Superpowers Manager

Install and update the latest stable obra/superpowers release directly from upstream, without waiting for agent marketplaces to catch up. Codex supported today.

Unofficial community integration. Not affiliated with the obra/superpowers maintainers.

Quick start

npx superpowers-manager install
npx superpowers-manager probe
npx superpowers-manager update

Use the official marketplace for the simplest native Codex installation. Use Superpowers Manager when you want immediate stable-upstream freshness after a user-triggered install/update, per-invocation release or commit selection, recorded upstream provenance, diagnostics, upstream-owned Codex hook handling, and explicit install/update/probe/uninstall lifecycle control.

Choose	Best fit
Official marketplace	Simplest Codex-native installation and marketplace-managed cadence
superpowers-manager	Direct stable-upstream freshness when invoked, exact ref selection, provenance, diagnostics, and lifecycle control

Moving from superpowers-wrapper

npx superpowers-wrapper@0.1.1 uninstall
npx superpowers-manager install

The manager detects legacy wrapper-owned Codex state and stops before mutation. It never removes the legacy provider automatically.

Requirements and platforms

Superpowers Manager requires Node 24+, git, Python 3, and a POSIX sh. Codex CLI is required for probe, install, update, and uninstall; prepare, pin, track-latest, and unpin do not require it. Codex is the only supported integration today.

macOS and Linux are tested. WSL2 is supported. The native Windows path is untested; the launcher looks for Git Bash, git, and python3, but path handling between MSYS and Codex remains a known risk area.

Network needs depend on the saved policy. pin verifies its target; track-latest and invocation overrides resolve from upstream when applied; and prepare, install, and update fetch or verify the effective source. A probe of a saved exact pin can reuse its recorded identity without upstream access. Updates remain user-triggered; the manager does not run automatic or background updates.

What it does

• Resolves an upstream ref, defaulting to the latest stable vX.Y.Z release tag.
• Clones/fetches upstream at that commit and assembles a Codex plugin tree under plugins/superpowers/ (skills, assets, license/readme, manifest, and any hook files that the upstream manifest allows).
• Stamps the generated manifest with a ref-aware manager version ending in +manager.<short-sha> and writes the upstream provenance to .superpowers-upstream.json.
• Validates the generated tree with the manager's shipped, Python-standard-library contract validator before swapping it into place (a failed run never destroys a previously generated tree).
• Registers the superpowers-manager marketplace and installs or refreshes superpowers@superpowers-manager in Codex.

The generated plugin carries upstream skills, assets, documentation, and the upstream-owned hook policy. When upstream provides a Codex manifest, its hooks declaration is preserved: exact {} suppresses the hooks/ subtree; active declarations conditionally materialize the upstream hook files; and a missing hooks key or explicit empty array ([]) declaration uses Codex's default discovery only when upstream ships hooks/hooks.json. Manifest-less fallback refs use the committed minimal template and generate neither a manifest hooks key nor a hooks/ directory. The manager never creates its own hooks or mutates Codex trust state.

Review upstream hook command definitions with Codex's /hooks flow. Codex trust applies to a command definition, not to the contents of scripts that the definition references. An explicit update of an older pin can therefore change the contents of a trusted referenced script, or reveal a newly untrusted upstream definition; review it before trusting or running it. This policy eliminates latent hook-policy drift.

Runtime architecture

• scripts/core/ owns the shared lifecycle, status, and protocol validation; see the version-1 adapter response protocol.
• scripts/adapters/codex/ owns build, inspection, reconciliation, and Codex mutation.
• Codex is the only supported adapter today; no public harness selector ships yet.

Validation checks the manager-owned manifest overlay, generated-tree structure, skill frontmatter envelope, known local paths, and provenance. It deliberately does not implement a general YAML parser or mirror every Codex ingestion rule; upstream owns skill semantics and Codex owns its evolving schema.

SUPERPOWERS_VALIDATOR=/path/to/validator.py adds an optional Python validator after the built-in check. It receives the candidate plugin root as its only argument. It cannot replace or bypass built-in validation, and either check failing prevents the tree swap and all Codex mutation.

Direct scripts/install keeps harness-specific validation in the Codex adapter: phase 1 prepares the exact candidate first, then the adapter performs its Codex and refresh-mode preflight before any Codex mutation. The Node dispatcher keeps its existing Codex preflight before dispatching to the shell lifecycle.

Provider ownership

If another superpowers provider is installed, remove or disable it yourself before installing this one. The manager never removes another provider and mutates only superpowers@superpowers-manager and the superpowers-manager marketplace.

For example, if you intentionally want the manager to take over from the official provider:

codex plugin remove superpowers@openai-curated
npx superpowers-manager install

Manager install, update, and uninstall commands inspect both current and legacy identities and fail closed when Codex state cannot be read or parsed. If legacy superpowers-wrapper state remains, use the migration commands above; the manager will not remove it for you.

Lifecycle commands

Command	Codex side effects	Purpose
npx superpowers-manager pin REF	None	Resolve and save an exact upstream release tag or full commit
npx superpowers-manager track-latest	None	Save a policy that resolves the latest stable release when applied
npx superpowers-manager unpin	None	Remove saved selection and return to the packaged fallback policy
npx superpowers-manager prepare	None	Resolve upstream, build a staged plugin tree, validate it, and replace the generated tree only on success
npx superpowers-manager probe	None	Report requested and resolved refs, desired/generated/installed commits, identity state, and status
npx superpowers-manager install	Marketplace and plugin state	Prepare and validate, register the marketplace, install the plugin, and verify installed state
npx superpowers-manager update	Marketplace and plugin state when stale	Probe, prepare and/or install as needed, then verify the refresh
npx superpowers-manager uninstall	Marketplace and plugin state	Remove only manager-owned Codex state and verify removal

Calling npx superpowers-manager without a subcommand is equivalent to update. probe is read-only. Install and update stop before prepare or Codex mutation when legacy state is present. Uninstall removes only manager-owned state and reports any legacy residue without modifying it. These commands fail closed when required state cannot be inspected and refuse to report success when resulting manager state cannot be verified.

Choosing the upstream version

Save a tag pin, commit pin, or explicit latest-stable policy for future invocations:

npx superpowers-manager pin v6.1.1
npx superpowers-manager pin 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01234567  # replace with a real upstream commit
npx superpowers-manager track-latest
npx superpowers-manager unpin

The selection commands save intent only; they do not prepare generated content or change Codex state. Run npx superpowers-manager install for a first installation or npx superpowers-manager update to apply the saved policy to an existing installation. There is no background updater: selection changes take effect only through a user-triggered prepare, install, or update.

pin accepts only an exact vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH tag (optionally with a SemVer prerelease suffix) or a full 40-character commit. It resolves and verifies the target before saving both the exact commit identity and its source. The saved identity is the contract, not the contents of a clone cache: clearing or moving SUPERPOWERS_CACHE_DIR does not change the selection. track-latest saves the source and resolves the highest stable vX.Y.Z tag each time the policy is applied. unpin removes only the saved selection and restores the packaged config/upstream-ref fallback, currently latest-release.

The user-wide selection file is selection.json under the first configured location:

1. $SUPERPOWERS_CONFIG_DIR
2. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/superpowers-manager
3. $HOME/.config/superpowers-manager

Each location must be absolute. The ref and source precedence chains are independent:

• Ref: SUPERPOWERS_REF, then saved selection, then config/upstream-ref.
• Source: SUPERPOWERS_UPSTREAM_URL, then saved source, then the official https://github.com/obra/superpowers source.

SUPERPOWERS_REF is an invocation-only override and is not persisted. Unlike an exact saved pin, it accepts stable tags, full commit SHAs, branches, and other resolvable upstream refs for that invocation:

SUPERPOWERS_REF=feature/foo npx superpowers-manager probe

pin and track-latest bind the current SUPERPOWERS_UPSTREAM_URL, or the official source when that variable is unset, to the saved intent. An invocation may override only the ref or only the source; probe exposes selection_origin, selection_mode, upstream_source_origin, effective_source, the saved-selection fields, and a mixed-origin warning in human output so that combination remains visible.

A saved exact pin lets probe determine the desired upstream identity without contacting Git, even when the saved source is temporarily unavailable. This is not a general offline installation promise: pin verifies the requested target, track-latest must resolve when applied, and prepare/install/update must fetch or verify content from the effective source. Codex inspection is still required for lifecycle status.

HTTP(S) upstream URLs containing userinfo are now rejected, including token-only userinfo. This is an intentional compatibility break: use a Git credential helper for HTTP(S) authentication or an SSH source instead of embedding credentials in the URL.

Saved selection does not claim or transfer provider ownership. The manager continues to mutate only superpowers@superpowers-manager and never removes or updates the official provider or any other provider automatically.

How versioning works

• Upstream manifest first: when upstream provides .codex-plugin/plugin.json, prepare uses it as the generated manifest base so future upstream metadata fields, including its hook declaration, are preserved by default.
• Fallback template: plugins/superpowers/.codex-plugin/plugin.template.json is committed as a minimal fallback for older upstream refs that do not ship a Codex manifest. It carries the placeholder version 0.0.0+manager.template, declares no hooks, and produces no hooks/ directory.
• Manager overlay: prepare replaces the version with a ref-aware manager version and forces skills to ./skills/. Unknown upstream manifest fields, including hooks, remain preserved; the adapter materializes hook files only according to the upstream declaration.
• Stable tags generate release-looking versions such as 6.0.3+manager.896224c; explicit prerelease tags generate versions such as 6.1.0-beta.1+manager.abc1234.
• Branch builds deliberately stay below real releases: main generates 0.0.0-main+manager.<short-sha> and other named refs generate 0.0.0-ref-<sanitized-ref>+manager.<short-sha>.
• Raw 40-character commit SHAs generate 0.0.0+manager.<short-sha>.
• .superpowers-upstream.json records the authoritative provenance: source, requested_ref, resolved_ref, commit, and the upstream manifest version. The generated manifest version is for human readability and Codex package identity; the upstream commit is what probe/update compare against.

Refresh modes

install and update accept SUPERPOWERS_INSTALL_REFRESH_MODE:

• add-only (default) — plugin add re-reads the local source, which refreshes a mutated tree. Verified sufficient for local marketplaces.

• remove-add — removes the manager's own plugin first, then re-adds it. Use only if a refresh ever fails to take:

  SUPERPOWERS_INSTALL_REFRESH_MODE=remove-add npx superpowers-manager update

Tests

sh tests/run.sh                          # Layers 1-3: host-side hermetic checks while iterating
sh tests/container.sh                    # Layers 1-4: blocking Docker acceptance command
sh tests/manual/codex-behavior-probe.sh  # optional native-only compatibility residue

Layers 1-3 stay offline and hermetic: they use a fake local upstream repo plus host-side fixtures, and they perform no mutation of the developer's or runner's real Codex state.

Layer 4 is the Docker acceptance path. It is the required completion command because the isolated-container Codex probe graduated from a temporary nonblocking spike to a blocking acceptance gate. sh tests/container.sh runs the inner sh tests/run.sh suite and then the real Codex offline probe inside an isolated container home with networking disabled. That container run may mutate the throwaway container-local Codex state, but it still performs no mutation of the developer's or runner's real Codex state.

The container probe uses Codex's hooks/list only as compatibility evidence for the tested Codex build. It is not a stable Superpowers Manager API.

The manual probe is opt-in and covers native-only compatibility residue such as path/cache and version-precedence behavior against an intentionally real local Codex install. It is not part of acceptance. GitHub Actions runs the blocking container acceptance command on pull requests and pushes to main.

Repository layout

.agents/plugins/marketplace.json          # local marketplace definition (tracked)
config/upstream-ref                        # which upstream ref to track (tracked)
plugins/superpowers/
  .codex-plugin/plugin.template.json       # fallback manifest template (tracked)
  .codex-plugin/plugin.json                # generated manifest          (gitignored)
  skills/ assets/ LICENSE ...              # generated from upstream      (gitignored)
  .superpowers-upstream.json               # generated provenance         (gitignored)
scripts/
  adapters/codex/                          # Codex adapter entrypoint + validator helpers
  core/                                    # shared lifecycle, selection, provenance, and status modules
  pin track-latest unpin                   # persistent-selection entrypoints
  prepare probe install update uninstall   # lifecycle entrypoints
tests/                                     # hermetic suite + manual Codex probe
.cache/upstream/                           # upstream clone cache         (gitignored)

Everything under plugins/superpowers/ except the fallback manifest template is generated by prepare and ignored by Git; re-run prepare to regenerate it.