Superpowers is a software development methodology for coding agents that guides work from clarifying requirements through design, planning, implementation, testing, and review. It is for developers who want agents to follow a structured, test-focused process using composable skills and subagents.
Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx skills add obra/superpowers --skill using-superpowersgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/obra/superpowersWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/obra/superpowers/using-superpowers)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/obra/superpowers/using-superpowers"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/obra/superpowers/using-superpowers/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/obra/superpowers/using-superpowers"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/obra/superpowers/using-superpowers.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>- Socket pass
- Snyk pass
- NVIDIA SkillSpector pass
What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00028 | $0.00735 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00011 | $0.00294 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00006 | $0.00147 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00003 | $0.00073 |
Grade A, and why
using-superpowers scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 1mo ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
Copies of this mod
8 near-identical copies found in the catalogue:
- using-superpowers — 100% identical, 68 lines differ
- using-superpowers — 100% identical, 0 lines differ
- using-superpowers — 100% identical, 2 lines differ
- using-superpowers — 98% identical, 3 lines differ
- using-superpowers — 98% identical, 3 lines differ
- using-superpowers — 98% identical, 3 lines differ
- using-superpowers — 98% identical, 3 lines differ
- using-superpowers — 98% identical, 3 lines differ
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 66 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
IF A SKILL APPLIES TO YOUR TASK, YOU DO NOT HAVE A CHOICE. YOU MUST USE IT.
This is not negotiable. You cannot rationalize your way out of this.
The Rule
Invoke relevant or requested skills BEFORE any response or action — including clarifying questions, exploring the codebase, or checking files. If it turns out wrong for the situation, you don't have to use it.
Before entering plan mode: if you haven't already brainstormed, invoke the brainstorming skill first.
Then announce "Using [skill] to [purpose]" and follow the skill exactly. If it has a checklist, create a todo per item.
Skill Priority
When multiple skills apply, process skills come first — they set the approach, then implementation skills (frontend-design, etc.) carry it out. Brainstorming and systematic-debugging are Superpowers' most common process skills, but the rule holds for any of them.
- "Let's build X" → superpowers:brainstorming first, then implementation skills.
- "Fix this bug" → superpowers:systematic-debugging first, then domain skills.
Red Flags
These thoughts mean STOP—you're rationalizing:
| Thought | Reality |
|---|---|
| "This is just a simple question" | Questions are tasks. Check for skills. |
| "I need more context first" | Skill check comes BEFORE clarifying questions. |
| "Let me explore the codebase first" | Skills tell you HOW to explore. Check first. |
| "I can check git/files quickly" | Files lack conversation context. Check for skills. |
| "Let me gather information first" | Skills tell you HOW to gather information. |
| "This doesn't need a formal skill" | If a skill exists, use it. |
| "I remember this skill" | Skills evolve. Read current version. |
| "This doesn't count as a task" | Action = task. Check for skills. |
| "The skill is overkill" | Simple things become complex. Use it. |
| "I'll just do this one thing first" | Check BEFORE doing anything. |
| "This feels productive" | Undisciplined action wastes time. Skills prevent this. |
| "I know what that means" | Knowing the concept ≠ using the skill. Invoke it. |
What ships with it
7 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 1mo ago Changed · +2 lines 82c5c8866ad7
- 1mo ago First seen · 64 lines · 28 tokens per session scan A 30f2ab78e20d
using-superpowers is a skill published in the GitHub repository obra/superpowers (302,124 stars, last pushed 10d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 28 tokens to every session and 735 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.
Other skills, from other repositories
skill-creator
Create a skill or bring an existing one up to the same standard (validate + asm eval fix loop); run evals, tune triggering. Use when authoring, fixing, or retrofitting a skill. Don't use for invoking skills, writing prose, or Python scaffolds.
skill-index-updater
Add GitHub skill repos to the ASM index: clone, audit, eval, regenerate index, rebuild catalog, open PR. Use when given GitHub URLs to onboard. Don't use for refreshing indexed repos (refresh-index), improving skills (skill-creator), or install.
hello-world
A minimal test skill that greets the user and demonstrates the ASM publish workflow.
echarts
You MUST use this when building, styling, debugging, or optimizing Apache ECharts charts in JavaScript, React, or Vue - setup, lifecycle, responsive resizing, theming, large datasets, streaming, SSR, and symptoms like a blank chart or broken resize. Not for choosing chart types or for other charting libraries.
typescript
You MUST use this when working on TypeScript-specific problems - compiler errors, tsconfig, strict typing, type inference, generics, complex type definitions, module resolution, ESM/CJS interoperability, type-checking performance, migration, or monorepo configuration. Also applies to designing or refactoring type-safe…
debugging
You MUST use this when investigating bugs, regressions, failing tests, build or integration failures, flaky behavior, performance anomalies, or other unexpected technical behavior.