Automated tests for superpowers skills using Claude Code CLI.
This test suite verifies that skills are loaded correctly and Claude follows them as expected. Tests invoke Claude Code in headless mode (claude -p) and verify the behavior.
- Claude Code CLI installed and in PATH (
claude --versionshould work) - Local superpowers plugin installed (see main README for installation)
./run-skill-tests.sh./run-skill-tests.sh --integration./run-skill-tests.sh --test test-subagent-driven-development.sh./run-skill-tests.sh --verbose./run-skill-tests.sh --timeout 1800 # 30 minutes for integration testsCommon functions for skills testing:
run_claude "prompt" [timeout]- Run Claude with promptassert_contains output pattern name- Verify pattern existsassert_not_contains output pattern name- Verify pattern absentassert_count output pattern count name- Verify exact countassert_order output pattern_a pattern_b name- Verify ordercreate_test_project- Create temp test directorycreate_test_plan project_dir- Create sample plan file
Each test file:
- Sources
test-helpers.sh - Runs Claude Code with specific prompts
- Verifies expected behavior using assertions
- Returns 0 on success, non-zero on failure
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
source "$SCRIPT_DIR/test-helpers.sh"
echo "=== Test: My Skill ==="
# Ask Claude about the skill
output=$(run_claude "What does the my-skill skill do?" 30)
# Verify response
assert_contains "$output" "expected behavior" "Skill describes behavior"
echo "=== All tests passed ==="Tests skill content and requirements (~2 minutes):
- Skill loading and accessibility
- Workflow ordering (spec compliance before code quality)
- Self-review requirements documented
- Plan reading efficiency documented
- Spec compliance reviewer skepticism documented
- Review loops documented
- Task context provision documented
Full workflow execution test (~10-30 minutes):
- Creates real test project with Node.js setup
- Creates implementation plan with 2 tasks
- Executes plan using subagent-driven-development
- Verifies actual behaviors:
- Plan read once at start (not per task)
- Full task text provided in subagent prompts
- Subagents perform self-review before reporting
- Spec compliance review happens before code quality
- Spec reviewer reads code independently
- Working implementation is produced
- Tests pass
- Proper git commits created
What it tests:
- The workflow actually works end-to-end
- Our improvements are actually applied
- Subagents follow the skill correctly
- Final code is functional and tested
- Create new test file:
test-<skill-name>.sh - Source test-helpers.sh
- Write tests using
run_claudeand assertions - Add to test list in
run-skill-tests.sh - Make executable:
chmod +x test-<skill-name>.sh
- Default timeout: 5 minutes per test
- Claude Code may take time to respond
- Adjust with
--timeoutif needed - Tests should be focused to avoid long runs
With --verbose, you'll see full Claude output:
./run-skill-tests.sh --verbose --test test-subagent-driven-development.shWithout verbose, only failures show output.
To run in CI:
# Run with explicit timeout for CI environments
./run-skill-tests.sh --timeout 900
# Exit code 0 = success, non-zero = failure- Tests verify skill instructions, not full execution
- Full workflow tests would be very slow
- Focus on verifying key skill requirements
- Tests should be deterministic
- Avoid testing implementation details