Powershell-Copilot-Standards powershell-version.instructions.md

A set of instructions for choosing a supported PowerShell version and limiting code to language features and commands available in that version. PowerShell is Microsoft's command-line shell and scripting language.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when generating PowerShell code, selecting a runtime for a project, or building compatibility tests for different Windows and cross-platform versions.
Why use it?
It helps prevent code from depending on retired or unavailable PowerShell features and makes the intended compatibility level explicit.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add instructions/fadwen/powershell-copilot-standards/powershell-version
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/fadwen/Powershell-Copilot-Standards

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Per session 2,728 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 2,728 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.02728 $0.02728
Opus 5 $0.01364 $0.01364
Sonnet 5 $0.00546 $0.00546
Haiku 4.5 $0.00273 $0.00273

Measured 2d ago against content hash 13b4c907417c, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

Powershell-Copilot-Standards powershell-version.instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.github/instructions/powershell-version.instructions.md · 243 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 243 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

PowerShell Version Baseline

Which PowerShell version to target, and which features are safe to emit at that target. Verified against the Microsoft support lifecycle as of 2026-08-01.

Support lifecycle

Version Type Released End of support Runtime
7.6 LTS - current target 18-Mar-2026 14-Nov-2028 .NET 10
7.5 Stable 23-Jan-2025 10-Nov-2026 .NET 9
7.4 LTS (previous) 16-Nov-2023 10-Nov-2026 .NET 8
5.1 Windows component Aug-2016 Windows lifecycle .NET Framework 4.x

Everything below 7.4 is retired and receives no security updates. Never generate code or CI matrices targeting PowerShell 6.x, 7.0-7.3.

Act on this: PowerShell 7.4 and 7.5 both go out of support on 10-Nov-2026. Any project pinned to 7.4 or 7.5 needs a 7.6 upgrade planned now. Recommend 7.6 for all new work.

Windows PowerShell 5.1 is not deprecated - it ships with Windows and is supported under the Windows lifecycle - but it receives no new features. Treat it as a compatibility target, never as the target you optimize for.

Choosing a target

Ask which applies before generating code:

  • Cross-version modules (shipping to unknown estates) - target 5.1 with CompatiblePSEditions = @('Desktop', 'Core'). Gate 7.x-only features behind version checks.
  • Modern-only automation (containers, CI, greenfield) - target 7.6 with CompatiblePSEditions = @('Core'). Do not carry 5.1 compatibility cost for no reason.
  • Windows-estate tooling that must run in-box on servers without pwsh installed - target 5.1.

Declare the target explicitly, at the top of scripts and in the module manifest:

#requires -Version 7.6
@{
    PowerShellVersion    = '7.6'
    CompatiblePSEditions = @('Core')
}

Use #requires -Version 7.4 only when you have verified the code avoids every 7.5/7.6 feature listed below. #requires -Version 7.0 is obsolete - that version is retired; if you mean "any PowerShell 7", the lowest supported floor is 7.4, and after 10-Nov-2026 it is 7.6.

Read the full file on GitHub · 243 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 243 lines · 2,728 tokens per session scan A 13b4c907417c

Subscribe to this mod's changes

Powershell-Copilot-Standards powershell-version.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository fadwen/Powershell-Copilot-Standards (19 stars, last pushed 2d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 2,728 tokens to every session, about $0.0136 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.