What Is superpowers?
superpowers is a structured agentic workflow skill for Claude Code created by Jesse Vincent (@obra). It enforces a strict 7-phase development process — from brainstorming through finalization — and uniquely deletes any code written before tests are in place. It's test-driven development made mandatory for AI agents.
The 7-Phase Workflow in Detail
Brainstorm Phase
Claude asks clarifying questions and maps the problem space before any artifacts are created. This phase prevents scope creep and surfaces requirements the user hadn't considered.
Spec Phase
A written specification document is created and approved before implementation starts. This becomes the ground truth for the entire project — the TDD tests verify against it, and the Review phase checks against it.
Plan Phase
The spec is broken into small, ordered tasks. Each task is scoped to be implementable and testable independently. Sub-agents can be spawned per task for parallelism.
TDD Enforcement
This is superpowers' defining feature. Claude writes failing tests before writing implementation code. If code is found without a corresponding test, the skill instructs Claude to delete it and write the test first. The discipline is structural, not advisory.
Build Phase
Claude implements each task until its tests pass. Green tests gate forward progress.
Review Phase
An adversarial review compares the implementation against the spec. Claude plays both author and critic, flagging gaps, edge cases, and deviations.
Finalize Phase
Documentation, cleanup, and commit preparation. The skill enforces a clean, reviewable diff.
How to Install superpowers?
Download from GitHub https://github.com/obra/superpowers
Or install via the Claude Code plugin system: /plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace /plugin install superpowers@superpowers-marketplace
After restarting Claude Code, you'll see the session-start hook confirming superpowers is active and directing Claude to read its getting-started skill.