Examples: PowerShell pipeline processing

"Show me bug issues from the PowerShell repo with their authors"

gh issue list --repo PowerShell/PowerShell --json title,author,labels |
    ConvertFrom-Json |
    Where-Object { $_.labels.name -contains "Issue-Bug" } |
    Select-Object title, @{N='by';E={$_.author.login}}

"List my running Azure VMs with their sizes"

Get-AzVM -Status | Where-Object PowerState -eq "VM running" |
    Select-Object Name, @{N='Size';E={$_.HardwareProfile.VmSize}}, Location

"Check if GitHub's API returns rate limit info"

Invoke-RestMethod https://api.github.com/rate_limit |
    Select-Object -ExpandProperty rate

"Get the current user's Windows username via Win32 API"

Add-Type -MemberDefinition '[DllImport("advapi32.dll")] public static extern bool GetUserName(System.Text.StringBuilder sb, ref int len);' -Name Win32 -Namespace API
$sb = [System.Text.StringBuilder]::new(256); $len = 256
[API.Win32]::GetUserName($sb, [ref]$len); $sb.ToString()

PowerShell.MCP complements your existing MCP setup by providing a flexible, general-purpose foundation.

What Makes It Powerful

🖥️ Multi-Client Architecture

• Each client instance gets its own exclusive console—run multiple Claude Code sessions in parallel
• Safe parallel operation with no resource conflicts
• Unique window titles (e.g., "#12345 Taxi") for easy identification
• Get-MCPOwner cmdlet shows which client owns the current console

🤝 Shared Console Experience

• You and AI collaborate in the same PowerShell session with full transparency
• Every command AI executes appears in your console in real-time
• You can respond to interactive prompts directly in the console
• Commands are saved to history—learn by watching AI work

🔄 Persistent Session State

• Authenticate once, stay authenticated: Azure, AWS, Microsoft 365, and more
• Modules, variables, and functions persist across commands
• No re-initialization overhead

🌐 Universal Access

• PowerShell Gallery: 10,000+ modules including Az, AWS.Tools, Microsoft.Graph
• Any CLI tool: git, docker, kubectl, terraform, gh, az cli, aws cli
• AI learns syntax automatically via Get-Help

🔗 Pipeline Composability

• Describe what you want in natural language—AI constructs the optimal pipeline
• "Top 5 largest logs" → Get-ChildItem *.log | Sort-Object Length -Descending | Select-Object -First 5
• Chain any commands across any services

⚡ Instant Execution

• Commands execute immediately in an existing console
• No process startup overhead per command
• Real-time streaming output

🔐 Enterprise-Ready Security

• Local-only named pipe communication—no network exposure
• Every command visible and auditable
• Integrates with existing security policies

🔒 Secrets stay with you, not the AI

• Interactive prompts (Read-Host -AsSecureString, Get-Credential, MFA codes) hide input from the AI
• Enter passphrases for code-signing, gpg, ssh-add, sudo, cloud CLI MFA — keystrokes go to the program, never to AI's output stream
• AI orchestrates the workflow ("build, sign, push the tag"); you supply the secret at the right moment
• Impossible with stdin-piped MCP shells, where the AI must somehow feed the secret in

Architecture

Six tools provide maximum flexibility with minimum complexity:

Quick Start

Prerequisites

All platforms require:

• PowerShell 7.4+ (installation guide)
• Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP client

1. Open PowerShell 7

Press Win + R, type pwsh, press Enter

2. Install PowerShell.MCP

Install-PSResource PowerShell.MCP

3. Configure your MCP client

For Claude Code:

Register-PwshToClaudeCode

For Claude Desktop:

Register-PwshToClaudeDesktop

For other MCP clients: Run Get-MCPProxyPath -Escape to get the JSON-escaped executable path, then add it to your client's configuration file manually.

4. Restart your MCP client

1. Install PowerShell 7

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y wget apt-transport-https software-properties-common
source /etc/os-release
wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/$VERSION_ID/packages-microsoft-prod.deb
sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y powershell

2. Install PowerShell.MCP, set permissions, and configure your MCP client

# Run in PowerShell (pwsh)
Install-PSResource PowerShell.MCP
chmod +x "$(Get-MCPProxyPath)"

For Claude Code:

Register-PwshToClaudeCode

For Claude Desktop:

Register-PwshToClaudeDesktop

For other MCP clients: Run Get-MCPProxyPath -Escape to get the JSON-escaped executable path, then add it to your client's configuration file manually.

3. Restart your MCP client

1. Install PowerShell 7

brew install --cask powershell
# If the cask is unavailable, install from GitHub Release:
# curl -sSL -o /tmp/powershell.tar.gz https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v7.5.4/powershell-7.5.4-osx-arm64.tar.gz
# sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7
# sudo tar zxf /tmp/powershell.tar.gz -C /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7
# sudo chmod +x /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7/pwsh
# sudo ln -sf /usr/local/microsoft/powershell/7/pwsh /usr/local/bin/pwsh

2. Install PowerShell.MCP, set permissions, and configure your MCP client

# Run in PowerShell (pwsh)
Install-PSResource PowerShell.MCP
chmod +x "$(Get-MCPProxyPath)"

For Claude Code:

Register-PwshToClaudeCode

For Claude Desktop:

Register-PwshToClaudeDesktop

For other MCP clients: Run Get-MCPProxyPath -Escape to get the JSON-escaped executable path, then add it to your client's configuration file manually.

3. Restart your MCP client

Configuration

Lean consoles (--no-profile)

By default, every console the proxy launches loads your PowerShell $PROFILE (prompt, aliases, PSReadLine, theme) — these are real interactive shells, not just automation targets. Pass --no-profile to start them with -NoProfile instead, for faster startup and a clean, deterministic environment.

Claude Code:

claude mcp add pwsh -s user -- "$(Get-MCPProxyPath)" --no-profile

Claude Desktop / other MCP clients: add an args array with --no-profile to the pwsh entry in your config:

"mcpServers": {
  "pwsh": {
    "command": "...PowerShell.MCP.Proxy.exe",
    "args": ["--no-profile"]
  }
}

The headless / CI launcher always uses -NoProfile regardless of this flag.

First-Time Demo

Experience PowerShell.MCP's capabilities:

• "Open pwsh and show what it can do in a colorful, dynamic, and fun demo"
• "Try out different styles of notifications using the BurntToast module"
• "Automate Notepad: type text and smoothly move the window in a circle"
• "How does it feel now that you have a tool like PowerShell.MCP?"

After trying these demos, explore the built-in prompts below or ask AI to explain any command.

Built-in Prompts

PowerShell.MCP includes 7 specialized prompts accessible from your MCP client's prompts menu. Each prompt is designed for specific tasks and guides AI to provide optimal results.