# Getting Started with Skills

> Skills wiki intro - mandatory workflows, search tool, brainstorming triggers

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-obra-superpowers-skills-using-skills`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [obra](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/obra)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Search](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/search)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [obra](https://github.com/obra)
- **Source:** https://github.com/obra/superpowers-skills/tree/main/skills/using-skills

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-obra-superpowers-skills-using-skills
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Getting Started with Skills

## Critical Rules

1. **Use Read tool before announcing skill usage.** The session-start hook does NOT read skills for you. Announcing without calling Read = lying.

2. **Follow mandatory workflows.** Brainstorming before coding. Check for skills before ANY task.

3. **Create TodoWrite todos for checklists.** Mental tracking = steps get skipped. Every time.

## Mandatory Workflow: Before ANY Task

**1. Check skills list** at session start, or run `find-skills [PATTERN]` to filter.

**2. If relevant skill exists, YOU MUST use it:**

- Use Read tool with full path: `${SUPERPOWERS_SKILLS_ROOT}/skills/category/skill-name/SKILL.md`
- Read ENTIRE file, not just frontmatter
- Announce: "I've read [Skill Name] skill and I'm using it to [purpose]"
- Follow it exactly

**Don't rationalize:**
- "I remember this skill" - Skills evolve. Read the current version.
- "Session-start showed it to me" - That was using-skills/SKILL.md only. Read the actual skill.
- "This doesn't count as a task" - It counts. Find and read skills.

**Why:** Skills document proven techniques that save time and prevent mistakes. Not using available skills means repeating solved problems and making known errors.

If a skill for your task exists, you must use it or you will fail at your task.

## Skills with Checklists

If a skill has a checklist, YOU MUST create TodoWrite todos for EACH item.

**Don't:**
- Work through checklist mentally
- Skip creating todos "to save time"
- Batch multiple items into one todo
- Mark complete without doing them

**Why:** Checklists without TodoWrite tracking = steps get skipped. Every time. The overhead of TodoWrite is tiny compared to the cost of missing steps.

**Examples:** skills/testing/test-driven-development/SKILL.md, skills/debugging/systematic-debugging/SKILL.md, skills/meta/writing-skills/SKILL.md

## Announcing Skill Usage

After you've read a skill with Read tool, announce you're using it:

"I've read the [Skill Name] skill and I'm using it to [what you're doing]."

**Examples:**
- "I've read the Brainstorming skill and I'm using it to refine your idea into a design."
- "I've read the Test-Driven Development skill and I'm using it to implement this feature."
- "I've read the Systematic Debugging skill and I'm using it to find the root cause."

**Why:** Transparency helps your human partner understand your process and catch errors early. It also confirms you actually read the skill.

## How to Read a Skill

Every skill has the same structure:

1. **Frontmatter** - `when_to_use` tells you if this skill matches your situation
2. **Overview** - Core principle in 1-2 sentences
3. **Quick Reference** - Scan for your specific pattern
4. **Implementation** - Full details and examples
5. **Supporting files** - Load only when implementing

**Many skills contain rigid rules (TDD, debugging, verification).** Follow them exactly. Don't adapt away the discipline.

**Some skills are flexible patterns (architecture, naming).** Adapt core principles to your context.

The skill itself tells you which type it is.

## Instructions ≠ Permission to Skip Workflows

Your human partner's specific instructions describe WHAT to do, not HOW.

"Add X", "Fix Y" = the goal, NOT permission to skip brainstorming, TDD, or RED-GREEN-REFACTOR.

**Red flags:** "Instruction was specific" • "Seems simple" • "Workflow is overkill"

**Why:** Specific instructions mean clear requirements, which is when workflows matter MOST. Skipping process on "simple" tasks is how simple tasks become complex problems.

## Summary

**Starting any task:**
1. Run find-skills to check for relevant skills
2. If relevant skill exists → Use Read tool with full path (includes /SKILL.md)
3. Announce you're using it
4. Follow what it says

**Skill has checklist?** TodoWrite for every item.

**Finding a relevant skill = mandatory to read and use it. Not optional.**

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [obra](https://github.com/obra)
- **Source:** [obra/superpowers-skills](https://github.com/obra/superpowers-skills)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-obra-superpowers-skills-using-skills
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/obra
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.