Back language model tools and the Command Explorer with new LSP requests by andyleejordan · Pull Request #2298 · PowerShell/PowerShellEditorServices

andyleejordan · 2026-06-09T22:37:03Z

Server-side support for new VS Code extension features (language model tools, a redesigned Command Explorer, and a read-only Show Help pane). The client work lives in PowerShell/vscode-powershell#5508 and depends on this PR; the two should be reviewed and merged together.

Return help text from the powerShell/showHelp request — convert showHelp from a notification to a request returning ShowHelpResult { HelpText }, capturing Get-Help -Full | Out-String and trimming both ends (it pads a leading and trailing blank line).
Enhance get_command for tools and the Command Explorer — optional Name/Module filters (wildcard, -ErrorAction Ignore), an ExcludeParameters fast path plus ModuleVersion, unconditional exclusion of editor-injected commands (the fake PSConsoleHostReadLine 0.0.0 and VS Code shell-integration helpers), and opt-in ExcludeDefaultFunctions enumerated from InitialSessionState.CreateDefault2().
Add a powerShell/getModule handler — returns a single module's metadata for the Command Explorer's hover tooltips. Covered by E2E tests verifying metadata is returned for an existing module and a null result for a missing module.
Add Copilot instructions documenting build and test.

Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.8) — please review/edit before marking ready.

Convert `powerShell/showHelp` from a fire-and-forget notification into a request that returns `ShowHelpResult { HelpText }`, so the client can render help in a read-only editor pane (and the language model `get_help` tool can reuse the same path) instead of printing into the integrated console. The handler captures `Get-Help -Full | Out-String` and `.Trim()`s both ends — `Out-String` pads the output with a leading and trailing blank line, which looked wrong in the help pane and in tool output. Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.8). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

The handler previously serialized the entire command table (names, modules, and full parameter metadata) on every request, which is slow enough to hang the `get_command` language model tool and made the Command Explorer take minutes to populate. Extend `GetCommandParams` so callers can ask for only what they need: - `Name`/`Module` (both wildcard-capable) scope the `Get-Command` call so we don't materialize everything; an unmatched filter writes a non-terminating error, so we pass `-ErrorAction Ignore` and return an empty list instead. - `ExcludeParameters` takes a fast path that returns just name, module, and the new `ModuleVersion` without touching `Parameters`/`ParameterSets`, whose resolution and serialization dominate the cost. - Editor-injected commands are always skipped: the PSES host's fake `PSConsoleHostReadLine` (version 0.0.0) and VS Code's shell-integration helpers (`__VSCode-Escape-Value`, `Set-MappedKeyHandler[s]`) are plumbing, not commands a user authored or imported. - `ExcludeDefaultFunctions` (opt-in) drops PowerShell's module-less default-session functions (`cd..`, `prompt`, `TabExpansion2`, ...) and the install's `pwsh.profile.resource` script. The names come from `InitialSessionState.CreateDefault2()` so the list stays correct across PowerShell versions; module-provided commands are never affected. Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.8). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds server-side LSP request support needed by upcoming VS Code extension features (language model tools, redesigned Command Explorer, and a read-only Show Help pane), aligning PowerShellEditorServices with new client capabilities in the companion VS Code PR.

Changes:

Converts powerShell/showHelp from a notification into a request that returns full help text as a string.
Enhances powerShell/getCommand with optional name/module filtering, a fast path to exclude parameter metadata, and filtering for editor-injected/default-session commands.
Adds a new powerShell/getModule request handler plus Copilot build/test instructions documentation.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/PowerShellEditorServices/Services/PowerShell/Handlers/ShowHelpHandler.cs	Switches showHelp to a request and returns trimmed help text from `Get-Help -Full \| Out-String`.
src/PowerShellEditorServices/Services/PowerShell/Handlers/GetModuleHandler.cs	Adds a new LSP request to retrieve module metadata for Command Explorer tooltips.
src/PowerShellEditorServices/Services/PowerShell/Handlers/GetCommandHandler.cs	Adds filtering/fast-path options and excludes editor-injected/default-session commands.
src/PowerShellEditorServices/Server/PsesLanguageServer.cs	Registers the new `GetModuleHandler` with the language server.
.github/copilot-instructions.md	Documents local build/test workflows and repo architecture/conventions for Copilot.

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.

andyleejordan · 2026-06-10T17:18:12Z

+                [System.Diagnostics.DebuggerHidden()]
+                [CmdletBinding()]
+                param (
+                    [String]$Name,
+                    [String]$Version
+                )
+                $modules = Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Get-Module -ListAvailable -Name $Name -ErrorAction Ignore
+                if ($Version) {
+                    $modules = $modules | Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Where-Object { $_.Version.ToString() -eq $Version }
+                }
+                $module = $modules | Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility\Sort-Object Version -Descending | Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility\Select-Object -First 1
+                if ($null -eq $module) {
+                    return
+                }
+                [PSCustomObject]@{
+                    Name = $module.Name
+                    Version = $module.Version.ToString()
+                    Description = $module.Description
+                    Path = $module.Path
+                    Author = $module.Author
+                    CompanyName = $module.CompanyName
+                    ProjectUri = if ($module.ProjectUri) { $module.ProjectUri.ToString() } else { '' }
+                    PowerShellVersion = if ($module.PowerShellVersion) { $module.PowerShellVersion.ToString() } else { '' }
+                }
+                ";


@SeeminglyScience main thing I'd like your eye on.

andyleejordan · 2026-06-10T17:18:51Z

-                    $helpUri = [Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetHelpCodeMethods]::GetHelpUri($command)
-
-                    $oldSslVersion = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol
-                    [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
-
-                    # HEAD means we don't need the content itself back, just the response header
-                    $status = (Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility\Invoke-WebRequest -Method Head -Uri $helpUri -TimeoutSec 5 -ErrorAction Stop).StatusCode
-                    if ($status -lt 400) {
-                        $null = Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Get-Help $CommandName -Online
-                        return
-                    }
-                } catch {
-                    # Ignore - we want to drop out to Get-Help -Full
-                } finally {
-                    [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = $oldSslVersion
-                }
-
-                return Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Get-Help $CommandName -Full


@SeeminglyScience and the removal of the "look up online" bit that I don't think ever worked well for us

The Command Explorer groups commands under versioned module nodes and shows a tooltip on hover. Add a `getModule` request that returns a single module's metadata (version, description, path, author, company, project URI, required PowerShell version) so the client can populate those tooltips lazily, and register the handler in `PsesLanguageServer`. Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.8). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

We had no `.github/copilot-instructions.md`, so agents working in this repo had to rediscover how to build and test, how the projects fit together, and how we label pull requests. This adds a single instructions file covering all of it: - **Build & Test** — `dotnet` directly for the fast inner loop versus `Invoke-Build` (which needs `InvokeBuild`/`platyPS`) for assembling the full module and running the complete CI suite. - **Architecture** — the project layout, key services, the LSP/DAP handler pattern, and how the server is wired up. - **Conventions** — C# style enforced by `.editorconfig`, the xUnit testing setup, and the multi-targeting story. - **Pull Request Labels** — every PR needs at least one `Area-*` label and exactly one `Issue-*` label (plus `OS-*` and `Ignore` when relevant). The `Issue-*` label is what GitHub's auto-generated release notes key off of (see `.github/release.yml`); a PR without one silently falls through to "Other Changes 🙏". The build, architecture, and conventions content previously rode along in #2298; consolidating it here keeps that PR focused on its LSP changes and gives us a single source of truth for the instructions. Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.8). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

* Make `OnIdle` tests deterministic by polling instead of sleeping `CanRunOnIdleTask` (and its twin `CanRunOnIdleInProfileTask`) were flaky on the net462 (Windows PowerShell 5.1) CI leg — the former was just caught failing on PR #2298's Windows job. The root cause is that `PsesInternalHost.OnPowerShellIdle` calls `Events.GenerateEvent(PSEngineEvent.OnIdle, ...)`, which only *enqueues* the event. For a subscriber registered with `-Action {...}`, PowerShell doesn't run the action scriptblock inline; it becomes a pending action that the engine dispatches asynchronously on the pipeline thread, around subsequent pipeline invocations. So the action's execution was never synchronized with the test's `$handled` read, and the fixed `Thread.Sleep(2000)` was just a timing guess — sometimes too short on the slower WinPS leg, leaving `$global:handled` still `$false` at the assertion. The key realization is that each *additional* pipeline execution gives the engine another chance to drain the pending action, so re-reading the handler variable in a loop both waits for *and* drives completion. I replaced the sleep with a shared `WaitForHandledAsync` helper that polls the variable (~200ms apart, ~15s ceiling) until it reports `$true`, returning the last observed value on timeout so the assertion still fails loudly. This keeps the tests' intent intact and isn't merely a longer sleep. I validated both tests on net8.0 (green across repeated runs, ~0.4s each vs. the old fixed 2s); net462 can't run on macOS, but the mechanism is identical across targets and the 15s ceiling self-terminates on success, so it's strictly safer on the slow leg without slowing the fast one. Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.8). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> * Move `OnIdle` assertion into helper and drop list return Small follow-up to review feedback: both call sites only ever asserted the handler variable became `$true`, so the `IReadOnlyList<bool>` return was needless ceremony. `AssertHandledAsync` now owns the assertion — it returns once the variable reports `$true` and otherwise fails via `Assert.Fail` when the ~15s poll window elapses, which reads as "the OnIdle handler never ran." `Assert.Fail` is fine here — we're on xUnit 2.9.3 and already use it in the E2E tests. No behavior change to what's being verified; the call sites just shrink to a single `await OnIdleTestHelpers.AssertHandledAsync(...)`. Still green on net8.0. Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.8). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> * Assert `OnIdle` poll result with `Assert.True` Follow-up to review feedback: the helper short-circuited with a bare `return` on success and only asserted (`Assert.Fail`) on timeout, so the happy path had no explicit assertion. Restructure the loop to poll until the handler variable is `$true` or the ~15s window elapses, then assert the outcome once with `Assert.True(handled, ...)`. Same behavior, but the success and timeout paths now share a single, self-describing assertion. Still green on net8.0. Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.8). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> --------- Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

We had no `.github/copilot-instructions.md`, so agents working in this repo had to rediscover how to build and test, how the projects fit together, and how we label pull requests. This adds a single instructions file covering all of it: - **Build & Test** — `dotnet` directly for the fast inner loop versus `Invoke-Build` (which needs `InvokeBuild`/`platyPS`) for assembling the full module and running the complete CI suite. - **Architecture** — the project layout, key services, the LSP/DAP handler pattern, and how the server is wired up. - **Conventions** — C# style enforced by `.editorconfig`, the xUnit testing setup, and the multi-targeting story. - **Pull Request Labels** — every PR needs at least one `Area-*` label and exactly one `Issue-*` label (plus `OS-*` and `Ignore` when relevant). The `Issue-*` label is what GitHub's auto-generated release notes key off of (see `.github/release.yml`); a PR without one silently falls through to "Other Changes 🙏". The build, architecture, and conventions content previously rode along in #2298; consolidating it here keeps that PR focused on its LSP changes and gives us a single source of truth for the instructions. Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.8). Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

andyleejordan and others added 2 commits June 9, 2026 15:20

andyleejordan mentioned this pull request Jun 9, 2026

Add PowerShell language model tools and redesign the Command Explorer PowerShell/vscode-powershell#5508

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andyleejordan requested review from JustinGrote and SeeminglyScience June 9, 2026 22:58

andyleejordan marked this pull request as ready for review June 10, 2026 00:48

andyleejordan requested a review from a team as a code owner June 10, 2026 00:48

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings June 10, 2026 00:48

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of andyleejordan June 10, 2026 00:48 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jun 10, 2026

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Copilot started work on behalf of andyleejordan June 10, 2026 01:02 View session

Copilot finished work on behalf of andyleejordan June 10, 2026 01:07

Copilot started work on behalf of andyleejordan June 10, 2026 01:08 View session

Copilot finished work on behalf of andyleejordan June 10, 2026 01:11

andyleejordan force-pushed the andyleejordan/lm-tools-command-explorer branch from a8b603f to 8dfaff7 Compare June 10, 2026 17:10

andyleejordan commented Jun 10, 2026

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andyleejordan force-pushed the andyleejordan/lm-tools-command-explorer branch 2 times, most recently from ca19276 to 7d3efc5 Compare June 10, 2026 18:00

andyleejordan force-pushed the andyleejordan/lm-tools-command-explorer branch from 7d3efc5 to 25305c7 Compare June 10, 2026 18:19

andyleejordan enabled auto-merge (rebase) June 15, 2026 15:54

andyleejordan added Area-Language Server Area-API Issue-Enhancement A feature request (enhancement). labels Jun 16, 2026

andyleejordan force-pushed the andyleejordan/lm-tools-command-explorer branch from 25305c7 to ac66fc4 Compare June 16, 2026 15:56

andyleejordan mentioned this pull request Jun 16, 2026

Fix flaky CanRunOnIdleTask by polling instead of sleeping #2314

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Back language model tools and the Command Explorer with new LSP requests#2298

Back language model tools and the Command Explorer with new LSP requests#2298
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edited by Copilot AI

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andyleejordan commented Jun 9, 2026 •

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