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Superpowers for Trae IDE

Complete guide for using Superpowers with Trae IDE.

Quick Install

Tell Trae's AI agent:

Fetch and follow instructions from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/obra/superpowers/refs/heads/main/.trae/INSTALL.md

Manual Installation

Prerequisites

macOS / Linux

# 1. Install Superpowers (or update existing)
if [ -d ~/.trae/superpowers ]; then
  cd ~/.trae/superpowers && git pull
else
  git clone https://github.com/obra/superpowers.git ~/.trae/superpowers
fi

# 2. Create skills directory
mkdir -p ~/.trae/skills

# 3. Remove old symlink if it exists (safe: fails loudly if it's a real directory)
if [ -L ~/.trae/skills/superpowers ]; then
  rm ~/.trae/skills/superpowers
elif [ -e ~/.trae/skills/superpowers ]; then
  echo "ERROR: ~/.trae/skills/superpowers exists and is not a symlink. Remove it manually." >&2
  exit 1
fi

# 4. Create symlink
ln -s ~/.trae/superpowers/skills ~/.trae/skills/superpowers

# 5. Restart Trae IDE

Verify Installation

ls -l ~/.trae/skills/superpowers

Should show a symlink pointing to ~/.trae/superpowers/skills.

Windows

Prerequisites:

  • Git installed
  • Either Developer Mode enabled OR Administrator privileges
    • Windows 10: Settings → Update & Security → For developers
    • Windows 11: Settings → System → For developers

PowerShell

Run as Administrator, or with Developer Mode enabled:

# 1. Install Superpowers
git clone https://github.com/obra/superpowers.git "$env:USERPROFILE\.trae\superpowers"

# 2. Create skills directory
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.trae\skills"

# 3. Remove existing link (safe for reinstalls)
Remove-Item "$env:USERPROFILE\.trae\skills\superpowers" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# 4. Create skills junction (works without special privileges)
New-Item -ItemType Junction -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.trae\skills\superpowers" -Target "$env:USERPROFILE\.trae\superpowers\skills"

# 5. Restart Trae IDE

Command Prompt

Run as Administrator, or with Developer Mode enabled:

:: 1. Install Superpowers
git clone https://github.com/obra/superpowers.git "%USERPROFILE%\.trae\superpowers"

:: 2. Create skills directory
mkdir "%USERPROFILE%\.trae\skills" 2>nul

:: 3. Remove existing link (safe for reinstalls)
rmdir "%USERPROFILE%\.trae\skills\superpowers" 2>nul

:: 4. Create skills junction
mklink /J "%USERPROFILE%\.trae\skills\superpowers" "%USERPROFILE%\.trae\superpowers\skills"

:: 5. Restart Trae IDE

Verify Installation (Windows)

Get-ChildItem "$env:USERPROFILE\.trae\skills" | Where-Object { $_.LinkType }

Look for <JUNCTION> in the output.

Usage

How Skills Are Discovered

Trae IDE natively scans ~/.trae/skills/ for skills at startup. Each skill's SKILL.md frontmatter is indexed, and Trae's AI activates skills based on context and descriptions.

The using-superpowers skill (description: "Use when starting any conversation") guides the AI to check for relevant skills before every task.

Loading Skills Explicitly

You can always request a skill directly:

use the brainstorming skill
use the test-driven-development skill
use the systematic-debugging skill

Personal Skills

Create your own skills in ~/.trae/skills/:

mkdir -p ~/.trae/skills/my-skill

Create ~/.trae/skills/my-skill/SKILL.md:

---
name: my-skill
description: Use when [condition] - [what it does]
---

# My Skill

[Your skill content here]

Project Skills

Create project-specific skills in .trae/skills/ within your project:

mkdir -p .trae/skills/my-project-skill

Skill Priority: Project skills > Personal (global) skills > Superpowers skills

Skill Locations

Trae IDE discovers skills from these locations (highest to lowest priority):

  1. Project skills (.trae/skills/) — Highest priority
  2. Personal skills (~/.trae/skills/)
  3. Superpowers skills (~/.trae/skills/superpowers/) — via symlink

Ensuring Bootstrap Context

For the best experience, add a User Rule in Trae IDE via Settings > Rules & Skills > User Rules:

You have access to superpowers skills at ~/.trae/skills/superpowers/.
Before responding to any task, check if a relevant skill applies.
Read skill files from ~/.trae/skills/superpowers/{skill-name}/SKILL.md to load them.
Key skills: brainstorming, writing-plans, subagent-driven-development,
test-driven-development, systematic-debugging, requesting-code-review.
Follow the using-superpowers skill guidelines when deciding whether to invoke a skill.

This ensures the AI knows about superpowers in every conversation, even before it reads the using-superpowers skill.

Features

Native Skills Integration

Superpowers uses Trae's native skill discovery. The SKILL.md format used by superpowers matches Trae's expected format exactly — no conversion needed.

Tool Mapping

Skills written for Claude Code use Claude Code tool names. In Trae IDE, use these equivalents:

Claude Code Tool Trae IDE Equivalent
Skill tool Ask AI to read the SKILL.md file
TodoWrite Trae's built-in task/plan features
Task with subagents Trae's agent system
Read, Write, Edit Trae's native file tools
Bash Trae's terminal integration

Updating

cd ~/.trae/superpowers
git pull

Skills update instantly through the symlink. Restart Trae IDE to reload.

Troubleshooting

Skills not showing up

  1. Verify symlink: ls -la ~/.trae/skills/superpowers
  2. Check source exists: ls ~/.trae/superpowers/skills
  3. Restart Trae IDE — skills are discovered at startup

AI not invoking skills automatically

The using-superpowers skill guides the AI to check for skills before every task. If it's not triggering:

  1. Explicitly say: "use the using-superpowers skill"
  2. Add a User Rule (see Ensuring Bootstrap Context)

Windows junction issues

Junctions normally work without special permissions. If creation fails, try running PowerShell as Administrator.

Getting Help