Claude Code Got 100x Better With Superpowers Skill
If you are vibe coding, you should at least do it right! And with the Claude skill Iam going to show you today, it’s easier than ever. So stay with me, for the next few minutes and change the way you use Claude Code forever.
You know, when you ask AI to build you an app or a feature, it dives into implementation immediately most of the time. Yes there is a plan mode in the Claude Code, or you can explicitly ask it to make a plan or tech design first, before writing code, and then iterate on it before letting model to implement it.
But this does not always work.
First, personally I forget to do that or just too lazy, thinking oh this is going to be a quick one, no need to plan — and then finding myself making 20 follow up prompts.
Second, even if model asks you clarifying questions, you are not always sure what you want — especially if you are not a programmer, or your primary stack is different.
Third, AI assistants try to build all at once, instead of breaking the work into smaller manageable pieces.
Then, you also need to review and test the code that your AI agent wrote and it can be hard to review it well, because the changes are massive and again, and there is no way to validate it incrementally.
But imagine if you could have few instances of an agent, one of them writes code, other reviews, and the third checks if it matches the spec — so your chaotic vibe going turns into complete development workflow?
And that’s what Claude skill called superpowers can do for you! And you don’t have to remember and type long prompts manually to ask about it!
Installation
For Claude Code, you just need two commands:
First, register the marketplace:
/plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplaceThen install the plugin:
/plugin install superpowers@superpowers-marketplaceVerify it worked by running /help, and you should see new commands like /superpowers:brainstorm, write-plan, and execute-plan.
Superpowers also works with Codex and OpenCode, though those require manual setup. Check the README for platform-specific instructions.
The best part? Once installed, the skills activate automatically. You don’t need to remember special commands or prompts. Just start describing what you want to build, and Superpowers guides Claude through the proper workflow.
THE WORKFLOW
So how does Superpowers fix this? It implements a complete software development workflow with seven core phases. Let’s walk through them.
Phase 1: Brainstorming
First, when you tell Claude what you want to build, instead of immediately writing code, it activates the brainstorming skill. It asks clarifying questions, explores alternatives, and refines your rough idea into a solid design document. It even presents the design in chunks so you can actually read and validate each section.
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Phase 2: Git Worktrees
Once you approve the design, the using-git-worktrees skill activates. This creates an isolated workspace on a new branch, runs your project setup, and verifies you have a clean test baseline before any code gets written. No more polluting your main branch with experimental code.
Phase 3: Writing Plans
Next comes the writing-plans skill. This breaks your project into bite-sized tasks, each taking just 2 to 5 minutes to complete. Every task includes exact file paths, complete code expectations, and verification steps. It’s like having a project manager create a perfect roadmap.
Phase 4: Execution
Then comes execution. You can choose between two approaches: subagent-driven-development, which dispatches fresh subagents for each task with a two-stage review process, or executing-plans, which works through tasks in batches with human checkpoints. Either way, you get systematic progress with built-in quality control.
Phase 5: Test-Driven Development
Throughout implementation, the test-driven-development skill enforces the classic RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle. Write a failing test, watch it fail, write minimal code, watch it pass, then commit. If Claude tries to write code before tests, this skill literally makes it delete the code and start over. No exceptions.
Phase 6: Code Review
Between tasks, the requesting-code-review skill activates, reviewing the work against the plan and reporting issues by severity. Critical issues actually block progress until they’re fixed. It’s like having a senior engineer doing continuous code review.
Phase 7: Finishing
Finally, when all tasks are complete, the finishing-a-development-branch skill verifies tests, presents you with options to merge, create a PR, keep working, or discard the branch, then cleans up the worktree. Clean, professional, and organized.
KEY FEATURES & PHILOSOPHY
What makes Superpowers special isn’t just the workflow — it’s the philosophy behind it.
Test-Driven Development
Everything starts with tests. Not ‘we’ll add tests later,’ but actual test-first development. The system includes an anti-patterns reference to help Claude avoid common testing mistakes.
Systematic Debugging
When things go wrong, there’s a systematic-debugging skill with a four-phase root cause process. No more random print statements and guessing. Claude follows a disciplined approach to find and fix issues.
Complexity Reduction
Superpowers enforces YAGNI — You Aren’t Gonna Need It. Claude is pushed to build the simplest thing that works, not the most clever or over-engineered solution.
Evidence Over Claims
And perhaps most importantly: evidence over claims. Claude must verify everything actually works before declaring success. No more ‘this should work’ without proof.
The skills library includes dedicated skills for collaboration, debugging, meta-development like writing new skills, and more. It’s a complete professional development system.
If you’re serious about AI-assisted development and tired of babysitting your coding assistant, you need to check out Superpowers. I’ll link the GitHub repo in the description.
