This page provides definitions for codebase-specific terms, jargon, and domain concepts used within the Superpowers system. It serves as a technical reference for onboarding engineers to understand the relationships between high-level workflow concepts and their underlying code implementations.
A Skill is a modular, reusable unit of AI guidance. Unlike standard prompts, skills are structured documentation following a specific lifecycle (TDD for documentation) and are stored as SKILL.md files within the skills/ directory README.md188-202 Each skill contains frontmatter for discovery and a body defining the process flow skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md1-4
SKILL.md file in a subdirectory of skills/ README.md188-202Skill tool, or the activate_skill tool in other harnesses, to search and load these files skills/subagent-driven-development/SKILL.md66A core behavioral protocol requiring the AI agent to invoke the Skill tool if there is even a "1% chance" a skill might apply to the current task. This is enforced by the using-superpowers meta-skill.
using-superpowers skill which shapes all subsequent agent behavior README.md186A workflow where a "coordinator" agent delegates individual tasks from an implementation plan to "fresh" subagents. Each subagent has an isolated context to prevent "context pollution" (token bloat and memory interference) skills/subagent-driven-development/SKILL.md10-12
subagent-driven-development skill skills/subagent-driven-development/SKILL.md6-8A synchronization point in the workflow that prevents the agent from proceeding to the next phase (e.g., from design to coding) without explicit user approval or a successful automated check skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md12-14
brainstorming skill contains a <HARD-GATE> that forbids implementation until a design is approved skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md12-14The system utilizes inline self-review checklists for specs and plans to catch placeholders and inconsistencies.
A browser-based companion for agents to present complex design questions or diagrams to the user skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md25
brainstorming checklist when a question would be clearer shown than described skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md22-25.codex-plugin/plugin.json to determine its version RELEASE-NOTES.md47-48A translation layer that allows skills written with Claude Code tool names to function on other platforms.
A script or extension that runs at the beginning of an AI session to inject the Superpowers context (specifically the using-superpowers instructions) into the conversation history.
hooks: {} in its manifest to avoid falling back to auto-discovering Claude Code hooks RELEASE-NOTES.md7This diagram maps the natural language phases of development to the specific skills and files that govern them.
Title: Workflow Phase to Code Mapping
Sources: README.md190-202 skills/brainstorming/SKILL.md106 skills/writing-plans/SKILL.md18
This diagram maps the logical "Review" concept to the specific prompt files and status codes used during Subagent-Driven Development.
Title: SDD Review Logic to File Mapping
Sources: RELEASE-NOTES.md61 skills/subagent-driven-development/implementer-prompt.md1-127 skills/subagent-driven-development/task-reviewer-prompt.md1-10
| Abbreviation | Full Term | Definition | Code/Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDO | Skill Discovery Optimization | Techniques to ensure the AI finds the correct skill via the description field. | skills/writing-skills/SKILL.md140-142 |
| SDD | Subagent-Driven Development | Delegating tasks to isolated sub-processes with unified per-task review. | skills/subagent-driven-development/SKILL.md6-12 RELEASE-NOTES.md53-55 |
| TDD | Test-Driven Development | Red-Green-Refactor cycle applied to code and skill documentation. | README.md198 skills/writing-skills/SKILL.md10-18 |
| YAGNI | You Aren't Gonna Need It | Principle of avoiding over-engineering and building only what is requested. | README.md22 skills/subagent-driven-development/implementer-prompt.md95-96 |
| DRY | Don't Repeat Yourself | Principle of reducing repetition in plans and code. | README.md22 skills/writing-plans/SKILL.md10 |
Sources: README.md22 skills/writing-plans/SKILL.md10 skills/subagent-driven-development/SKILL.md6-12 skills/writing-skills/SKILL.md140-142
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