Superpowers

What it claims

Superpowers is an MIT-licensed skills-and-methodology plugin (by Jesse Vincent / Prime Radiant) that turns a coding agent into a spec-first, TDD-enforced pipeline. The summary already covers the pipeline and the harness list; what it omits is the operational detail an adopter needs: the two implementation modes and their cost/thoroughness tradeoff, exact per-harness install commands, an opt-out telemetry callback, and several harness-specific caveats.

How it works

The distinction the summary flattens: after a plan is approved, you choose between subagent-driven-development (a fresh subagent per task, review after each — "most thorough") and executing-plans (all tasks inline in one session, one review of the whole branch at the end — "cheapest"). TDD is enforced hard: RED-GREEN-REFACTOR, and the test-driven-development skill deletes code written before its test. Skills are described as mandatory workflows, not suggestions; the agent checks for relevant skills before any task.

A diagnosing-superpowers skill (not in the summary's skill list) reads a session transcript when you ask "figure out what went wrong with superpowers in this session," reports with line-level evidence, and can export a scrubbed bug-report bundle.

How to use it

Install differs per harness; install separately for each. Selected verbatim commands:

/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official        # Claude Code (official marketplace)
gemini extensions install https://github.com/obra/superpowers
grok plugin install superpowers@xai-official --trust
pi install git:github.com/obra/superpowers
qwen extensions install obra/superpowers
hermes plugins install obra/superpowers --enable

To verify a working install, start a fresh session and send "Let's make a react todo list" — it should auto-trigger brainstorming before writing any code.

Limits

• Telemetry: brainstorming's optional visual companion loads a Prime Radiant logo from their site, reporting the Superpowers version in use (not project/prompt/agent). Disable with SUPERPOWERS_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=<truthy>; it also honors DISABLE_TELEMETRY and CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC.
• Harness gaps: Hermes has no post-compaction hook, so a long session that compacts on its first turn loses the bootstrap — start fresh if skills stop firing. Muse/Antigravity require SessionStart-hook approval on first install.
• Contribution policy: they "don't generally accept contributions of new skills," and any skill change must work across all supported harnesses — relevant if you planned to extend it upstream.
• Enterprise commercial support is a paid channel (sales@primeradiant.com).