Using Superpowers

Use when starting any conversation - establishes how to find and use skills, requiring skill invocation before ANY response including clarifying questions

309,696 stars 27,549 forksOther Plugin marketplace

Install

Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers

The repo is a Claude Code plugin marketplace. Run /plugin afterwards to pick the plugin that includes this skill.

skills CLI (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and more)
npx skills add obra/superpowers --skill using-superpowers
Manual install
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/obra/superpowers.git /tmp/superpowers
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/superpowers/skills/using-superpowers ~/.claude/skills/using-superpowers

Personal skills live in ~/.claude/skills. Use .claude/skills in a project folder to share a skill with your team.

From the SKILL.md

<SUBAGENT-STOP>
If you were dispatched as a subagent to execute a specific task, ignore this skill.
</SUBAGENT-STOP>

<EXTREMELY-IMPORTANT>
If you think there is even a 1% chance a skill might apply to what you are doing, you ABSOLUTELY MUST invoke the skill.

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.
</EXTREMELY-IMPORTANT>

## 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 |
|---------|---------|
Read the full skill on GitHub

Details

Skill name
using-superpowers
Path
skills/using-superpowers/SKILL.md
License
MIT
Repo updated
29 October 2026

FAQ

What does the Using Superpowers skill do?

Use when starting any conversation - establishes how to find and use skills, requiring skill invocation before ANY response including clarifying questions

How do I install the Using Superpowers skill?

Claude Code plugin: /plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers. Skills go in ~/.claude/skills (personal) or .claude/skills (project), and Claude loads them automatically when a task matches the description.

Is Using Superpowers popular?

It lives in obra/superpowers, which has 309,696 GitHub stars and 27,549 forks, and is included in 6 curated skill lists.

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