@obra/skill-using-superpowers

---
name: using-superpowers
description: Use when starting any conversation - establishes mandatory workflows for finding and using skills, including using Read tool before announcing usage, following brainstorming before coding, and creating TodoWrite todos for checklists
---

# Getting Started with Skills

## Critical Rules

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

2. Execute skills with the Skill tool

## Mandatory: Before ANY Task

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

- 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.
- "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.

## Announcing Skill Usage

Before using a skill, announce that you are using it.
"I'm using [Skill Name] to [what you're doing]."

**Examples:**
- "I'm using the brainstorming skill to refine your idea into a design."
- "I'm using the test-driven-development skill to implement this feature."

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

# About these skills

**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. If relevant skill exists → Use the skill
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.**