name: installing-superpowers
description: Use when starting a new Claude Code session, when the user mentions superpowers or obra, or when another skill depends on the superpowers plugin collection being available.
compatibility: Requires Claude Code CLI with plugin support.
metadata:
author: sbrudz
version: "1.3"

Installing Superpowers

Ensures the obra/superpowers plugin collection is installed in Claude Code.

Progress checklist

Copy and track progress:

- [ ] Check if superpowers is already installed
- [ ] Install superpowers if missing
- [ ] Verify installation succeeded
- [ ] Notify user that a restart is needed (if newly installed)

Step 1: Check if superpowers is installed

Check for the directory ~/.claude/plugins/cache/superpowers-marketplace:

test -d ~/.claude/plugins/cache/superpowers-marketplace && echo "INSTALLED" || echo "NOT_INSTALLED"

If INSTALLED, skip to Step 3 (verification).

Step 2: Install superpowers

Run these two commands in sequence:

claude plugin marketplace add obra/superpowers-marketplace

claude plugin install superpowers@superpowers-marketplace

If either command fails, report the error to the user and stop.

Step 3: Verify installation

Confirm the plugin directory now exists:

test -d ~/.claude/plugins/cache/superpowers-marketplace && echo "SUCCESS" || echo "FAILED"

If FAILED, report the error to the user. Otherwise, installation is complete.

Step 4: Restart notice

If superpowers was newly installed, inform the user that a Claude Code restart is needed for the plugin to take effect. However, do not stop the current session — other tasks that don't depend on superpowers skills (e.g., configuring GitHub credentials) can continue in this session.

If this skill was invoked as part of bootstrapping-vm, continue with the remaining bootstrap steps. The restart happens at the end after all setup is complete.

Superpowers skills will only be available after the restart.