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harish2222 edited this page Jun 19, 2026 · 2 revisions

PowerShell Integration

This guide shows you how to make Forgum part of your PowerShell experience. After this, Forgum will greet you every time you open PowerShell.

What is a PowerShell Profile?

Your PowerShell profile is a special file that runs automatically when you open PowerShell. Think of it like a "startup script" — anything you put in there runs every time.

Step 1: Find Your Profile

Open PowerShell and type:

$PROFILE

This shows you the path to your profile file. It's usually something like:

  • Windows: C:\Users\YourName\Documents\PowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
  • Mac/Linux: ~/.config/powershell/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

Step 2: Open Your Profile

# Open in Notepad (Windows)
notepad $PROFILE

# Open in VS Code (any platform)
code $PROFILE

# Open in Vim (Mac/Linux)
vim $PROFILE

If PowerShell says the file doesn't exist, create it:

New-Item -ItemType File -Path $PROFILE -Force

Step 3: Add Forgum

Copy and paste these lines into your profile file:

# ============================================
# Forgum - Fortune Cow for PowerShell
# ============================================

# Import the module
Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Show a cow with a random fortune when PowerShell starts
forgum

Step 4: Save and Restart

  1. Save the file (Ctrl+S in most editors)
  2. Close PowerShell
  3. Open PowerShell again

You should see a cow with a fortune!

Advanced Profile Setups

Setup 1: Fortune Every Time (Simple)

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
forgum

Setup 2: Random Cow Every Time

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Pick a random cow and show a fortune
$cows = Get-CFCow
$randomCow = $cows | Get-Random
forgum -CowFile $randomCow.Name

Setup 3: Different Cow for Each Day

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Use day of year to pick a consistent cow for the day
$cows = Get-CFCow
$dayCow = $cows[(Get-Date).DayOfYear % $cows.Count]
forgum -CowFile $dayCow.Name

Setup 4: Rainbow Mode

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Enable rainbow colors
$config = Get-CFConfig
$config.lolcat.enabled = $true
Set-CFConfig -Config $config

forgum

Setup 5: Quiet Mode (Only on First Open)

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Only show fortune if this is the first PowerShell window
$hostWindow = (Get-Process -Id $PID).MainWindowTitle
if ($hostWindow -eq 'Windows PowerShell' -or $hostWindow -eq 'pwsh') {
    forgum
}

Sample Configurations (Copy-Paste Ready)

These are complete, ready-to-use profile snippets for common setups.

Pattern 1: Basic Forgum (Fortune Cow on Startup)

# ============================================
# Forgum - Basic Fortune Cow
# ============================================
# Shows a cow with a random fortune every time PowerShell opens.

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# forgum calls the default cow and a random fortune
forgum

Expected output:

  ╭─────────────────────────────────────────╮
  │ The best way to predict the future is   │
  │ to invent it.                           │
  ╰─────────────────────────────────────────╯
            \   ^__^
             \  (oo)\_______
                (__)\       )\/\
                    ||----w |
                    ||     ||

Pattern 2: Random Thoughts + Fixed Animal (tux)

# ============================================
# Forgum - Random Thoughts + Fixed Animal
# ============================================
# Always uses the tux cow with a random fortune.

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

function Show-FortuneCow {
    $fortune = Get-Fortune
    forgum -Text $fortune -CowFile 'tux'
}

# Call on startup
Show-FortuneCow

Expected output:

  ╭─────────────────────────────────────────╮
  │ The best way to predict the future is   │
  │ to invent it.                           │
  ╰─────────────────────────────────────────╯
         \
          \
            .--.
           |o_o |
           |:_/ |
          //   \ \
         (|     | )
        /'\_   _/`\
        \___)=(___/

Pattern 3: Random Thoughts + Fixed Animal + Lolcat

# ============================================
# Forgum - Random Thoughts + Fixed Animal + Rainbow
# ============================================
# Shows tux cow with fortune and rainbow colors.

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

function Show-FortuneCow {
    $fortune = Get-Fortune
    forgum -Text $fortune -CowFile 'tux' -Lolcat
}

# Call on startup
Show-FortuneCow

Expected output: Same as Pattern 2 but with rainbow-colored text.

Pattern 4: Random Thoughts + Random Animal

# ============================================
# Forgum - Random Thoughts + Random Animal
# ============================================
# Picks a random cow each time with a random fortune.

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

function Show-FortuneCow {
    $fortune = Get-Fortune
    $cow = (Get-CFCow | Get-Random).Name
    forgum -Text $fortune -CowFile $cow
}

# Call on startup
Show-FortuneCow

Pattern 5: Config-Based Toggle (Cow + Lolcat from config.json)

# ============================================
# Forgum - Config-Based Toggle
# ============================================
# Reads cow and lolcat settings from config.json.
# Edit config.json to change cow/lolcat without touching the profile.

Import-Module Forgum -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

function Show-FortuneCow {
    $config = Get-CFConfig

    # If config says random, pick random cow; otherwise use configured cow
    if ($config.cow.random) {
        $cow = (Get-CFCow | Get-Random).Name
    } elseif ($config.cow.file -ne 'default') {
        $cow = $config.cow.file
    } else {
        $cow = 'default'
    }

    # Build parameters
    $params = @{
        Text    = (Get-Fortune)
        CowFile = $cow
    }

    # Add Lolcat flag if enabled in config
    if ($config.lolcat.enabled) {
        $params['Lolcat'] = $true
    }

    forgum @params
}

# Call on startup
Show-FortuneCow

To toggle lolcat: Edit your config.json and set "enabled": true under lolcat. No profile changes needed.

Custom Profile Functions

Add these handy shortcuts to your profile:

# Quick fortune
function ff { forgum }

# Fortune with a specific cow
function fc { param([string]$Cow) forgum -CowFile $Cow }

# Toggle rainbow
function lolcat {
    $config = Get-CFConfig
    $config.lolcat.enabled = -not $config.lolcat.enabled
    Set-CFConfig -Config $config
    Write-Host "Rainbow: $(if ($config.lolcat.enabled) {'ON'} else {'OFF'})" -ForegroundColor $(if ($config.lolcat.enabled) {'Magenta'} else {'Gray'})
}

# Change settings permanently
# Usage: forgum-set -Cow dragon -Lolcat $true
function forgum-set { Set-Forgum @args }

# Random cow gallery (shows 3 cows)
function cowgallery {
    Get-CFCow | Get-Random -Count 3 | ForEach-Object {
        forgum -Text (Get-Fortune) -CowFile $_.Name
    }
}

Cross-Shell Persistence

Forgum's configuration is shared across all shells (PowerShell, Bash, Zsh, Fish) because they all read from the same config.json file.

You can use Set-Forgum in your PowerShell $PROFILE to ensure certain settings are always applied when you start a session:

# Force a specific cow and animation every time PowerShell starts
Set-Forgum -Cow dragon -Animation bounce

If you primarily use Bash or Zsh but want to change Forgum settings without opening PowerShell, you can add an alias to your .bashrc or .zshrc:

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias forgum-set='pwsh -Command "Set-Forgum"'

# Now you can use it directly from Bash:
# forgum-set -Cow tux -Animation talking

What Each Line Does

Line What It Does
Import-Module Forgum Loads Forgum into PowerShell
-ErrorAction SilentlyContinue Ignores errors if Forgum isn't installed
forgum Shows a cow with a random fortune
Get-CFConfig Reads the current settings
Set-CFConfig Saves new settings

Troubleshooting

"Import-Module : The specified module 'Forgum' was not loaded"

"forgum : The term 'forgum' is not recognized"

  • The import line might have an error. Check for typos.

No cow appears on startup

  • Make sure forgum is on its own line in your profile.
  • Restart PowerShell to test.

PowerShell startup hangs for 30+ seconds after adding Forgum to my profile

  • Root cause: Forgum's animation engine runs an infinite loop when animation.mode is set to anything other than static (e.g. talking, typewriter, bounce, disco). When an animation fires during profile load, the loop never exits and PowerShell cannot finish startup.
  • Fix 1 — disable animations for startup (preferred): set animation.mode = 'static' in your config: 
    $config = Get-CFConfig
$config.animation.mode = 'static'
Set-CFConfig -Config $config
    Or in config.json: 
    { "animation": { "mode": "static" } }
  • Fix 2 — skip auto-start for the current session: 
    $env:FORGUM_NOAUTOSTART = '1'
Import-Module Forgum
    This is useful when the config is read-only or you're locked out of editing it.

After applying either fix, restart your PowerShell window. Startup should return to under one second.

Back: Getting Started | Next: Bash & Zsh Integration →

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