PowerShell.MCP v1.2.3 - Enhanced Command Feedback & Major Stability Update

[yotsuda]

Enhanced Command Feedback & Major Stability Update

This release delivers comprehensive execution statistics for better command visibility and a critical stability fix that eliminates unpredictable behavior.

✨ Key Improvements

📊 Execution Statistics Dashboard

Every command now displays real-time statistics:

• ⏱️ Execution duration (accurate to milliseconds)
• ❌ Error count (errors + exceptions combined)
• ⚠️ Warning count
• ℹ️ Information message count
• 📍 Current location and provider
• Visual status indicators (✓ for success, ✗ for errors)

Example Output:

✓ Pipeline executed successfully | Duration: 0.52s | Errors: 0 | Warnings: 0 | Info: 0 | Location: C:\MyProj [FileSystem]

Your command output here...

🔴 Error Stream Now Visible in Console

The Problem:

• Prior versions: Error stream was not displayed in PowerShell console
• Root cause: Invoke-Expression's -ErrorVariable parameter suppresses console display
• Users could only see errors in MCP clients, not in their own console

The Solution:

• Errors are captured for MCP transmission
• After execution, captured errors display in console with red formatting
• Trade-off: Errors appear at the end, not in chronological order (unavoidable with -ErrorVariable)

🎯 Critical Stability Fix: Preference Variables

What Was Wrong:

• Previous versions modified $VerbosePreference, $DebugPreference, and $InformationPreference to capture streams
• Despite using finally blocks to restore values, restoration frequently failed
• This caused unpredictable behavior and side effects in user scripts

What's Fixed:

• Preference variables are never modified
• Commands execute with your original settings intact
• Improved stability and predictability
• Verbose/Debug streams display naturally in console (not sent to MCP clients - copy manually if needed)

📝 Better Output Formatting

• Clear visual separation with consistent spacing
• Organized sections for different stream types (ERRORS, WARNINGS, SUCCESS, INFO)
• Enhanced readability for multi-stream outputs

📦 Installation & Upgrade

🆕 New Installation

Install-Module PowerShell.MCP -Force

🔄 Upgrading from Previous Version

Update-Module PowerShell.MCP

⚙ Post-Installation Configuration

Important: Update your MCP client configuration to use the new version path.

Step 1: Get your module path

Import-Module PowerShell.MCP
(Get-Module PowerShell.MCP).ModuleBase
# Example: C:\Users\YourName\Documents\PowerShell\Modules\PowerShell.MCP\1.2.3

Step 2: Update Claude Desktop config (%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "PowerShell": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\YourName\\Documents\\PowerShell\\Modules\\PowerShell.MCP\\1.2.3\\bin\\PowerShell.MCP.Proxy.exe"
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Restart Claude Desktop

📖 Detailed instructions: https://github.com/yotsuda/PowerShell.MCP#installation

📊 What Changed

Feature	v1.2.2	v1.2.3	Impact
Execution Time	Not shown	✓ Displayed	Performance insights
Error/Warning Counts	Not tracked	✓ Tracked	Quick diagnostics
Console Error Display	❌ Hidden	🔴 Visible (red)	Better troubleshooting
Status Summary	None	✓ Comprehensive	At-a-glance status
Preference Variables	⚠️ Modified & unstable	✓ Never touched	Stability & reliability
Verbose/Debug Streams	Captured with issues	Console-only	Simplified & stable

💡 Usage Examples

Command with Error

Get-Item "C:\NonExistent.txt" -ErrorAction Continue
Write-Output "Continuing..."

Result:

• Regular output appears immediately
• After completion, error displays in red
• Status shows: ✗ Pipeline executed with errors | Duration: 0.03s | Errors: 1
• Note: Error appears after "Continuing..." (timing trade-off)

Multi-Stream Output

Write-Warning "Check this"
Write-Information "Processing..." -InformationAction Continue
Get-Date

Result:

• Status shows: Warnings: 1 | Info: 1
• Organized sections: WARNINGS, SUCCESS, INFO

🔧 Technical Notes

Error Stream Challenge

PowerShell's -ErrorVariable captures errors but suppresses console output. Our solution displays captured errors after execution completes, ensuring both MCP capture and console visibility.

Stream Capture Strategy

• Captured for MCP: Error, Warning, Success, Information
• Console-only: Verbose, Debug (controlled by user preferences)
• No preference modifications: Commands run with your original settings

Implementation

• Timing: System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch for precise measurements
• Capture: Native PowerShell variables (-ErrorVariable, -WarningVariable, -InformationVariable)
• Display: Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red for errors/exceptions

🙏 Acknowledgments

Thanks to our community for feedback on command visibility and stability that guided these improvements.

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Questions or Issues? Please use our GitHub Discussions for support.

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This discussion was created from the release PowerShell.MCP v1.2.3 - Enhanced Command Feedback & Major Stability Update.