Getting Started with Skills
Skills wiki intro - mandatory workflows, search tool, brainstorming triggers
Testing Anti-Patterns
Never test mock behavior. Never add test-only methods to production classes. Understand dependencies before mocking.
Meta-Pattern Recognition
Spot patterns appearing in 3+ domains to find universal principles
Code Review Reception
Receive and act on code review feedback with technical rigor, not performative agreement or blind implementation
Condition-Based Waiting
Replace arbitrary timeouts with condition polling for reliable async tests
Writing Plans
Use when you have a spec or requirements for a multi-step task, before touching code
Writing Skills
Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, or verifying skills work before deployment
Dispatching Parallel Agents
Use when facing 2+ independent tasks that can be worked on without shared state or sequential dependencies
Using Git Worktrees
Create isolated git worktrees with smart directory selection and safety verification
Brainstorming
You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requirements and design before implementation.
Requesting Code Review
Dispatch code-reviewer subagent to review implementation against plan or requirements before proceeding
Root Cause Tracing
Systematically trace bugs backward through call stack to find original trigger
Simplification Cascades
Find one insight that eliminates multiple components - "if this is true, we don't need X, Y, or Z
Receiving Code Review
Use when receiving code review feedback, before implementing suggestions, especially if feedback seems unclear or technically questionable - requires technical rigor and verification, not performative agreement or blind implementation
Finishing a Development Branch
Complete feature development with structured options for merge, PR, or cleanup
Systematic Debugging
Use when encountering any bug, test failure, or unexpected behavior, before proposing fixes
Sharing Skills
Contribute skills back to upstream via branch and PR
Windows Vm
Create, manage, or connect to a headless Windows 11 VM running in Docker with SSH access. Use when the user wants to spin up, stop, restart, or SSH into a Windows VM.
Using Git Worktrees
Use when starting feature work that needs isolation from current workspace or before executing implementation plans - ensures an isolated workspace exists via native tools or git worktree fallback
Systematic Debugging
Four-phase debugging framework that ensures root cause investigation before attempting fixes. Never jump to solutions.
Inversion Exercise
Flip core assumptions to reveal hidden constraints and alternative approaches - "what if the opposite were true?
Finishing A Development Branch
Use when implementation is complete, all tests pass, and you need to decide how to integrate the work - guides completion of development work by presenting structured options for merge, PR, or cleanup
Using Tmux For Interactive Commands
Use when you need to run interactive CLI tools (vim, git rebase -i, Python REPL, etc.) that require real-time input/output - provides tmux-based approach for controlling interactive sessions through detached sessions and send-keys
Writing Skills
TDD for process documentation - test with subagents before writing, iterate until bulletproof
Preserving Productive Tensions
Recognize when disagreements reveal valuable context, preserve multiple valid approaches instead of forcing premature resolution
Executing Plans
Use when you have a written implementation plan to execute in a separate session with review checkpoints
Mcp Cli
Use MCP servers on-demand via the mcp CLI tool - discover tools, resources, and prompts without polluting context with pre-loaded MCP integrations
Subagent Driven Development
Use when executing implementation plans with independent tasks in the current session
Scale Game
Test at extremes (1000x bigger/smaller, instant/year-long) to expose fundamental truths hidden at normal scales
Using Superpowers
Use when starting any conversation - establishes how to find and use skills, requiring skill invocation before ANY response including clarifying questions
Brainstorming Ideas Into Designs
Interactive idea refinement using Socratic method to develop fully-formed designs
Test Driven Development
Use when implementing any feature or bugfix, before writing implementation code
Test-Driven Development (TDD)
Write the test first, watch it fail, write minimal code to pass
Defense-in-Depth Validation
Validate at every layer data passes through to make bugs impossible
When Stuck - Problem-Solving Dispatch
Dispatch to the right problem-solving technique based on how you're stuck
Collision-Zone Thinking
Force unrelated concepts together to discover emergent properties - "What if we treated X like Y?
Executing Plans
Execute detailed plans in batches with review checkpoints
Tracing Knowledge Lineages
Understand how ideas evolved over time to find old solutions for new problems and avoid repeating past failures
Testing Skills With Subagents
RED-GREEN-REFACTOR for process documentation - baseline without skill, write addressing failures, iterate closing loopholes
Finding Duplicate Functions
Use when auditing a codebase for semantic duplication - functions that do the same thing but have different names or implementations. Especially useful for LLM-generated codebases where new functions are often created rather than reusing existing ones.
Writing Plans
Create detailed implementation plans with bite-sized tasks for engineers with zero codebase context
Subagent-Driven Development
Execute implementation plan by dispatching fresh subagent for each task, with code review between tasks
Gardening Skills Wiki
Maintain skills wiki health - check links, naming, cross-references, and coverage
Verification Before Completion
Use when about to claim work is complete, fixed, or passing, before committing or creating PRs - requires running verification commands and confirming output before making any success claims; evidence before assertions always
Pulling Updates from Skills Repository
Sync local skills repository with upstream changes from obra/superpowers-skills
Remembering Conversations
Search previous Claude Code conversations for facts, patterns, decisions, and context using semantic or text search
Dispatching Parallel Agents
Use multiple Claude agents to investigate and fix independent problems concurrently
Requesting Code Review
Use when completing tasks, implementing major features, or before merging to verify work meets requirements