superpowers-zh: the Chinese-language edition of the superpowers skills framework

What superpowers-zh actually adds to the upstream project

The upstream superpowers project is a skills framework for AI coding tools: a set of written methodologies that a tool loads so the model follows a process instead of jumping straight into code. superpowers-zh is a Chinese community edition of that project. The README states it contains 20 skills: 14 translated from upstream, 4 original Chinese skills, and 2 kept from upstream history. The upstream project itself lists 14 skills, so the translated set is the whole upstream catalogue rather than a selection.

The README is explicit about how translation was handled. Only two places inside the translated skills carry additions, and both are labelled in the body with the phrase that marks them as superpowers-zh's own increment: the common exception handling part of executing-plans, and the China-specific skill routing part of using-superpowers. The README says an audit step fails when an unlabelled increment appears. That is a stronger guarantee than most forks offer, and it is the detail worth checking if you care whether a translated skill still matches upstream.

The 4 original skills target Chinese development practice rather than translation. The README names Chinese typography and mixed Chinese-English spacing rules, Conventional Commits adapted for Chinese commit messages, a code review tone adjusted for domestic team communication, and Git platform coverage beyond GitHub. The repository layout backs this up: there are CI example files for Gitee Go, Coding CI, 极狐 CI and a .cnb.yml for Tencent Cloud Native Build.

How the installer detects your tool

The npm package is named superpowers-zh and its bin entry maps to bin/superpowers-zh.js. The README describes the install as one command that detects which AI coding tool is present in the project and installs the matching adapter. When detection fails or picks the wrong target, the README gives a --tool <name> flag to name the tool explicitly.

That adapter model explains the repository layout. There are separate directories for .claude-plugin, .codex-plugin, .cursor-plugin, .kimi-plugin, .opencode and .pi, plus a gemini-extension.json at the root. Each tool gets its own manifest rather than a shared one, which is how a single npm package can serve 26 tools with different plugin formats. The package.json version script reinforces this: it runs scripts/sync-plugin-version.js and then stages .claude-plugin/plugin.json, .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, .cursor-plugin/plugin.json, .codex-plugin/plugin.json and gemini-extension.json together, so the version numbers in those manifests move as a group.

The trade-off is visible in the same file. Every new tool means another manifest to keep in sync, and the version script is the only thing preventing drift. If you install from a git checkout instead of npm and skip the version script, those manifests can disagree with package.json. The README does not describe what happens in that case.

Installing superpowers-zh and running a first skill

The package declares a Node engine requirement of 20.0.0 or higher. The README gives the install as a single npx command, and the tool detection runs as part of it.

npx superpowers-zh

The installer reports which tool it found and writes the adapter for it. If the detected tool is wrong, or if detection finds nothing in a project that uses one of the supported tools, name it yourself. The README documents the flag as --tool followed by the tool name.

npx superpowers-zh --tool cursor

After the adapter is in place, the skills become available to the tool through its own plugin or extension mechanism. The README does not list skill names in the install output, so read the skills/ directory in the installed package to see what is there. The upstream project's twenty skills cover brainstorming, planning, test-driven development, debugging and code review; the README's before-and-after example shows the brainstorming behaviour, where the model asks about export format, expected data volume and permission requirements before writing code, then proposes two or three options for confirmation.

Where superpowers-zh is the wrong choice

The README does not document an uninstall or rollback procedure. Installing writes adapter files into tool-specific directories such as .claude-plugin or .cursor-plugin, and removing them means deleting those files by hand and checking whether the tool's own config still references them. If your team requires a clean, scripted teardown of development tooling, that gap matters more than the skill content.

The support list is also a hard boundary. The README names 26 tools, and the upstream project covers 6 of them. A tool outside that list gets no adapter, and the README does not describe a generic fallback for unsupported tools. Detection failing is the same problem in smaller form: the installer guesses from what is in the project, and a repository that mixes two supported tools, or that has plugin files checked in from an earlier experiment, can send the guess the wrong way. The --tool flag is the documented fix, not automatic resolution.

Finally, the language is the point and also the limit. The README says technical terms stay in English inside the Chinese text. If your team reviews prompts in English, or if you contribute skills back upstream, the translated skill text is an extra layer between you and the source. The upstream project states it generally does not accept new skill contributions, so the two projects do not share a contribution path.

superpowers-zh against the upstream superpowers project

The honest comparison is not Chinese against English. It is one installer against six.

Upstream superpowers supports 6 tools: Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, Copilot CLI and Gemini CLI. Its README describes installation per tool, with a different plugin marketplace command for each. superpowers-zh supports those 6 plus 20 more, including Trae, Kiro, Qwen Code, Windsurf, Aider, Qoder, CodeBuddy, CodeArts, Cline, Kilo Code, Crush and others, and installs them through a single npx superpowers-zh command with --tool as the manual override. If you use one of the 6 upstream tools and read English, upstream is the smaller dependency and the original text. If you use any of the other 20, upstream has no adapter at all, and that decides the question before language enters it.

The second difference is scope. Upstream ships 14 skills. superpowers-zh ships 20, of which 4 are original. Two of those originals have no upstream counterpart: mcp-builder and workflow-runner, the latter described as a multi-role YAML orchestrator. If you want an MCP server builder or a multi-role workflow runner, upstream does not have one to compare against.

The third difference is the sync direction. superpowers-zh tracks upstream and layers its own additions on top. The most recent release in the repository is v1.7.1 from 2026-07-17, described as aligning subagent-driven-development with a rewrite of upstream v6. Earlier releases show the same pattern: v1.6.0 aligned with upstream v6.0.0 and added Kimi and Pi harness support, and v1.7.0 added global installation plus CodeBuddy and CodeArts. The last push to the repository was on 2026-09-10. Alignment work is ongoing, and the lag between an upstream change and its appearance here is a real cost you accept in exchange for the extra tool coverage.

Licence, maintenance and what upgrading costs you

The repository is MIT licensed, and the package.json carries the same identifier. MIT permits commercial use, modification and redistribution provided the copyright notice and permission notice are kept. This is not legal advice; if you redistribute the package inside a product, read the LICENSE file in the repository rather than this paragraph.

The more practical licence question is upstream. superpowers-zh is a derivative of the upstream superpowers project, which is also MIT, and the README credits it. The 14 translated skills inherit that provenance. If you fork superpowers-zh and strip attribution, you are outside what MIT asks for. Nothing in the README suggests the project adds licence terms of its own.

Upgrade cost comes from the version script in package.json. It runs scripts/sync-plugin-version.js, which rewrites the version field across .claude-plugin/plugin.json, .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, .cursor-plugin/plugin.json, .codex-plugin/plugin.json and gemini-extension.json, then stages them. For a consumer installing through npx, that is invisible. For anyone vendoring the repository, it means a version bump touches at least five manifests plus package.json, and the release notes show how often that happens: three releases between 2026-06-20 and 2026-07-17, roughly one a month.

The repository has an .upstream-sync.json file at the root, which the README's description of upstream alignment implies is how the tracking is recorded. The README does not document its schema, so anyone auditing which upstream commit a translated skill corresponds to has to read the file directly.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt superpowers-zh if your team already works in Chinese and wants the upstream superpowers methodology without translating prompts yourself, and if you are willing to read the README to learn the skill names, because the CLI does not print a catalogue. Skip it if you need English skill text, if you want a documented uninstall path, or if your tool is not on the 26-tool list. Before installing, confirm your Node version is at least 20.0.0, run npx superpowers-zh and check that the detected tool matches the one you actually use, and read the two sections the project marks as its own additions so you know what differs from upstream.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. jnMetaCode/superpowers-zh on GitHub
2. License: MIT
3. Project website
4. README
5. Releases