Groups Reference

Groups Reference

winforge organizes work into 7 modular groups. Each group installs programs, applies configuration, or both. Run one with -Group <name> or all by omitting the flag.

Group	Purpose	Contents
base	Essential programs	Firefox, Git, VLC, WinRAR, LibreOffice (5)
dev	Development tools	VS Code, GitHub Desktop, Claude, Python (4)
gaming	Gaming & social	Steam, Discord (2)
system	System utilities	NVIDIA App, AMD Radeon, CPU-Z, HWMonitor (4)
optimize	System tuning	Safe by default; -Profile safe/desktop/gaming (services, power, network, storage, visual)
customize	UI customization	18 Windows Explorer / shell tweaks
shell	Terminal enhancement	Oh My Posh (half-life theme) + Fira Code
restore	Undo changes	Reverts services + policy keys to Windows defaults (explicit-only, -WhatIf)

Program groups (base / dev / gaming / system)

These install applications through the fallback chain (Winget → Chocolatey → custom URL). Detection is idempotent: already-installed apps are skipped.

Configuration groups (optimize / customize / shell)

These apply registry, service, and profile changes rather than installing apps:

• optimize — privacy and performance tuning, safe by default. A -Profile (safe/desktop/gaming) sets how aggressive it is. See Optimization Details.
• customize — File Explorer, taskbar, Start menu, dark mode, mouse/keyboard tweaks. See docs/CUSTOMIZE.md.
• shell — PowerShell profile, Oh My Posh, Fira Code, PSReadLine, aliases. See Shell Enhancement.

Reversing changes (restore)

restore is not part of the default run. It puts services and policy keys back to Windows defaults — the escape hatch if optimize broke something.

.\setup.ps1 -Group restore -WhatIf   # preview
sudo .\setup.ps1 -Group restore      # apply

See docs/RESTORE.md.

Adding your own programs

Edit the relevant module in src/modules/ and add an entry to its $programs array:

@{
    Name       = "My App"
    WingetId   = "Publisher.MyApp"
    ChocoId    = "myapp"        # optional Chocolatey fallback
    Executable = "myapp"        # optional, used for detection
}

Program hashtable keys (consumed by Install-Program):

Key	Required	Purpose
Name	yes	Display name; used for detection and logging
WingetId	yes	winget package id (primary install method)
ChocoId	no	Chocolatey package id (fallback if winget fails)
Executable	no	Command probed on PATH for skip-if-installed detection
InstallerUrl	no	Direct installer URL (last-resort fallback, run silently)

Then validate detection without installing:

.\tools\validate.ps1 -Group <group> -ShowDetails