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Releases: obra/superpowers

v5.0.6

25 Mar 18:08

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Inline Self-Review Replaces Subagent Review Loops

The subagent review loop (dispatching a fresh agent to review plans/specs) doubled execution time (~25 min overhead) without measurably improving plan quality. Regression testing across 5 versions with 5 trials each showed identical quality scores regardless of whether the review loop ran.

  • brainstorming — replaced Spec Review Loop (subagent dispatch + 3-iteration cap) with inline Spec Self-Review checklist: placeholder scan, internal consistency, scope check, ambiguity check
  • writing-plans — replaced Plan Review Loop (subagent dispatch + 3-iteration cap) with inline Self-Review checklist: spec coverage, placeholder scan, type consistency
  • writing-plans — added explicit "No Placeholders" section defining plan failures (TBD, vague descriptions, undefined references, "similar to Task N")
  • Self-review catches 3-5 real bugs per run in ~30s instead of ~25 min, with comparable defect rates to the subagent approach

Brainstorm Server

  • Session directory restructured — the brainstorm server session directory now contains two peer subdirectories: content/ (HTML files served to the browser) and state/ (events, server-info, pid, log). Previously, server state and user interaction data were stored alongside served content, making them accessible over HTTP. The screen_dir and state_dir paths are both included in the server-started JSON. (Reported by 吉田仁)

Bug Fixes

  • Owner-PID lifecycle fixes — the brainstorm server's owner-PID monitoring had two bugs causing false shutdowns within 60 seconds: (1) EPERM from cross-user PIDs (Tailscale SSH, etc.) was treated as "process dead", and (2) on WSL the grandparent PID resolves to a short-lived subprocess that exits before the first lifecycle check. Fixed by treating EPERM as "alive" and validating the owner PID at startup — if it's already dead, monitoring is disabled and the server relies on the 30-minute idle timeout. This also removes the Windows/MSYS2-specific carve-out from start-server.sh since the server now handles it generically. (#879)
  • writing-skills — corrected false claim that SKILL.md frontmatter supports "only two fields"; now says "two required fields" and links to the agentskills.io specification for all supported fields (PR #882 by @arittr)

Codex App Compatibility

  • codex-tools — added named agent dispatch mapping documenting how to translate Claude Code's named agent types to Codex's spawn_agent with worker roles (PR #647 by @arittr)
  • codex-tools — added environment detection and Codex App finishing sections for worktree-aware skills (by @arittr)
  • Design spec — added Codex App compatibility design spec (PRI-823) covering read-only environment detection, worktree-safe skill behavior, and sandbox fallback patterns (by @arittr)

v5.0.5

17 Mar 22:02

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Bug Fixes

  • Brainstorm server ESM fix — renamed server.jsserver.cjs so the brainstorming server starts correctly on Node.js 22+ where the root package.json "type": "module" caused require() to fail. (PR #784 by @sarbojitrana, fixes #774, #780, #783)
  • Brainstorm owner-PID on Windows — skip PID lifecycle monitoring on Windows/MSYS2 where the PID namespace is invisible to Node.js, preventing the server from self-terminating after 60 seconds. (#770, docs from PR #768 by @lucasyhzlu-debug)
  • stop-server.sh reliability — verify the server process actually died before reporting success. SIGTERM + 2s wait + SIGKILL fallback. (#723)

Changed

  • Execution handoff — restore user choice between subagent-driven and inline execution after plan writing. Subagent-driven is recommended but no longer mandatory.

v5.0.4

17 Mar 00:56

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Review Loop Refinements

Dramatically reduces token usage and speeds up spec and plan reviews by eliminating unnecessary review passes and tightening reviewer focus.

  • Single whole-plan review — plan reviewer now reviews the complete plan in one pass instead of chunk-by-chunk. Removed all chunk-related concepts (## Chunk N: headings, 1000-line chunk limits, per-chunk dispatch).
  • Raised the bar for blocking issues — both spec and plan reviewer prompts now include a "Calibration" section: only flag issues that would cause real problems during implementation. Minor wording, stylistic preferences, and formatting quibbles should not block approval.
  • Reduced max review iterations — from 5 to 3 for both spec and plan review loops. If the reviewer is calibrated correctly, 3 rounds is plenty.
  • Streamlined reviewer checklists — spec reviewer trimmed from 7 categories to 5; plan reviewer from 7 to 4. Removed formatting-focused checks (task syntax, chunk size) in favor of substance (buildability, spec alignment).

OpenCode

  • One-line plugin install — OpenCode plugin now auto-registers the skills directory via a config hook. No symlinks or skills.paths config needed. Install is just adding one line to opencode.json. (PR #753)
  • Added package.json so OpenCode can install superpowers as an npm package from git.

Bug Fixes

  • Verify server actually stoppedstop-server.sh now confirms the process is dead before reporting success. SIGTERM + 2s wait + SIGKILL fallback. Reports failure if the process survives. (PR #751)
  • Generic agent language — brainstorm companion waiting page now says "the agent" instead of "Claude".