Superpowers vs gstack
Superpowers and gstack are MIT-licensed skill packs that give a coding agent a fixed development process; neither is a runtime. Superpowers enforces design approval, a written plan, then execution by subagents with reviews, across many harnesses. gstack is a set of role-based slash commands for Claude Code that pass documents along a plan, build, review, test and ship sequence.
Facts side by side
| Fact | Superpowers | gstack |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Orchestrator | Orchestrator |
| Languages / SDKs | Markdown, Shell, JavaScript, TypeScript | TypeScript, Markdown, Shell |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Pricing model | Open source, free | Open source, free |
| Orchestration pattern | Supervisor | Pipeline |
| GitHub stars | 293,256 (as of 2026-09-30) | 134,550 (as of 2026-09-30) |
| GitHub forks | 26,242 | 20,031 |
| Last push | 2026-09-27 | 2026-09-30 |
| Latest release | v6.4.2 | No release published |
| Repository | obra/superpowers | garrytan/gstack |
| Documentation | github.com | github.com |
| Last verified | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-30 |
| MCP support | Unknown (checked 2026-09-30) | Partial (checked 2026-09-30) |
| A2A support | Unknown (checked 2026-09-30) | Unknown (checked 2026-09-30) |
| AG-UI support | Unknown (checked 2026-09-30) | Unknown (checked 2026-09-30) |
| Install verified | Not yet | Not yet |
Choose Superpowers if
- You want subagent-driven execution: one implementer subagent per task and a reviewer after each, launched by the host's own subagent tool.
- You want a hard gate where a person approves the design before any code is written.
- You use harnesses other than Claude Code; Superpowers documents plugin installs for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Hermes and others.
Choose gstack if
- You want named review roles (product, engineering manager, QA, release) as slash commands along a sprint sequence.
- You want the bundled browser tool and opt-in safety commands such as
/carefuland/freeze. - You work mainly in Claude Code and are fine tracking the default branch, since no GitHub releases are published.
Migration notes
Both install as Markdown skills into the harness, so they can be swapped by removing one and installing the other; running both adds always-on skill context to every session, which an open gstack issue already flags as a token cost. Process artifacts are plain files in both (design docs, plans, test plans) and can be kept. Differences that change behavior: Superpowers' execution skill is written to run tasks without pausing once the design is approved, and an open issue reports a simple plan consuming a full Codex token budget; gstack does not manage parallel workspaces itself and its README points to Conductor for parallel sprints. gstack setup needs Bun and a browser build.
FAQ
Do these packs run agents themselves?
No. Both are content loaded by the host coding agent. Any subagents are launched by the host's own tools.
Which harnesses are supported?
Superpowers lists Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Hermes among its install targets. gstack installs into Claude Code and its setup generates skills for Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw and Hermes.
Are they free?
Both are MIT-licensed with no paid tier in the repository.