HOWTO: Publish Private PowerShell Modules

Storing your private PowerShell modules publicly on PowerShellGallery.com is not an option for most organizations.

ProGet allows you to set up a private repository. ProGet’s feeds allow you to securely store and share PowerShell modules with all members of your organization without the risks associated with a public repository.

This article explains how to create a PowerShell module repository in ProGet and then create, publish, and install private packages from it.

Step 1: Create a PowerShell Module Repository in ProGet

Create a new feed by navigating to Feeds > Create New Feed

Choose "PowerShell Modules" from the options presented and give it a name and optional description. We’ll be using “internal-powershell”.

After clicking on Create New Feed, you now have your own private PowerShell module repository!

Step 2: Create a PowerShell Module & Manifest

First you will need to create a PowerShell Module. Modules combine several PowerShell functions into a single reusable and easily sharable resource.

For demonstration purposes, we’ll create a simple PowerShell Module named Foobar.psm1 and save it to C:\Foobar.

function Get-Foobar {
    <#
    .SYNOPSIS
    Take the inputs for two variables $Foo and $Bar. THen return $Foo$Bar

    .PARAMETER Foo
    Foo

    .PARAMETER Bar
    Bar
    #>
    
    param ([String]$Foo = "Foo", [String]$Bar = "Bar")

        return "$Foo$Bar"
    }

    function Set-Foobar {
        <#
        .SYNOPSIS
        Take the inputs for two variables $Foo and $Bar. Then return $Foo$Bar
    
        .PARAMETER Foo
        Foo
    
        .PARAMETER Bar
        Bar
        #>
        
        param ([String]$Foo = "Foo", [String]$Bar = "Bar")
            Write-Debug "$Foo$Bar"
        }

Create a PowerShell Module Manifest

A module manifest is a PowerShell data file (.psd1) that, is simply an “about” file for your module that contains information about the module, including the version number, copyright, exported variables, etc.

Microsoft published a guide on writing PowerShell module manifests, but to sum it up: you can use the New-ModuleManifest CmdLet to create the manifest, and only the Author and Description metadata fields are required.

Using our Foobar.psm1 example we would type:

New-ModuleManifest -Path "C:\Foobar\Foobar.psd1" -Author Inedo -Description "Contains functions that will write Foobar to the console and debug" -PassThru

Step 3: Publish Your Module to ProGet

Once you have a PowerShell module set up, you can add it to your ProGet feed to securely share it with your entire organization.

Create an API key in ProGet

You will need to create an API Key that allows your PowerShell module to connect to your ProGet instance. To do this navigate to Administration Overview > Integrations & Extensibility > API Keys > Create API Key.

ProGet uses three types of API keys, but since we created a PowerShell feed in step 1, we'll use a feed API key. If you need a temporary API key, you can specify the following as the API key instead:

username:password

For more information on how API Keys function in ProGet, see our documentation

Import PowerShellGet Module

PowerShellGet is a module that allows you to both publish to and import from a repository. It is installed by default, but running the command will ensure that the module is up to date.

To do this in PowerShell, enter:

Import-Module PowerShellGet

Register Target Feed

By default, PowerShell attempts to publish modules to and obtain them from the PowerShell Gallery, Microsoft's public PowerShell module repository. To publish a PowerShell module to ProGet, a new repository must be registered.

To do this, you'll first need to find the API Endpoint URL of your feed:

Then, you can use the cmdlet Register-PSRepository to designate a new target repository.

You’ll also need to use the following parameters to publish to your ProGet PowerShell repository/feed:

Using our Foobar.psm1 example we would type:

Register-PSRepository -Name internal-powershell -SourceLocation http://54.250.56.60:8624/nuget/internal-powershell/ -PublishLocation http://54.250.56.60:8624/nuget/internal-powershell/

Publish Module to ProGet Feed

To publish the module, use the cmdlet Publish-Module in combination with the following parameters:

Using our Foobar.psm1 example we would type:

Publish-Module -Path c:\Foobar -NuGetApiKey http://54.250.56.60:8624/nuget/internal-powershell/ -Repository internal-powershell -verbose

At this point "Foobar" will now appear in your ProGet feed.

Step 4: Install Modules from your ProGet Feed

To use a PowerShell module in your ProGet feed, you must first download and install the module on the target system.

Open PowerShell and register the feed from which you want to download the module. As with publishing, it is necessary to specify a custom location instead of the default PowerShell gallery.

Register ProGet Feed for Downloads

Use Register-PSRepository in combination with the following parameters:

ProGet will display the command to use under Usage Instruction in: Feeds > feed-name > module-name > Repository.

Using our “Foobar.psm1” example we would type:

Register-PSRepository -Name "internal-powershell" -SourceLocation "http://54.250.56.60:8624/nuget/internal-powershell/"

Unregister-PackageSource -Name «feed-name»

Download and Install Modules from Your ProGet Feed

Use Install-Module with the following parameters:

ProGet will display the command to use under Usage Instruction in: Feeds > feed-name > module-name > Repository.

Using our “Foobar.psm1” example we would type:

Install-Module -Name "Foobar" -RequiredVersion "1.0" -Repository "internal-powershell"