Releases: obra/superpowers
Releases · obra/superpowers
v5.0.6
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) andstate/(events, server-info, pid, log). Previously, server state and user interaction data were stored alongside served content, making them accessible over HTTP. Thescreen_dirandstate_dirpaths 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.shsince 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_agentwith 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
Bug Fixes
- Brainstorm server ESM fix — renamed
server.js→server.cjsso the brainstorming server starts correctly on Node.js 22+ where the rootpackage.json"type": "module"causedrequire()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
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
confighook. No symlinks orskills.pathsconfig needed. Install is just adding one line toopencode.json. (PR #753) - Added
package.jsonso OpenCode can install superpowers as an npm package from git.
Bug Fixes
- Verify server actually stopped —
stop-server.shnow 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".