WinGet Banner & Help Menu

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WinGet Banner & Help Menu

I love using WinGet, but I found the default help output a bit uninspired. I wanted something with a little more eye candy, that felt more like a premium, dedicated system tool, so I built a custom PowerShell wrapper function for my profile.

It introduces a clean ASCII banner, visually isolates command categories (splitting out the advanced DSC/MCP stuff from daily package management), and features a completely dynamic auto-sizing helper function so long parameters like --disable-interactivity never blow out the borders.

📸 What it looks like in action:

To use this, just open your profile configuration (notepad $PROFILE) and drop in the following code. It cleanly handles native argument passing, so commands like winget install pass right through flawlessly:

The Script:

$Profile_Name = $PROFILE
$Winget_Version = winget --version

function winget {
    if ($args.Count -eq 0 -or $args -contains "-?" -or $args -contains "--help") {
        Clear-Host
        Write-Host "$Profile_Name `n"

# 1. Custom Visual Banner
        Write-Host ""
        Write-Host "  " -NoNewline
        Write-Host "  ██╗    ██╗██╗███╗   ██╗ ██████╗ ███████╗████████╗ " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan 
        Write-Host "  " -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  ██║    ██║██║████╗  ██║██╔════╝ ██╔════╝╚══██╔══╝ " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan 
        Write-Host "  " -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  ██║ █╗ ██║██║██╔██╗ ██║██║  ███╗█████╗     ██║    " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan 
        Write-Host "  " -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  ██║███╗██║██║██║╚██╗██║██║   ██║██╔══╝     ██║    " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan 
        Write-Host "  " -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  ╚███╔███╔╝██║██║ ╚████║╚██████╔╝███████╗   ██║    " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan 
        Write-Host "  " -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "   ╚══╝╚══╝ ╚═╝╚═╝  ╚═══╝ ╚═════╝ ╚══════╝   ╚═╝    " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan 
        Write-Host "" -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan 
        Write-Host ""
        Write-Host ""
        Write-Host "  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐" -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  │  " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
	Write-Host "Windows Package Manager $Winget_Version" -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan 
	Write-Host "                            │" -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤" -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  │  " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
	Write-Host "A modern CLI utility to manage local system software." -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Gray
        Write-Host "        │" -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host "  └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘" -ForegroundColor Cyan
        Write-Host ""
        
	function Show-CommandTable ([string]$Title, [hashtable]$Commands) {
            # Change baseline minimum to 14 to perfectly match the length of "command/option"
            $MaxKeyLen = 14
            foreach ($key in $Commands.Keys) {
                if ($key.Length -gt $MaxKeyLen) { $MaxKeyLen = $key.Length }
            }
            
            # The description column is locked at 50 characters wide
            $DescLen = 50

            # Construct dynamic frame borders matching the new widths
            $TopLine    = "  ┌" + ("─" * ($MaxKeyLen + 2)) + "┬" + ("─" * ($DescLen + 2)) + "┐"
            $MidLine    = "  ├" + ("─" * ($MaxKeyLen + 2)) + "┼" + ("─" * ($DescLen + 2)) + "┤"
            $BottomLine = "  └" + ("─" * ($MaxKeyLen + 2)) + "┴" + ("─" * ($DescLen + 2)) + "┘"

            # 1. Print Title and Headers
            Write-Host " ${Title}:" -ForegroundColor Yellow
            Write-Host $TopLine -ForegroundColor Cyan
            
            Write-Host "  │ " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
            Write-Host ("{0,-$MaxKeyLen}" -f "command/option") -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
            Write-Host " │ " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
            Write-Host ("{0,-$DescLen}" -f "description") -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
            Write-Host " │" -ForegroundColor Cyan
            
            Write-Host $MidLine -ForegroundColor Cyan
            
            # 2. Print Key Value Rows
            foreach ($cmd in ($Commands.Keys | Sort-Object)) {
                Write-Host "  │ " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
                Write-Host ("{0,-$MaxKeyLen}" -f $cmd) -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Gray
                Write-Host " │ " -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Cyan
                Write-Host ("{0,-$DescLen}" -f $Commands[$cmd]) -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Gray
                Write-Host " │" -ForegroundColor Cyan
            }
            
            # 3. Print Bottom Close Border
            Write-Host $BottomLine -ForegroundColor Cyan
            Write-Host ""
        }

       # 2. Package Management Group
        $PkgCmds = @{
            "install"   = "Installs the given package"
            "show"      = "Shows info about a package"
            "source"    = "Manage sources of packages"
            "search"    = "Find and show basic info of packages"
            "list"      = "Display installed packages"
            "upgrade"   = "Upgrades the given package"
            "uninstall" = "Uninstalls the given package"
            "import"    = "Installs all the packages in a file"
            "download"  = "Downloads installer from a package"
            "repair"    = "Repairs the selected package"
            "pin"       = "Manage package pins"
        }
        Show-CommandTable "Package Commands" $PkgCmds

        # 3. Environment & Utility Group
        $UtilCmds = @{
            "hash"      = "Helper to hash installer files"
            "validate"  = "Validates a manifest file"
            "settings"  = "Open settings or set admin settings"
            "features"  = "Shows status of experimental features"
            "export"    = "Exports a list of installed packages"
        }
        Show-CommandTable "Environment & Utility Commands" $UtilCmds

        # 4. Advanced & Configuration Group
        $ConfigCmds = @{
            "configure" = "Configures system into a desired state"
            "dscv3"     = "DSC v3 resource commands"
            "mcp"       = "MCP information"
        }
        Show-CommandTable "Advanced & Configuration Commands" $ConfigCmds

	# 5. Global Command Options Group
        $GlobalOptions = @{
            "-?"                     = "Shows help about the selected command"
            "--help"                 = "Shows help about the selected command"
            "-v"                     = "Display the version of the tool"
            "--version"              = "Display the version of the tool"
            "--info"                 = "Display general info of the tool"
            "--logs"                 = "Open the default logs location"
            "--open-logs"            = "Open the default logs location"
            "--verbose"              = "Enables verbose logging for winget"
            "--verbose-logs"         = "Enables verbose logging for winget"
            "--ignore-warnings"      = "Suppresses warning outputs"
            "--nowarn"               = "Suppresses warning outputs"
            "--proxy"                = "Set a proxy to use for this execution"
            "--no-proxy"             = "Disable proxy usage for this execution"
            "--wait"                 = "Prompts user to press any key before exiting"
            "--disable-interactivity"= "Disable interactive prompts"
        }
        Show-CommandTable "Global Options" $GlobalOptions
	Write-Host "More help can be found at: " -NoNewLine -ForegroundColor Gray
	Write-Host "https://aka.ms/winget-command-help" -ForegroundColor Yellow
	Write-Host "" -ForegroundColor White
    }
}