The most Powerful PowerShell Prompt module for interactive, highly customizable prompts

pwsh-prompt

Build rich, interactive terminal prompts with type coercion, validation, hotkeys, pagination, and full alternate-buffer rendering - all from a single purpose module.

Usage

Install-PSResource pwsh-prompt
Import-Module pwsh-prompt -DisableNameChecking

Why -DisableNameChecking? PowerShell enforces a list of "approved verbs" for cmdlet names and emits a warning when a module exports names that don't match. Prompt is not on that list, so without the flag you'll see a harmless warning on every import. The check is purely cosmetic - it has zero effect on functionality, security, or compatibility. The approved-verb list is an arbitrary convention, and the warning is entirely superficial. This flag simply silences it.

None of the approved verbs accurately describe what these cmdlets do. The closest candidates - Read, Request, Get - all carry different semantic expectations. Prompt is the most precise and intuitive verb for interactive user input, and is worth the harmless warning.

See Approved Verbs for PowerShell Commands for more detail.

Simple user prompt

$name = Prompt-Input "What's your name?"

Simple user prompt with type validation (user must provide an integer)

$port = Prompt-Input "Port number" -ExpectedType int

Prompt with type validation and extended custom validation

$port = Prompt-Input "Port number" -ExpectedType int -Validation {
    @(($_ -ge 1024 -and $_ -le 65535), "Must be between 1024 and 65535")
}

Prompt choice picker

$i = Prompt-Choice @("Red", "Green", "Blue") "Pick a color"

Prompt choice picker with multiple selections enabled

$selected = Prompt-Choice @(
    @{ Value = "dev"; HotKey = "d"; Description = "Development" },
    @{ Value = "staging"; HotKey = "s" },
    @{ Value = "prod"; HotKey = "p"; Description = "Production" }
) "Deploy to:" -Multiple

Commands

Prompt-Input

Typed, validated text input with retry logic

• Intuitive Type Casting - string, int, float, bool, datetime, guid, uri, regex, directory, file, and more
• Smart bool parsing - accepts y/n, yes/no, on/off, 1/0
• Tab completion - built-in filesystem completion for directory and file types
• Retry control - infinite retries by default, cap with -AttemptsAllotment, or fail-fast with -ErrorAction Stop
• Custom validation - pass in a scriptblock to validate input (in tandem with the retry logic)
• Culture-aware parsing - override with -Culture for locale-specific number and date formats

Prompt-Choice

Navigable single or multi-select choice picker

• Keyboard driven - arrow keys, digit keys (1-9 page-relative), PgUp/PgDn for pages, Ctrl+Home/Ctrl+End for first/last page, Home/End for first/last on page, Space to toggle, Enter to confirm, Escape to cancel
• Hotkeys - bind any letter to a choice for instant selection
• Pagination - automatic page splitting based on terminal height
• Multi-select - select multiple options
• Alternate buffer - fullscreen rendering with complete customization
• Per-item styling - individual choices can override foreground, background, and style

Styling

Every label parameter accepts a plain string or a hashtable for full styling control:

Prompt-Input @{
    Text            = "Enter your name"
    ForegroundColor = @("White", "255;255;255")
    BackgroundColor = @("DarkBlue", "0;0;139")
    Style           = "Bold,Italic"
}

• Dual-target colors - color tuples provide both 256-color and 24-bit values; the module selects automatically based on terminal capability
• 12 text decorations - Bold, Dim, Italic, Underline, SlowBlink, RapidBlink, Reverse, Hidden, Strikethrough, DoubleUnderline, Overline (combinable) - support is terminal dependent

Documentation

Full reference docs are available on the wiki, or via Get-Help:

Get-Help Prompt-Input -Full
Get-Help Prompt-Choice -Full
Get-Help about_pwsh-prompt