Development

This page documents the local development workflow for the NinjaOne PowerShell module.

Quick start

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Build\bootstrap.ps1
pwsh -File .\DevOps\Build\build.ps1 -TaskNames build
pwsh -File .\DevOps\Quality\test.ps1

Repo layout

• DevOps/Build - build orchestration scripts and build config.
• DevOps/Quality - test and static analysis scripts.
• DevOps/Help - comment-based help generation and orchestration.
• Source - module source.
• Tests - Pester tests.
• docs/NinjaOne - generated commandlet docs output.

Bootstrap environment

Bootstrap installs required modules, prioritizes bundled modules, and configures git hooks.

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Build\bootstrap.ps1

If you need to force reinstalling dependencies:

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Build\bootstrap.ps1 -Force

Build

The build script supports multiple tasks:

• clean
• build
• updateManifest
• publish
• publishDocs
• updateHelp
• generateShortNamesMapping
• push

Build only:

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Build\build.ps1 -TaskNames build

Default full build (clean, build, update manifest, publish help/docs, push):

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Build\build.ps1

Tests

Tests run with Pester 5.x. By default, the test script also runs ScriptAnalyzer.

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Quality\test.ps1

Skip ScriptAnalyzer during tests:

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Quality\test.ps1 -SkipScriptAnalyzer

PSScriptAnalyzer

Run the standalone analyzer pass (uses PSScriptAnalyzerSettings.psd1):

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Quality\run-pssa.ps1

The analyzer excludes CustomRules, output, Modules, and test-rules.ps1.

Help generation

The help orchestration script runs in phases:

• Generate
• ApplyPublic
• Verify
• ApplyPrivate
• All

Run all phases:

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Help\Orchestrate-HelpGeneration.ps1 -Phase All

Docs generation

Regenerate the short name map and update docs output:

pwsh -File .\DevOps\Build\build.ps1 -TaskNames generateShortNamesMapping,updateHelp,publishDocs

Release and versioning

• The build script accepts -SemVer to set a specific version during build.
• Publishing and release packaging are handled via CI and build tasks.

PR checklist

• Run bootstrap.ps1 after pulling new dependencies.
• Run build.ps1 -TaskNames build before opening a PR.
• Run test.ps1 (or test.ps1 -SkipScriptAnalyzer if PSSA is already run).
• Run run-pssa.ps1 to validate style and quality rules.
• Update comment-based help and docs if you touched public functions.
• Confirm CHANGELOG.md is updated when appropriate.

Troubleshooting

• If tests cannot find a module output folder, run build.ps1 -TaskNames build first.
• If ScriptAnalyzer fails on new rules, confirm PSScriptAnalyzerSettings.psd1 is up to date.
• If help generation fails, ensure required modules from RequiredModules.psd1 are installed.