Open Source PowerShell Frameworks

Pester is the de-facto unit testing and mocking framework for PowerShell, widely used to validate scripts, modules, and automation workflows. It provides a readable DSL for writing Describe/Context/It style specs, expressive assertion helpers (Should), and facilities for setup/teardown to keep tests isolated and reproducible. Beyond unit tests, Pester supports integration tests and can mock functions and modules so external side effects (network, registry, file system) are faked during runs. It integrates with CI systems easily—returning standard exit codes and generating NUnit/JUnit-style test reports—so PowerShell codebases can be validated in automated pipelines. The framework evolves with PowerShell itself, adding features for parallel execution, code coverage measurement, and test discovery to meet production needs. For teams, Pester encourages test-driven development and makes PowerShell deliverables more maintainable and trustworthy.

PowerSploit is a PowerShell-based post‑exploitation framework widely used by penetration testers, red‑teamers, and security researchers. It includes modules for code execution, introspection, lateral movement, persistence, and data exfiltration—deeply integrated into Windows environments.

PowerHub is a PowerShell-based automation framework designed to centralize and orchestrate common administrative tasks across Windows environments. It exposes a modular command set for inventorying systems, managing services, deploying packages, and executing remote commands with consistent logging and error handling. The project places emphasis on discoverability and reuse: scripts are organized into reusable modules and functions with clear parameter contracts so teams can compose higher-level workflows without duplicating glue code. Authentication and remoting are handled idiomatically via PowerShell remoting or credential stores, enabling both interactive and scheduled runs. Built-in reporting features aggregate results into human-readable summaries and machine-friendly outputs (CSV/JSON) for pipeline consumption or ticketing integration.

AutomatedLab is a provisioning solution and framework that lets you deploy complex labs on HyperV and Azure with simple PowerShell scripts. It supports all Windows operating systems from 2008 R2 to 2019, some Linux distributions and various products like AD, Exchange, PKI, IIS, etc. AutomatedLab (AL) enables you to setup test and lab environments on Hyper-v or Azure with multiple products or just a single VM in a very short time. There are only two requirements you need to make sure: You need the DVD ISO images and a Hyper-V host or an Azure subscription. Requires Windows Management Framework 5+ (Windows). Requires Intel VT-x or AMD/V capable CPU, a decent amount of RAM, and low-latency high-throughput storage (No spinning disks please, as there are issues related to them). This solution supports setting up virtual machines with Windows 7, 2008 R2, 8 / 8.1 and 2012 / 2012 R2, 10 / 2016, 2019, and SQL Server 2008, 2008R2, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019.

Blazor lets you build interactive web UIs using C# instead of JavaScript. Blazor apps are composed of reusable web UI components implemented using C#, HTML, and CSS. Both client and server code is written in C#, allowing you to share code and libraries. Blazor is a feature of ASP.NET, the popular web development framework that extends the .NET developer platform with tools and libraries for building web apps. Blazor can run your client-side C# code directly in the browser, using WebAssembly. Because it's real .NET running on WebAssembly, you can re-use code and libraries from server-side parts of your application. Alternatively, Blazor can run your client logic on the server. Client UI events are sent back to the server using SignalR - a real-time messaging framework. Once execution completes, the required UI changes are sent to the client and merged into the DOM. Blazor uses open web standards without plug-ins or code transpilation.

Powershell-based bot framework. PoshBot is a chat bot written in PowerShell. It makes extensive use of classes introduced in PowerShell 5.0. PowerShell modules are loaded into PoshBot and instantly become available as bot commands. PoshBot currently supports connecting to Slack to provide you with awesome ChatOps goodness. PoshBot executes functions or cmdlets from PowerShell modules. Use PoshBot to connect to servers and report status, deploy code, execute runbooks, query APIs, etc. If you can write it in PowerShell, PoshBot can execute it.

PoshC2 is a proxy-aware C2 framework used to aid penetration testers with red teaming, post-exploitation and lateral movement. PoshC2 is primarily written in Python3 and follows a modular format to enable users to add their own modules and tools, allowing an extendible and flexible C2 framework. Out-of-the-box PoshC2 comes PowerShell/C# and Python2/Python3 implants with payloads written in PowerShell v2 and v4, C++ and C# source code, a variety of executables, DLLs and raw shellcode in addition to a Python2/Python3 payload. These enable C2 functionality on a wide range of devices and operating systems, including Windows, *nix and OSX. Shellcode containing in-build AMSI bypass and ETW patching for a high success rate and stealth. Auto-generated Apache Rewrite rules for use in a C2 proxy, protecting your C2 infrastructure and maintaining good operational security. Fully encrypted communications, protecting the confidentiality and integrity of the C2 traffic.

PowerSploit is a collection of PowerShell modules that historically served as a toolkit for post-exploitation tasks, red-team exercises, and offensive-security research—covering areas like reconnaissance, lateral movement, persistence, and situational awareness. The repository bundles many focused scripts: code to enumerate system and Active Directory information, payload generation helpers, in-memory execution utilities, and modules to interact with credentials and services. Because the modules can be used to both demonstrate weaknesses and to exploit them, the project is typically referenced in threat emulation, penetration testing, and defensive research to understand attacker capabilities. Responsible use centers on authorized assessments: defenders use the toolkit to validate monitoring and detection, while operators apply its lessons to patch, harden, and instrument systems.