Add PSContentPath Standard Platform Paths by jshigetomi · Pull Request #1912 · PowerShell/PSResourceGet

Justin Chung (jshigetomi) · 2025-11-19T22:11:58Z

PR Summary

This pull request introduces support for the PowerShell "PSContentPath" experimental feature, allowing users to customize the location of user content (such as modules and scripts) via an environment variable or configuration file. The code now prefers these new paths when the feature is enabled, improving flexibility and future compatibility.

Support for PSContentPath experimental feature:

Added logic to detect if the "PSContentPath" experimental feature is enabled by checking the PowerShell configuration file (powershell.config.json).
When enabled, the code looks for a custom PSUserContentPath in the environment variable or configuration file, using it as the base path for user content if it exists. If not set, it defaults to LocalApplicationData\PowerShell.
If the experimental feature is not enabled, the code continues to use the legacy MyDocuments\PowerShell folder for user content.

Refactoring and path resolution:

Updated GetPathsFromEnvVarAndScope to use the new psUserContentPath variable instead of the legacy documents path, ensuring the correct directory is used based on feature detection.

Utility methods:

Introduced two new helper methods: IsExperimentalFeatureEnabled (to check for enabled features in the config) and GetPSUserContentPath (to retrieve the custom user content path from environment or config).

PR Context

This change introduces support for the PowerShell PSContentPath experimental feature, enabling users to customize where PowerShell stores user content (modules, scripts, etc.). Historically, PowerShell has relied on fixed paths such as MyDocuments\PowerShell, which limits flexibility in modern environments. With this update, users can define a custom content path via an environment variable or configuration file, allowing PowerShell to adapt to diverse deployment and security scenarios.

The feature is a direct response to long-standing community feedback (see PowerShell/PowerShell#15552) and aligns with related work in #1912. It was shaped through detailed specifications in PowerShell/PowerShell-RFC#388. This milestone lays the foundation for flexible, user-configurable content storage, addressing needs such as:

Roaming profiles
Containerized environments
Read-only file systems

By introducing this capability, we empower users to tailor PowerShell to modern deployment and compliance requirements.

PR Checklist

…form paths

Justin Chung (jshigetomi) · 2025-11-20T15:48:13Z

Added support for Linux and MacOS pathway as well

azure-pipelines · 2025-11-20T20:35:32Z

Azure Pipelines successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).

alerickson · 2025-11-20T20:40:26Z

Opened PR to run CI tests here: #1913

Justin Chung (jshigetomi) · 2025-11-20T21:11:37Z

Decided to use pwsh runspaces instead of reflection to call the PSContentPath API.
Talked to Travis Plunk (@TravisEz13) and found out that APIScan will require proof that APIs are public and not internal. So utilizing the new cmdlet Get-PSContentPath in a pwsh runspace to get the path from the config or default LOCALAppData location.

alerickson · 2025-11-21T01:31:56Z

Tests are looking good, currently 3 failing tests related to Lucene index issues (ie these are flakey tests due to a server side issue with the Gallery). In terms of this PR all tests are passing!

alerickson · 2025-11-21T01:51:56Z

All tests are passing now, PR looks good to me, just have one comment regarding whether to use default runspace created by the .Create() method or use current runspace.

Anam Navied (anamnavi) · 2025-11-21T18:38:08Z

+                if (psVersionObj != null) psVersion = new Version((int)psVersionObj.Major, (int)psVersionObj.Minor);
+            }
+            catch { 
+                // Fallback if dynamic access fails


do we need to write a verbose message or warning?

If $PSVersionTable doesn't work, what could the user do differently after knowing that this is where it breaks?
I'm not sure there is much they can do, but could be helpful knowing where it went wrong.
I will add a warning for now.

Could we add a debug message here, for dev debugging purposes?

Is there any cases where this variable won't be available?
I don't think so with it being an Automatic Variable - $PSVersionTable Automatic Variable Documentation

alerickson · 2025-11-21T20:17:10Z

Justin Chung (@jshigetomi) we reviewed your PR, Anam Navied (@anamnavi) has a couple comments/suggestions. Everything looks good otherwise. Because we can't test these changes until 7.7 is released we're going to hold off on merging until then.

Justin Chung (jshigetomi) · 2025-12-12T22:16:31Z

I added tests so that it skips some PSContentPath tests if it's not enabled.
I check for it with test hooks and the availability of Get-PSContentPath.

Ryan Yates (kilasuit) · 2025-12-24T06:19:11Z

        }

        private readonly static Version PSVersion6 = new Version(6, 0);
+        private readonly static Version PSVersion7_7 = new Version(7, 7);


As mentioned in the PR in the PowerShell repo I & the community really do not want this dragging out until 7.7.0

We can get this in much sooner than that as I mentioned in that PR Justin Chung (@jshigetomi)

Ryan Yates (@kilasuit) This feature is coming out in 7.7.0-preivew.1 which shouldn't be too far away from release.

Ryan Yates (kilasuit) · 2025-12-24T06:24:12Z

+                if (psVersionObj != null) psVersion = new Version((int)psVersionObj.Major, (int)psVersionObj.Minor);
+            }
+            catch { 
+                // Fallback if dynamic access fails


Is there any cases where this variable won't be available?
I don't think so with it being an Automatic Variable - $PSVersionTable Automatic Variable Documentation

Justin Chung (jshigetomi) · 2026-02-06T16:54:26Z

Changed implementation to use pwsh variable $PSUserContentPath instead of invoking the Get-PSContentPath cmdlet

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds initial PSContentPath / PSUserContentPath support to PSResourceGet’s “standard platform paths” resolution so CurrentUser installs/searches can prefer the newer user-content base path when available, while retaining legacy and AllUsers behavior.

Changes:

Update Utils.GetPathsFromEnvVarAndScope() to base CurrentUser “Modules/Scripts” paths on a PSUserContentPath-derived base directory.
Add path-resolution logic in Utils.GetStandardPlatformPaths() that attempts to use $PSUserContentPath on PS 7.7+ and falls back to legacy locations.
Add end-to-end Pester coverage and introduce internal testing hooks to observe which base path was selected.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

File	Description
test/PSContentPath.Tests.ps1	Adds Pester end-to-end tests validating install location behavior and hook outputs across feature availability scenarios.
src/code/Utils.cs	Updates standard-path resolution to optionally use `$PSUserContentPath` (PS 7.7+) for CurrentUser base paths, with legacy fallback.
src/code/InternalHooks.cs	Adds test hook fields/APIs for capturing the last user content path and its “source”.

Suppressed comments (2)

test/PSContentPath.Tests.ps1:106

InternalHooks sets LastUserContentPathSource to "$PSUserContentPath" (see Utils.cs), but this test asserts "Get-PSContentPath". If you want to validate the hook source, align the expected value with the implementation and avoid variable interpolation.

            # PSResourceGet should call Get-PSContentPath
            $pathSource | Should -Be "Get-PSContentPath"

test/PSContentPath.Tests.ps1:134

InternalHooks sets LastUserContentPathSource to "$PSUserContentPath" (see Utils.cs), but this test asserts "Get-PSContentPath". Align the expected source string with the implementation (and use single quotes to keep it literal).

            # PSResourceGet should call Get-PSContentPath
            $pathSource | Should -Be "Get-PSContentPath"

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+        $script:originalPSModulePath = $env:PSModulePath
+        $script:actualConfigPath = Join-Path $env:LOCALAPPDATA "PowerShell\powershell.config.json"
+        $script:configBackup = $null
+


+        # Clean up installed test modules
+        Uninstall-PSResource $testModuleName -Version "*" -SkipDependencyCheck -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+        # Clear testing hooks
+        [Microsoft.PowerShell.PSResourceGet.UtilClasses.InternalHooks]::ClearPSContentPathHooks()


+
+            if ($script:getPSContentPathAvailable) {
+                # When Get-PSContentPath cmdlet exists, PSResourceGet should use it
+                $pathSource | Should -Be "Get-PSContentPath"


 using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
 using System.Threading;
+using System.Text.Json;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;


+                if (powerShellType == "WindowsPowerShell")
+                {
+                    // Use legacy Documents folder for Windows PowerShell
+                    localUserDir = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments), powerShellType);
+                    psCmdlet.WriteVerbose($"Using Windows PowerShell Documents folder: {localUserDir}");
+                }


+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets the user content directory path using PowerShell's $PSUserContentPath variable.
+        /// Falls back to legacy path if the variable is not available or PowerShell version is below 7.7.0.
+        /// </summary>
+        private static string GetUserContentPath(PSCmdlet psCmdlet, Version psVersion, string legacyPath)
+        {
+
+            // Only use PSContentPath features if PowerShell version is 7.7.0 or greater (when PSContentPath feature is available)
+            if (psVersion >= PSVersion7_7)
+            {


Add experimental feature check and add PSContentPath to standard plat…

5f00798

…form paths

Justin Chung (jshigetomi) requested review from Sydney Smith (SydneyhSmith), Aditya Patwardhan (adityapatwardhan), alerickson, Anam Navied (anamnavi) and shammu1 as code owners November 19, 2025 22:12

Aditya Patwardhan (adityapatwardhan) reviewed Nov 19, 2025

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Comment thread src/code/Utils.cs Outdated

Aditya Patwardhan (adityapatwardhan) reviewed Nov 19, 2025

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Comment thread src/code/Utils.cs Outdated

Aditya Patwardhan (adityapatwardhan) reviewed Nov 19, 2025

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Comment thread src/code/Utils.cs Outdated

Justin Chung (jshigetomi) added 2 commits November 19, 2025 17:07

Use Json.net to parse instead

7d03376

Add support in Linux, MacOS and refactor

bbb7148

Use PowerShell GetPSModulePath API instead

d53dd08

Use runspace instead of reflection

a454cb3

alerickson reviewed Nov 21, 2025

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Comment thread src/code/Utils.cs

Use current runspace and only get PSVersion once

94a1563

Anam Navied (anamnavi) reviewed Nov 21, 2025

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Comment thread src/code/Utils.cs Outdated

Justin Chung (jshigetomi) mentioned this pull request Nov 23, 2025

Add PSContentPath Infrastructure PowerShell/PowerShell#26509

Open

12 tasks

Add tests and test hooks

26c5bf8

Ryan Yates (kilasuit) reviewed Jan 26, 2026

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Justin Chung (jshigetomi) added 2 commits February 6, 2026 10:49

Use pwsh variable PSContentPath instead of cmdlet Get-PSContentPath

536b1ed

remove try catch for auomatic variable

eafe88b

Justin Chung (jshigetomi) mentioned this pull request Mar 9, 2026

Document PSContentPath Feature in PowerShell MicrosoftDocs/PowerShell-Docs#12827

Open

2 tasks

Aditya Patwardhan (adityapatwardhan) added this to the v1.3.0-Preview1 milestone Mar 13, 2026

Sydney Smith (SydneyhSmith) assigned alerickson Aug 4, 2026

Merge branch 'master' into PSContentPath

af96e1a

Copilot AI lite review requested due to automatic review settings August 20, 2026 18:59

Copilot AI reviewed Aug 20, 2026

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Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Justin Chung (jshigetomi) August 20, 2026 22:11 View session

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Justin Chung (jshigetomi) commented Nov 19, 2025 •

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