PowerShell Script Bootstrap

A minimal, grab-and-go starting point for PowerShell scripts. Clone it, copy the template, and start writing logic — structured logging, log rotation, and startup diagnostics are already wired up.

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What's Included

File	Purpose
template.ps1	Starting point for any new script
logger.ps1	Logging module — dot-sourced by the template

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Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/KDScheuer/PowerShellScriptBootStrap.git

1. Copy template.ps1 and rename it for your script
2. Update the comment-based help block at the top (.SYNOPSIS, .DESCRIPTION, etc.)
3. Set your log prefix, retention period, and minimum log level in Initialize-Logging
4. Write your logic inside the try block

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Logger

Initialization

. "$PSScriptRoot\logger.ps1"
Initialize-Logging -Prefix "my-script" -RetentionDays 7 -LogLevel "INFO" -ScriptPath $PSScriptRoot -ScriptStartTime $ScriptStartTime

Parameter	Required	Description
Prefix	Yes	Log file name prefix — e.g. "my-script" produces my-script-20260329-T-083045.log
RetentionDays	Yes	Number of days before old log files are deleted
LogLevel	Yes	Minimum level to write — entries below this are suppressed from both console and file
ScriptPath	No	Path logged at startup for diagnostics (pass $PSScriptRoot)
ScriptStartTime	No	Start time logged at startup (pass $ScriptStartTime)

On initialization, the logger automatically writes:

• Script start time
• Hostname and executing user
• PowerShell version
• Script path

Writing Logs

Write-Log "Connecting to database." -Level "INFO"
Write-Log "Query returned $($results.Count) rows." -Level "DEBUG"
Write-Log "Config file not found, using defaults." -Level "WARN"
Write-Log "Failed to connect: $_" -Level "ERROR"

Log Levels

Levels are ordered — setting LogLevel "WARN" suppresses DEBUG, INFO, and NOTICE from both console output and the log file.

Level	Console Color	Use For
DEBUG	Dark Gray	Verbose diagnostics
INFO	White	General progress
NOTICE	Cyan	Notable milestones
WARN	Yellow	Non-fatal issues
ERROR	Dark Red	Recoverable errors
FATAL	Red	Unrecoverable failures

Log Output

[2026-03-29 08:30:45] [INFO] Script Start: 03/29/2026 08:30:45
[2026-03-29 08:30:45] [DEBUG] Running on: WORKSTATION01 as: jdoe
[2026-03-29 08:30:45] [DEBUG] PowerShell version: 5.1.19041.5247
[2026-03-29 08:30:45] [DEBUG] Script path: C:\Scripts\my-script
[2026-03-29 08:30:46] [INFO] Connecting to database.
[2026-03-29 08:30:46] [WARN] Config file not found, using defaults.
[2026-03-29 08:30:47] [INFO] Script finished. Duration: 2.13 seconds.

Log files are written to .\logs\ relative to the script location and are automatically cleaned up based on RetentionDays.

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Exit Codes

$ExitCode is initialized to 0 and passed to exit at the end of finally, so Task Scheduler and other callers always receive an explicit code.

Set it in your catch block or anywhere in the try block where a failure condition is detected:

catch {
    Write-Log "Error: $_" -Level "FATAL"
    $ExitCode = 1
}

Use distinct non-zero values if you need to differentiate failure types in the calling system.

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Structure

PowerShellScriptBootStrap/
├── logger.ps1       # Logging module
├── template.ps1     # Script template
└── logs/            # Created automatically at runtime (gitignored)