writing-skills SKILL.md skillA
writing-skills from obra/superpowers is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add obra/superpowers/writing-skills@git:20260919.5bf4e78Pins git:20260919.5bf4e78 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- obra/superpowers
- Path
skills/writing-skills/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 5
- Latest version
- git:20260919.5bf4e78, committed Sep 19, 2026
- First version recorded
- Jun 30, 2026
- Size
- 26,623 bytes
- Repository stars
- 302,424
- License
- MIT
Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, or verifying skills work before deployment.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Writing Skills ## Overview **Writing skills IS Test-Driven Development applied to process documentation.** **Personal skills live in your runtime's skills directory** (`~/.claude/skills/` on Claude Code) — see [codex-tools.md](../using-superpowers/references/codex-tools.md) or [gemini-tools.md](../using-superpowers/references/gemini-tools.md) for the path on those runtimes. Codex, Copilot CLI, and Gemini CLI all also recognize `~/.agents/skills/` as a cross-runtime alias. You write test cases (pressure scenarios with subagents), watch them fail (baseline behavior), write the skill (documentation), watch tests pass (agents comply), and refactor (close loopholes). **Core principle:** If you didn't watch an agent fail without the skill, you don't know if the skill teaches the right thing. **REQUIRED BACKGROUND:** You MUST understand superpowers:test-driven-development before using this skill. That skill defines the fundamental RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle. This skill adapts TDD to documentation. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add obra/superpowers/writing-skills@sha256:bbdfe742f853562eThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260919.5bf4e78, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_kxil7azi7wiqbq7m)
7 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 5 versions of this file, between Jun 30, 2026 and Sep 19, 2026, about one every 20 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260919.5bf4e78 latest | 2026-09-19 | 5bf4e78 | 26,623 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260724.153d618 | 2026-07-24 | 153d618 | 26,470 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260724.1d4c8d2 | 2026-07-24 | 1d4c8d2 | 26,852 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260724.d238a48 | 2026-07-24 | d238a48 | 26,360 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260630.711d895 | 2026-06-30 | 711d895 | 26,431 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (26623 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
obra/superpowers · 302,424 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-20 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_kxil7azi7wiqbq7m GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=obra/superpowers/writing-skills GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/bbdfe742f853562e643a3d40d64476359d47881e39cef80a189283fa26d11ab9
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.
More from obra/superpowers
Every file in obra/superpowers