PowerShell Utilities

PowerShell Utilities is a fast, Rust-built toolkit for everyday PowerShell work. The command stays short (ps) and adds interactive tools for ports, processes, saved paths, workspaces, history, environment variables, and custom shortcuts.

PowerShell normally reserves ps as an alias for Get-Process. Setup replaces that alias with a small profile bridge; Get-Process itself remains available.

Install

The prebuilt release supports 64-bit Windows. From PowerShell:

curl.exe -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KrisPowers/ps-utils/main/scripts/install.ps1 | powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -

Restart PowerShell, or load the command module and profile hooks immediately:

Import-Module PsUtils -Force
. $PROFILE
ps doctor

The installer places ps.exe in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ps\bin, adds that directory to your user PATH, installs an autoloadable PowerShell command module, and configures both PowerShell 7 and Windows PowerShell profiles. The command module provides commands like ports, workspaces, mkcd, and custom shortcuts without depending on profile loading. The profile bridge is still used for prompt display, @, %, terminal history capture, and session restore.

It installs the latest release by default. To pin a release:

$env:PS_INSTALL_VERSION = "v0.1.1"
curl.exe -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KrisPowers/ps-utils/main/scripts/install.ps1 | powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -

Quick start

Most utilities can be called directly after setup:

ports                  # Browse TCP ports and stop an owning process
procs                  # Browse and stop processes
history                # Search saved command history
envs                   # Browse environment variables
workspaces             # Save or open a multi-tab workspace
zip                    # Zip the current directory into a new archive inside it
compress               # Same as zip
pack                   # Same as zip
@                      # Save, open, or remove favorite paths
%                      # Change ps settings
mkcd scratch           # Create a directory and enter it
reload                 # Validate and reload your PowerShell profile

The ps prefix is always available too:

ps ports -p 3000
ps procs -n node
ps history -q cargo
ps envs -q path
ps zip
ps --help

Utilities

Ports and processes

ports shows TCP port, state, local and remote addresses, and the owning process. Select a row for details or move right to its Kill action.

ports -p 3000
ports -s established
ports -n chrome
ports --sort process
ports --refresh

procs (also processes) opens the process menu:

procs -n node
procs -t "project"

Workspaces

Run workspaces to save the current PowerShell tabs as a named workspace or open an existing one. Saved workspaces are ordered by recent use.

workspaces
workspaces open api

For scripted setup, add a workspace from the current directory:

ps workspaces add api

Or define its main path and extra tabs explicitly:

ps workspaces add suite `
  --path C:\Projects\suite `
  --open C:\Projects\suite\api `
  --open C:\Projects\suite\web

ps workspaces list
ps workspaces remove suite

Archive current directory

Run zip, compress, or pack to create a .zip archive of the current directory's contents. The archive is placed in that same directory and existing files are never overwritten.

zip
compress
pack

Saved paths and settings

Type @ by itself to open the saved-path menu. Save the current directory, jump to a favorite, or remove paths without editing configuration.

Type % by itself to manage:

• shortened prompt paths and prompt timestamps;
• per-directory terminal history and its maximum length;
• restoration of paths from closed PowerShell sessions.

Settings, paths, workspaces, history, and session data live under %APPDATA%\ps.

Custom shortcuts

Open the shortcut configuration:

ps commands

Refresh the command module after editing it:

ps install-commands
Import-Module PsUtils -Force

Three shortcut types are supported:

{
  "version": 1,
  "commands": {
    "kill-port": {
      "type": "kill-port",
      "description": "Stop the process listening on a TCP port."
    },
    "api": {
      "type": "workspace",
      "description": "Open the API workspace.",
      "path": "C:\\Projects\\api",
      "open_windows": ["C:\\Projects\\api\\docs"]
    },
    "serve": {
      "type": "shell",
      "description": "Start the development server.",
      "script": "npm run dev"
    }
  }
}

Arguments supplied to a shell shortcut are available to its PowerShell script as $psArgs. A shell shortcut can also use script_path and optionally set dot_source to false.

Shortcut names must start with a letter or underscore and may contain letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens. Prefer names that do not already exist as PowerShell aliases or commands; existing aliases are resolved before autoloaded module commands.

Command reference

Command	Purpose
ps init	Install or refresh the command module and managed profile bridge
ps install-commands	Install or refresh profile-independent PowerShell commands
ps doctor	Check profiles, config, PATH, history, and session storage
ps zip	Zip the current directory into a new archive inside it
ps ports	Browse and filter TCP connections
ps procs	Browse and filter processes
ps history	Search saved terminal history
ps envs	Browse environment variables
ps workspaces	Save, list, open, or remove workspaces
ps commands	Open custom shortcut configuration
ps config-path <file>	Print a managed config path
ps run <shortcut> [args]	Run a shortcut in a child process

Use ps <command> --help for every option.

Build from source

Requires a current stable Rust toolchain:

git clone https://github.com/KrisPowers/ps-utils.git
Set-Location ps-utils
cargo test
cargo build --release
.\target\release\ps.exe init --yes
Import-Module PsUtils -Force
. $PROFILE

License

MIT