diagnosing-superpowers Skill: Find Out What Went Wrong in a Session

diagnosing-superpowers makes your agent read a session transcript and report what went wrong with line-cited evidence, then offers a scrubbed bug report.

Installs: 25.2K; on skills.sh
Stars: 310.6K; on GitHub
Files: 19; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Oct 2026; last repo commit

diagnosing-superpowers makes the assistant work out what went wrong in a coding-agent session that used superpowers. It first asks one question at a time until your complaint is a real problem statement. It then finds the session transcript on disk, runs seven analyst subagents in parallel (skill timeline, plan adherence, repeated work, stumbles, quality evidence, request conflicts, cost and time), and writes a report.

Every finding must cite path:line, and every number must come from the transcript or a command it ran. The skill reports and does not diagnose superpowers itself: it will not name a defect in a skill or propose a fix. Searching GitHub issues, filing one, exporting a scrubbed bundle and finding similar sessions are extra steps that run on request or approval.

It triggers on things like 'it took too long', 'why is it so expensive' or 'a skill didn't fire'. It reads the session files on your machine and writes its work under ~/.superpowers/diagnosing-superpowers/<session-id>/.

Good for

Superpowers users whose session repeated work, ignored a plan or ran too long
Anyone asking 'why was that so expensive?' about a past agent session
People who want to file a superpowers bug report with evidence and redaction

Install diagnosing-superpowers

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the diagnosing-superpowers skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npx skills add https://github.com/obra/superpowers --skill diagnosing-superpowers

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js.

From its listing on skills.sh. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Use when a superpowers session went wrong and your human partner wants to know why — repeated work, ignored plans, stumbles, poor results, a skill that didn't fire, "it took too long", "why is it so expensive", "what is it doing" — or wants to build a bug report for the superpowers maintainers, for the current session or a past one identified by id or path, on any harness.

Sections in SKILL.md

Overview
Workflow
Quick reference
Hard rules
Red Flags

Key facts

Author: obra (GitHub: obra)
Repo: obra/superpowers
License: MIT (LICENSE and plugin.json)
Installs on skills.sh: 25,153 as of 2026-11-02
GitHub stars (whole repo): 310,635 as of 2026-11-02
Last repo commit: 2026-10-29
Files: 20 files including SKILL.md (11 analyst and scrub prompts, 4 references, 4 templates), no scripts
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass, Socket pass, Snyk warn
Made by: Jesse Vincent and Prime Radiant (superpowers README)

What it includes

Asks one question at a time until the problem is specific
It wants the sessions, turn range, what you expected, what happened and what you care about (time, tokens, repeats or one action). 'It took too long' is a complaint, not a problem statement.
1. Problem intake
Finds and confirms the session files on disk
It resolves the session to absolute paths, confirms a past session by quoting its first prompt and timestamp, lists subagent transcripts, and creates ~/.superpowers/diagnosing-superpowers/<session-id>/ with a case file.
Write · 2. Locate
Seven parallel analyst subagents, one per dimension
Skill timeline, plan adherence, repeated work, stumbles, quality evidence, request conflicts, cost and time. A finding without path:line is discarded. Long transcripts are split by turn range.
Read · 3. Triage
Fills every section of the report template
The report is written to the workspace and shown to you. Section 7 states whether superpowers was involved and stops there.
Write · 4. Report
Searches obra/superpowers; files an issue only after approval
It searches open and closed issues with gh, suggests adding your report to the closest match, or drafts an issue and creates it only after you approve the exact text. gh cannot attach files, so you attach any bundle in the browser.
Runs code · 5. GitHub issues
Scrubbed bundle, only if you ask
You pick the redaction level: skeleton, evidence or full. Scrub and audit subagents repeat until the audit says CLEAN. It archives with zip or tar only after you approve, and warns that scrubbing can miss things.
Runs code · 6. Export a bundle
Finds other sessions with the same signature
On request it turns findings into a signature, lists candidates by modified time and size, and checks each with a subagent.
Read · 7. Similar sessions
Read-only on sessions, no fixes, approval gates
It never modifies, moves or deletes a session file. It gives no advice and no change proposals for superpowers. No archive before you see the scrub log, and no issue before you approve the text.
Hard rules

From the official docs

Permissions

Medium risk

It reads your agent session transcripts, which can hold private code and secrets, and it can create a GitHub issue or an archive from them. Review the report and the scrub log yourself before sharing anything.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

It reads whole session transcripts
Transcripts can contain code, file contents and secrets. The skill follows a context-safety guide so one huge line does not flood the chat, but you should still pick the session yourself. github.com
Scrubbing a bundle can miss things
The skill itself says scrubbing can miss things and tells you to review every file before sharing. It builds a bundle and an archive only when you ask. github.com
It can file a public GitHub issue
Only after you approve the exact text. It uses gh issue create on obra/superpowers; the report might then be visible to anyone. github.com
It writes files to your home folder
Case files, reports and bundles go under ~/.superpowers/diagnosing-superpowers/<session-id>/. Session files are never modified, moved or deleted. github.com

Technical details

Talks to	GitHub issue search through gh or curl. GitHub issue creation after your approval
Scopes	Local agent session files GitHub CLI login (gh), only for issue search and filing

Questions

What does diagnosing-superpowers do?

It makes your coding agent investigate a session that went wrong. It reads the transcript, reports what happened with line-cited evidence, and can search or file a GitHub issue and build a scrubbed bug-report bundle on request.

How do I install it in Claude Code?

Use the install box above. This skill is one of the skills in the superpowers library, and the box installs only this skill. The superpowers README documents plugin routes for the whole library per agent.

Does it work without the rest of superpowers?

The SKILL.md names no other skill it needs. Its purpose is to explain sessions where superpowers was installed, and it works from the transcripts on disk.

How do I use it?

Ask your agent something like "figure out what went wrong with superpowers in this session", or name an earlier session by id. The README gives both phrasings.

Will it tell me what to change in superpowers?

No. The SKILL.md says it reports and does not diagnose superpowers. It will not name a defect or propose a fix, even if you press it. The person who triages the bundle or issue decides.

Does it upload my transcript anywhere?

Not on its own. A bundle is built only when you ask, and an issue is created only after you approve the exact text. gh cannot attach files, so you attach any bundle yourself in the browser.

Is it safe to use?

It reads private session data, so treat the output as sensitive. It never modifies session files, builds bundles only on request and says that scrubbing can miss things. Review every file before you share a bundle or issue.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: obra/superpowers
Folder: skills/diagnosing-superpowers

obra/superpowers skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 6

diagnosing-superpowers SKILL.md · github.com
github-issues.md · github.com
redaction-policy.md · github.com
context-safety.md · github.com
superpowers README · github.com
superpowers plugin.json · github.com