier. The open-source project is published at obra/superpowers on GitHub and is installed through each agent’s plugin installation channel.

Can I use it with agents other than Claude Code?

Works in eight environments: Claude Code, Codex CLI, Codex App, Factory Droid, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Cursor and GitHub Copilot CLI. See the Installation section of the GitHub README for environment-specific commands.

Does it guarantee results?

No. Superpowers changes an agent’s working pattern; people remain responsible for the final code quality.

Its aim is more consistent alignment with the initial intent, regular TDD and reliable two-stage review. It is intended to help solo developers shorten their release cycle.

Does it conflict with other skills or plugins?

Superpowers is designed to prioritize explicit user instructions. Instructions in CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or GEMINI.md take precedence over its patterns.

It can operate alongside other skills. If their rules directly conflict, your instructions need to resolve that conflict. The fourteen skills within Superpowers have a defined calling order.