CommandQueue

A lightweight PowerShell command scheduler built on Windows Task Scheduler. Queue any command to run at a future time using natural language or a specific datetime — no third-party dependencies required.

How it works

1. You add commands to the queue with Register-ScheduledCommand
2. A Windows Scheduled Task runs Process-Queue.ps1 every 5 minutes
3. When a command's scheduled time arrives, it executes in a new PowerShell window and is removed from the queue

The queue is stored as a local JSON file. The scheduled task runs as SYSTEM so it fires even when your user session is locked.

Requirements

• Windows PowerShell 5.1+
• Windows Task Scheduler (built into Windows)
• Administrator rights (installation only)

Authorization

Windows restricts script execution by default. Two things may need to be addressed before the module works.

1. Execution policy

Check your current policy:

Get-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser

If it returns Restricted or Undefined, allow local scripts to run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

RemoteSigned lets you run local scripts freely while still requiring scripts downloaded from the internet to be signed. No Administrator rights needed for the CurrentUser scope.

2. Unblock files cloned from GitHub

When Git clones files from the internet, Windows marks them as untrusted. Unblock them before importing:

Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Scripts\CommandQueue -Recurse | Unblock-File

You can verify a file is unblocked by checking that this returns nothing:

Get-Item C:\Scripts\CommandQueue\CommandQueue.psm1 -Stream Zone.Identifier -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Installation

1. Register the scheduled task (run once as Administrator):

.\Install-CommandQueue.ps1

This creates a task that runs at startup and repeats every 5 minutes.

2. Import the module — add this to your PowerShell profile ($PROFILE) so the commands are available in every session:

Import-Module C:\Scripts\CommandQueue\CommandQueue.psm1

Usage

Schedule a command

Register-ScheduledCommand -Command "shutdown /r /t 0" -Time "in 2 hours"
Register-ScheduledCommand -Command "Write-Host 'Stand up'" -Time "today at 3:00 PM"
Register-ScheduledCommand -Command "notepad.exe C:\notes.txt" -Time "tomorrow at 9:00 AM"

# Short aliases
Register-ScheduledCommand -c "explorer.exe" -t "in 30 minutes"

Supported time formats:

Input	Meaning
in N minutes	N minutes from now
in N hours	N hours from now
in N days	N days from now
today at HH:MM AM/PM	Later today
tomorrow	Midnight tomorrow
tomorrow at HH:MM AM/PM	Specific time tomorrow
Any datetime string	Parsed by [datetime]::Parse()

View the queue

Get-ScheduledCommand

Id                                   RunTime              MinutesRemaining Command
--                                   -------              ---------------- -------
3f2a1b4c-...                         2/28/2026 3:00:00 PM            42.3 Write-Host 'Stand up'
9e8d7c6b-...                         3/1/2026  9:00:00 AM           975.1 notepad.exe C:\notes.txt

Remove a job

# Remove a specific job by its Id
Remove-ScheduledCommand -Id 3f2a1b4c-...

# Clear all jobs
Remove-ScheduledCommand -All

Uninstall

# Remove the scheduled task only
.\Uninstall-CommandQueue.ps1

# Remove the scheduled task and the queue file
.\Uninstall-CommandQueue.ps1 -RemoveQueue

Running tests

Pester 3.4 ships with Windows. From the repo root:

Import-Module Pester
Invoke-Pester .\Tests\CommandQueue.Tests.ps1

File reference

File	Purpose
CommandQueue.psm1	Module — exports Register-ScheduledCommand, Get-ScheduledCommand, Remove-ScheduledCommand
Install-CommandQueue.ps1	Registers the Windows Scheduled Task (run as Admin)
Process-Queue.ps1	Processes due jobs; called by Task Scheduler every 5 minutes
Uninstall-CommandQueue.ps1	Removes the scheduled task
Tests/CommandQueue.Tests.ps1	Pester test suite (22 tests)