PowerShell Profile

A modern, cross-platform PowerShell profile with auto-loading utility functions for network testing, system administration, and developer workflows.

This profile turns the PowerShell profile directory into a small, portable toolkit. Public functions under Functions are loaded automatically, machine-local helpers can live safely under Functions/Local, and the included prompt stays clean across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Highlights

• Works with Windows PowerShell Desktop 5.1+ and PowerShell 6+ (pwsh).
• Auto-loads public functions from categorized folders under Functions.
• Preserves local-only profile content during install and update workflows.
• Includes focused tools for networking, security, package management, GitHub, Docker, encoding, and more.

Install

Requirements

• PowerShell Desktop 5.1+ or PowerShell 6+ (pwsh)
• Internet access for the installer and update checks
• git, optional but recommended for Update-Profile and Test-ProfileUpdate

The installer backs up profile content it may replace, preserves local paths such as Functions/Local, Help, Modules, PSReadLine, Scripts, and powershell.config.json in place, then deploys the latest profile files. See the installation guide for custom preservation and restore options.

Git is optional. When Git is unavailable, the installer downloads the repository zip from GitHub.

PowerShell Core (X-Platform)

irm 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jonlabelle/pwsh-profile/main/install.ps1' |
    pwsh -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -

Windows PowerShell Desktop 5.1

irm 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jonlabelle/pwsh-profile/main/install.ps1' |
    powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -

Need custom paths, restore options, -WhatIf, or full clone history? See the installation guide.

Quick Start

After installation, open a new PowerShell session and try:

# Browse everything the profile loaded
Show-ProfileFunction

# Search for the right command by keyword
Find-ProfileFunction dns

# Test network connectivity
Test-Port bing.com -Port 443

# Get public IP and geolocation details
Get-IPAddress -Public

# Check DNS and TLS
Test-DnsNameResolution github.com
Get-CertificateExpiration github.com

# Run a one-shot network diagnostic
Invoke-NetworkDiagnostics 'bing.com', 'microsoft.com' -MaxIterations 1

Common Workflows

# Find a command, then read its built-in help
Find-ProfileFunction certificate
Get-Help Get-CertificateExpiration -Examples

# Check for and apply profile updates
Test-ProfileUpdate
Update-Profile

# Run the test suite from a cloned repository
./Invoke-Tests.ps1 -TestType Unit

Screenshots

The profile includes focused console interfaces for live diagnostics, package management, system monitoring, and command discovery.

Network diagnostics

Invoke-NetworkDiagnostics checks multiple hosts and renders live latency, packet-loss, and DNS results.

PS > 'www.google.com', 'www.cloudflare.com' |
    Invoke-NetworkDiagnostics -Port 80 -Interval 2 -IncludeDns

Package management

Show-PlatformPackageManager provides a single interactive interface for winget, Homebrew, apt, and apk.

PS > Show-PlatformPackageManager

System resource monitor

Show-SystemResourceMonitor presents live CPU, memory, disk, network activity, and top-process data.

PS > Show-SystemResourceMonitor

Function discovery

Show-ProfileFunction lists the loaded profile commands by category, with descriptions and optional aliases.

PS > Show-ProfileFunction -IncludeAliases

Documentation

Everything you need to know about installation, functions, troubleshooting, and remoting lives in the docs folder:

• Installation guide - installer options, restore workflows, and manual fallback steps.
• Function catalog - every public function grouped by category.
• Troubleshooting - execution policy fixes and verbose profile loading.
• Remote sessions - loading profile functions inside PowerShell remoting sessions.
• Local functions - local-only helper templates and conventions.
• Tests - test layout and contribution guidance.

Function Areas

Area	Includes
Network and DNS	DNS, ports, TLS checks, ping, traceroute, WHOIS, GeoIP, latency graphs
System Administration	permissions, elevation, system info, package managers, resource monitor
Developer	.NET, dotenv, Git, GitHub, Docker, SQLFluff, Magika
Utilities	Base64, Markdown, time zones, copy/sync, delimited search, symlinks, archives
Security	JWT decoding, certificate inspection, password-based file protection
Active Directory	credentials, account lockout checks, group policy update
Module Management	module update checks and cleanup
Profile Management	function discovery and profile update checks
Media Processing	Encoding wrappers w/ ffmpeg, image metadata and privacy cleansing

Compatibility

Capability	Windows PowerShell 5.1 (Windows only)	PowerShell Core (Windows/macOS/Linux)
Profile loading and core functions	Supported	Supported
Unit tests	Supported on Windows	Supported
Integration tests	Available when explicitly selected in CI	Supported in CI
Native package-manager and system tools	Depends on installed Windows tools	Depends on the platform and installed tools

Platform-specific functions and integrations document their requirements in their help. The function catalog groups available commands by area.

Local Functions

Place machine-specific helpers in Functions/Local. Files there load automatically with the rest of the profile, are ignored by Git, and are preserved by the installer and update workflow.

Updating

Pull the latest profile changes with:

Update-Profile

Check for updates without applying them:

Test-ProfileUpdate

Both commands require Git. If Git is unavailable, rerun the install command to fetch the latest files.

Standalone Use

Functions can be used without loading the whole profile by dot-sourcing the function file directly:

PS > . 'Functions/NetworkAndDns/Test-Port.ps1'
PS > Test-Port bing.com -Port 443

Function dependencies are lazy-loaded by the function file when needed.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please keep changes aligned with the existing structure:

• One public function per Functions/{Category}/Verb-Noun.ps1 file.
• Private helpers may live under category-specific Private folders.
• Include focused Pester coverage for new behavior.
• Keep functions cross-platform unless they are clearly platform-specific.
• Open a pull request with a short description and verification steps.

See the complete contributing guide for development setup, coding standards, and test guidance.

Author

@jonlabelle

License

MIT License