powershell-windows

name	powershell-windows
description	PowerShell scripting rules for Windows environment. Use when running shell commands, Docker operations, or HTTP requests on Windows PowerShell.

PowerShell Windows — Scripting Rules

Core Principles

1. Command Separation

• Windows PowerShell 5.1 does not support &&; PowerShell 7 does.
• For independent commands use ;: Set-Location "path"; Get-ChildItem.
• For dependent native commands preserve short-circuit semantics explicitly:

  git add .
  if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) { git commit -m "message" }
  

2. Path Quoting

• Always use double quotes for paths with spaces:

  cd "D:\My Projects\MyApp"
  

3. Script Execution

• For .bat/.cmd files:

  ./gradlew clean build
  .\gradlew.bat clean build
  

4. Docker Commands

• Specify full path to docker-compose files:

  docker-compose -f "D:\My Projects\app\docker-compose.yml" up -d
  

5. HTTP Requests

• Prefer PowerShell-native HTTP so behavior does not depend on whether curl resolves to an alias or curl.exe:

  Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "http://localhost:9090/status" -UseBasicParsing
  

6. Waiting/Delays

• Wrong: timeout 10
• Correct:

  Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
  

7. JSON Handling

• JSON parsing:

  $response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "http://localhost:9090/status" -UseBasicParsing
  $json = $response.Content | ConvertFrom-Json
  $json | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 3
  

8. Process Checking

• Process search:

  Get-Process -Name "java" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
  

9. Docker Operations

• Stop containers:

  docker-compose -f "path\to\file.yml" down
  

• Build images:

  docker-compose -f "path\to\file.yml" build --no-cache
  

10. Error Handling

• Ignore errors:

  Get-Process -Name "java" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
  

Common Errors and Fixes

Error	Cause	Fix
&& is not recognized	Running Windows PowerShell 5.1	Use ; only for independent commands; use $LASTEXITCODE for conditional chaining
curl behaves unexpectedly	Windows PowerShell alias / executable resolution differs	Use Invoke-WebRequest, or call curl.exe explicitly when its CLI semantics are required
timeout behaves unexpectedly	Console utility semantics differ from shell sleep	Use Start-Sleep
Path not found	Missing quotes on spaced path	Wrap path in double quotes

Correct Command Examples

# Change directory and execute command
cd "D:\My Projects\MyApp"; ./gradlew clean build -x test

# Wait and make HTTP request
Start-Sleep -Seconds 10; Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "http://localhost:9090/status" -UseBasicParsing

# Docker operations
docker-compose -f "D:\My Projects\MyApp\docker-compose.yml" down
docker-compose -f "D:\My Projects\MyApp\docker-compose.yml" build --no-cache
docker-compose -f "D:\My Projects\MyApp\docker-compose.yml" up -d

# Check server status
$response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "http://localhost:9090/status" -UseBasicParsing
$json = $response.Content | ConvertFrom-Json
Write-Host "Transport: $($json.mcp.transport)"