# Test-Driven Development

> Test-Driven Development is a community-maintained skill from obra/superpowers. Anomity scores its risk at 50 out of 100 (medium).

- **Canonical URL:** https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/test-driven-development
- **Kind:** Skill
- **Publisher:** obra/superpowers
- **Trust level:** community
- **Risk score:** 50/100 (medium)
- **Last updated:** 2026-09-02
- **JSON:** https://catalog.anomity.ai/api/entries/skill/test-driven-development

## Description

Test-Driven Development is a rigid process skill from the Superpowers plugin that enforces a strict red-green-refactor loop for any feature implementation or bug fix. Before the agent is allowed to write production code, the skill requires it to write a failing test that captures the desired behavior, watch that test fail for the right reason, write the minimum implementation that makes the test pass, and only then refactor with the test still passing as a guardrail.

Functionally, the skill reads existing test and source files to find the right place for new tests and code, and writes new test files plus implementation files as the agent moves through the loop. It does not request shell execution — the test runs themselves go through the Claude Code Bash tool — and it does not request network or credential access.

The skill is community trust because it ships in an independent plugin. The active risk signals come from filesystem read and write, the minimum surface for any skill that produces tests and code, and do not match any dangerous combination. The notable property of the skill is not its capability surface but its discipline: it actively prevents agents from skipping the test step when the underlying task is harder than expected.

## Why it scored 50

The score starts at the catalog's neutral base of 50 and moves only through the signals below. The formula is published at https://catalog.anomity.ai/about — there is no model and no hidden heuristic.

| Signal | Contribution | Severity | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Established community project | -10 | trust offset |  |
| 1 high-risk capability: filesystem:write | +10 | high |  |

Clamped result: **50/100**, band **medium**.

## Capabilities

| Capability | Name | Security implication |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `filesystem:read` | Filesystem read | Can read files on the host system. Used for context, indexing, or analysis. |
| `filesystem:write` | Filesystem write | Can create, edit, or delete files on the host system. High-impact capability — anything from helpful edits to planting persistence. |

## Related skills

- [AI Research Reproduction](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/ai-research-reproduction) — risk 100 (critical)
- [Using Git Worktrees](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/using-git-worktrees) — risk 65 (high)
- [Best Practices](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/web-best-practices) — risk 50 (medium)
- [Writing Skills](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/writing-skills) — risk 50 (medium)
- [Angular Developer](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/angular-developer) — risk 20 (low)
- [App Insights Instrumentation](https://catalog.anomity.ai/skill/appinsights-instrumentation) — risk 20 (low)

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Source: Anomity Catalog (https://catalog.anomity.ai/). Scoring methodology: https://catalog.anomity.ai/about. Machine-readable index: https://catalog.anomity.ai/llms.txt · https://catalog.anomity.ai/openapi.json