<2-3 sentences summarising what the project addresses and solves, the target audience, and the benefit.> obra/superpowers equips Claude Code with an extensible library of pre-built skills for software development. Aimed at Claude Code users, it provides structured techniques for testing, debugging, collaboration, and meta-programming, streamlining complex workflows and improving code quality.

How It Works

The plugin acts as a minimal shim, automatically cloning and updating a separate superpowers-skills repository to ~/.config/superpowers/skills/. It registers hooks to load these skills, enabling users to fork the skills repository for local edits and contributions via pull requests. This architecture decouples the core plugin from the evolving skill set, promoting modularity and community-driven development.

Quick Start & Requirements

Installation is recommended via the Claude Code plugin marketplace: /plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace then /plugin install superpowers@superpowers-marketplace. The plugin handles initial skills repository setup. Verify installation with /help. Skills update automatically on session start; divergence requires manual intervention via the pulling-updates-from-skills-repository skill. The SUPERPOWERS_SKILLS_ROOT environment variable accesses skill scripts.

Highlighted Details

• Skills Library: Features categories for Testing (TDD, async, anti-patterns), Debugging (systematic, root cause tracing, verification), Collaboration (brainstorming, planning, code review, parallel agents), and Meta (skill creation, contribution).
• Workflow Automation: Includes slash commands like /brainstorm, /write-plan, and /execute-plan for structured task execution.
• Skill Discovery: A find-skills tool offers grep-powered search and discovery of available skills.
• Development Philosophy: Emphasizes Test-Driven Development (TDD), systematic processes, complexity reduction, and evidence-based decision-making.
• Gap Tracking: Failed skill searches log areas for new skill development.

Maintenance & Community

The project maintains an issue tracker at https://github.com/obra/superpowers/issues and a marketplace repository at https://github.com/obra/superpowers-marketplace. Contributions to skills are managed via the separate obra/superpowers-skills repository.

Licensing & Compatibility

Released under the permissive MIT License, allowing broad compatibility with commercial and closed-source projects.

Limitations & Caveats

The README does not detail alpha status or known bugs. "Gap Tracking" suggests the skill library may be incomplete, with new skills developed based on user needs. The update mechanism requires user awareness for handling local branch divergences.