Motivated by recent experiments on the kagome metals $A{\text{V}}_3{\text{Sb}}_5$ with $A=\text{K}$, Rb, and Cs, which show a charge density wave (CDW) at $\sim 100$ K and superconductivity at $\sim 1$ K, we explore the onset of the superconductivity, taking the perspective that it descends from a parent CDW. We argue that viewing the superconductivity as a weak-coupling instability of a reconstructed (by the CDW) Fermi surface naturally explains the experimentally observed “multidome” nonmonotonic dependence on pressure, with the “peaks” in the superconducting critical temperature being associated with the Van Hove singularities of the reconstructed Fermi surface. This “parent-child relationship” also naturally explains the large separation of energy scales between the superconductivity and the CDW. We discuss different possible pairing mechanisms and speculate that the CDW or reconstructed Pomeranchuk fluctuations may mediate the pairing interaction.

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• Charge density waves
• Pairing mechanisms
• Superconductivity
• Van Hove singularity
• Kagome lattice
• Unconventional superconductors