Jesse Vincent's Superpowers Skills Framework

Table of content

Jesse Vincent is a software developer and hardware maker based in Berkeley, California. He created Request Tracker, led the Perl programming language project, and built K-9 Mail (now Thunderbird for Android). In 2014, he co-founded Keyboardio with Kaia Dekker to build ergonomic mechanical keyboards. In early 2026, he started a new company called Prime Radiant.

Jesse created Superpowers, a Claude Code plugin that systematizes agentic coding into repeatable workflows. Install it once, and Claude follows structured processes for planning, debugging, testing, and code review without constant prompting.

Background

Vincent has been building developer tools for decades. He founded Best Practical Solutions to commercially support Request Tracker, which is used by organizations worldwide for issue tracking.

Keyboardio produces ergonomic mechanical keyboards like the Model 01 and Model 100. The company runs on open hardware principles, with schematics and firmware publicly available on GitHub.

His blog at fsck.com documents his evolving approach to AI-assisted development. You can find his code on GitHub (@obra).

The Superpowers Framework

Superpowers is a Claude Code plugin that installs via:

/plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace
/plugin install superpowers@superpowers-marketplace

After restart, Claude gains access to structured skills that guide its behavior:

Skill	Purpose
`brainstorming`	Explore requirements before implementation
`writing-plans`	Create detailed task breakdowns
`executing-plans`	Run through plans with review checkpoints
`test-driven-development`	Write tests before implementation
`systematic-debugging`	Diagnose bugs methodically
`requesting-code-review`	Validate work against requirements
`verification-before-completion`	Run tests before claiming success

The key insight: Claude naturally tries to rationalize skipping structured processes. Vincent’s skills are written to counteract this tendency — they include explicit triggers and anti-patterns that force disciplined execution.

Workflow Philosophy

From Vincent’s October 2025 blog post:

“I’ve spent the past couple of weeks working on a set of tools to better extract and systematize my processes and to help better steer my agentic buddy.”

His approach emphasizes:

Skills over prompts. Instead of writing long prompts each session, encode your methodology into reusable skills. Claude loads them automatically when relevant.

Discrete loops. Separate brainstorming, planning, and execution into distinct phases. Don’t let Claude jump ahead.

Self-steering agents. Once skills are installed, Claude can work autonomously for extended periods, following the encoded methodology.

The Plugin System

Vincent was an early adopter of Claude Code’s plugin architecture. When Anthropic launched plugins in October 2025, he immediately released Superpowers as a public plugin.

The plugin bundles:

Slash commands for invoking skills
Subagent definitions for delegated tasks
Hooks for automatic behaviors
MCP server integrations

He also maintains a “lab” plugin for experimental skills that aren’t yet proven:

/plugin install superpowers-lab@superpowers-marketplace

Naming and Psychology

Vincent discovered that skill naming affects Claude’s willingness to use them. From his blog:

“One of the biggest problems I’ve had with Claude Code’s ‘skills’ system is that Claude makes the calls about when to use skills. And Claude is really, really good at rationalizing why it doesn’t make sense to use a given skill.”

He suspects the “Superpowers” framing itself helps — Claude seems more willing to invoke something called a “superpower” than a generic “workflow.”

Community Reception

Simon Willison recommended the Superpowers repo on the same day Vincent published his October blog post:

“I can’t recommend this post strongly enough. The way Jesse is using these tools is wildly more ambitious than most other people.”

The post reached the top of Hacker News with 435 points and 231 comments.

Key Takeaways

Principle	Implementation
Encode methodology into skills	Skills persist across sessions
Use discrete phases	Brainstorm → Plan → Execute
Counter Claude’s rationalization	Explicit triggers in skill definitions
Name skills strategically	Framing affects usage
Share via plugins	Install once, works everywhere

Getting Started

Install the plugin (requires Claude Code 2.0.13+)
Run /skill superpowers:brainstorming before starting new features
Let Claude invoke skills automatically as it works
Add your own skills to extend the framework

The Superpowers repository includes extensive documentation on writing custom skills.

Links

Next: Ado Kukic’s Advent of Claude