Writing Plans

Use when you have a spec or requirements for a multi-step task, before touching code

309,696 stars 27,549 forksWriting & Content 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 writing-plans

Manual install

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/obra/superpowers.git /tmp/superpowers
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/superpowers/skills/writing-plans ~/.claude/skills/writing-plans

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

From the SKILL.md

# Writing Plans

## Overview

Write implementation plans for an engineer who has not seen this codebase or this spec. Assume they write idiomatic code in the project's language once they know the exact interface and the exact test, and that they will make a reasonable choice wherever the plan leaves one open. What they cannot know is what you decided: which files, which names and signatures, which values from the spec, which tests prove each task. Document those. Give them the whole plan as bite-sized tasks. DRY. YAGNI. TDD. Frequent commits.

**Announce at start:** "I'm using the writing-plans skill to create the implementation plan."

**Context:** If working in an isolated worktree, it should have been created via the `superpowers:using-git-worktrees` skill at execution time.

**Save plans to:** `docs/superpowers/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<feature-name>.md`
- (User preferences for plan location override this default)

## Scope Check

If the spec covers multiple independent subsystems, it should have been broken into sub-project specs during brainstorming. If it wasn't, suggest breaking this into separate plans — one per subsystem. Each plan should produce working, testable software on its own.

## File Structure

Before defining tasks, map out which files will be created or modified and what each one is responsible for. This is where decomposition decisions get locked in.

Read the full skill on GitHub

Details

Skill name: writing-plans
Repository: obra/superpowers
Path: skills/writing-plans/SKILL.md
License: MIT
Repo updated: 29 October 2026
Listed in: BehiSecc/awesome-claude-skills, ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills, hesreallyhim/awesome-claude-code, karanb192/awesome-claude-skills, travisvn/awesome-claude-skills, VoltAgent/awesome-agent-skills

FAQ

What does the Writing Plans skill do?

Use when you have a spec or requirements for a multi-step task, before touching code

How do I install the Writing Plans 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 Writing Plans 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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