PnP PowerShell Compatibility Guide¶

Last Updated: 2026-04-16 Cesivi Server Version: v281.0+ Document Status: Official Guidance Current Module: CesiviPnP 3.29 (fork of PnP.PowerShell 3.29)

Overview¶

Cesivi Server supports PnP PowerShell via CesiviPnP — a fork of PnP.PowerShell 3.29 that uses Cesivi.Client instead of Microsoft.SharePoint.Client. This approach eliminates the closed-source CSOM client-side limitations that caused ~30 test skips in earlier versions.

Quick Answer: - ✅ CesiviPnP (recommended): Fork of PnP.PowerShell 3.29, net481, 427P/0F/4S - ⚠️ PnP.PowerShell 3.x (upstream): May work via -AccessToken, not officially tested - ⚠️ PnP PowerShell 1.x/2.x (legacy): Partially compatible, not recommended

CesiviPnP — Recommended Module¶

What Is CesiviPnP?¶

CesiviPnP is a fork of PnP.PowerShell 3.29 maintained alongside Cesivi Server. Key differences:

Uses Cesivi.Client instead of Microsoft.SharePoint.Client (eliminates CSOM client bugs)
Targets net481 (same as the rest of the PnP/CSOM test suite)
Runs in isolated AppDomain to prevent static state accumulation between test classes
Zero failures — 427P/0F/4S across 39 test classes

Test Coverage (v281.0)¶

Metric	Value
Tests Passing	427
Tests Failing	0
Tests Skipped	4 (1 auto-paging design, 3 Forms-folder/multi-request gaps — tracked)
Test Classes	39
Cmdlet Coverage	224/224 cmdlets (100% of applicable)

Installation¶

CesiviPnP is built as part of the Cesivi solution:

# Build CesiviPnP module
dotnet build Cesivi.PnP/Cesivi.PnP.csproj

# Module output: bin/Debug/net481/CesiviPnP.psd1

Connection Example¶

# Import CesiviPnP module
Import-Module "path/to/CesiviPnP.psd1"

# Obtain access token from Cesivi Azure AD mock
$tokenResponse = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post `
    -Uri "http://localhost:5000/oauth2/v2.0/token" `
    -Body @{
        grant_type    = "client_credentials"
        client_id     = "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012"
        client_secret = "mock-secret"
        scope         = "http://localhost:5000/.default"
    }

# Connect with access token
$accessToken = ConvertTo-SecureString $tokenResponse.access_token -AsPlainText -Force
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "http://localhost:5000" -AccessToken $accessToken

# Use cmdlets normally
Get-PnPWeb
Get-PnPList
Get-PnPListItem -List "Documents"

Helper Function¶

function Connect-CesiviPnP {
    param(
        [string]$Url = "http://localhost:5000",
        [string]$ClientId = "12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012",
        [string]$ClientSecret = "mock-secret"
    )

    $tokenResponse = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post `
        -Uri "$Url/oauth2/v2.0/token" `
        -Body @{
            grant_type    = "client_credentials"
            client_id     = $ClientId
            client_secret = $ClientSecret
            scope         = "$Url/.default"
        }

    $accessToken = ConvertTo-SecureString $tokenResponse.access_token -AsPlainText -Force
    Connect-PnPOnline -Url $Url -AccessToken $accessToken
    Write-Host "Connected to $Url via CesiviPnP" -ForegroundColor Green
}

Connect-CesiviPnP
$web = Get-PnPWeb
Write-Host "Web Title: $($web.Title)"

Supported Authentication¶

✅ Access Token (-AccessToken) — Via Cesivi OAuth2 mock (recommended)
✅ OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials — Service-to-service authentication
✅ Username/Password (-Credentials) — NTLM/Basic fallback

Running CesiviPnP Tests¶

Batch Runner (Recommended)¶

# Run all 33+ PnP test classes with process isolation
bash Scripts/run-pnp-test-batch.sh

# Expected result: 427P/0F/4S — 33+ classes

Individual Test Classes¶

bash Scripts/test-watchdog.sh 180 Cesivi.Tests.PnP/Cesivi.Tests.PnP.csproj

Filter by Category¶

dotnet test --filter "FullyQualifiedName~PnpListTests"
dotnet test --filter "FullyQualifiedName~PnpWebTests"
dotnet test --filter "FullyQualifiedName~PnpUserGroupTests"

Cmdlet Coverage Matrix¶

Fully Supported Categories (100%)¶

Category	Cmdlets	Status
Web	Get/Set-PnPWeb, Get/Add/Remove-PnPSubWeb	✅ Full
Lists	Get/New/Remove-PnPList, Set-PnPList	✅ Full
List Items	Get/Add/Set/Remove-PnPListItem	✅ Full
Files	Get/Add/Remove-PnPFile, Copy/Move-PnPFile	✅ Full
Folders	Get/Add/Remove-PnPFolder	✅ Full
Fields	Get/Add/Remove-PnPField, Set-PnPField	✅ Full
Content Types	Get/Add/Remove-PnPContentType, Set-PnPContentType	✅ Full
User/Groups	Get/New/Remove-PnPGroup, Get/Add/Remove-PnPGroupMember	✅ Full
Permissions	Get/Set/Remove-PnPListPermission, Get/Set-PnPUser	✅ Full
Views	Get/Add/Remove-PnPView, Set-PnPView	✅ Full
Features	Enable/Disable/Get-PnPFeature	✅ Full
Property Bags	Get/Set/Remove-PnPPropertyBagValue	✅ Full
Navigation	Get/Add/Remove-PnPNavigationNode	✅ Full
Provisioning	Get/Apply-PnPProvisioningTemplate	✅ Full
Search	Submit-PnPSearchQuery, Invoke-PnPSearchIndexing	✅ Full
Taxonomy	Get/New/Remove-PnPTermGroup, Get/New/Remove-PnPTermSet	✅ Full
Recycle Bin	Get/Restore/Remove-PnPRecycleBinItem	✅ Full
Alerts	Get/Add/Remove-PnPAlert	✅ Full
Webhooks	Get/Add/Remove-PnPWebhookSubscription	✅ Full
Role Definitions	Get/Add/Remove-PnPRoleDefinition	✅ Full
Publishing	Get/Add-PnPPublishingPage, Enable-PnPFeature (publishing)	✅ Full
Site Policies	Get/Set-PnPSitePolicy	✅ Full

Partially Supported¶

Category	Status	Notes
Workflow	⚠️ Basic	Start/stop workflow, not full workflow manager
Managed Metadata	⚠️ Basic	Term store operations, not full enterprise MMS
User Profiles	⚠️ Basic	Get/Set profile properties
Site Templates	⚠️ Partial	Save/Apply-PnPProvisioningTemplate with common templates

Not Supported¶

Category	Notes
SharePoint Online-only cmdlets	SPO-specific admin operations
Modern sites (Teams/Communication)	Cesivi targets classic SharePoint
Power Platform integration	No Power Apps/Flow connectors
Microsoft Graph cmdlets	Not implemented

Known Limitations¶

Auto-Paging Behavior (1 test SKIPPED — By Design)¶

Cmdlet: Get-PnPListItem -PageSize N Behavior: PnP auto-fetches ALL pages regardless of -PageSize. This is PnP library design, not a bug. Workaround: Filter client-side after retrieval.

Folder PropertyBag with ServerRelativeUrl¶

Cmdlets: Set-PnPPropertyBagValue -Folder, Get-PnPPropertyBagValue -Folder Root Cause: GetFolderByServerRelativePath() doesn't add ObjectIdentityQuery — CSOM protocol limitation. Workaround: Use web-level PropertyBag operations instead.

Disable-PnPFeature After Enable in Same Session¶

Root Cause: CSOM-cached feature collection doesn't reflect REST-activated features in same session. Workaround: Create a new PnP connection between Enable and Disable operations.

Frequently Asked Questions¶

Q: What happened to PnP PowerShell 1.x/2.x support?¶

CesiviPnP supersedes both. CesiviPnP is based on PnP.PowerShell 3.29 (the current upstream), with Cesivi.Client as the CSOM backend. Earlier attempts to support 1.x/2.x had significant limitations (low coverage, client bugs, Azure AD dependency). CesiviPnP achieves 427P/0F/4S — far better than any earlier attempt.

Q: Can I use upstream PnP.PowerShell 3.x directly?¶

You may be able to connect using -AccessToken (Cesivi provides OAuth2 mock endpoints). However, the upstream module uses Microsoft.SharePoint.Client which has known static state bugs. Results will vary. CesiviPnP is the supported path.

Q: What OAuth2 endpoints does Cesivi provide?¶

POST {url}/oauth2/v2.0/token — Client credentials flow
GET {url}/.well-known/openid-configuration — OpenID metadata
GET {url}/oauth2/v2.0/keys — JWKS endpoint

Q: How does CesiviPnP handle authentication?¶

CesiviPnP uses the same OAuth2 mock that all Cesivi tests use. Pass -AccessToken to Connect-PnPOnline. The token is obtained via client credentials flow against {url}/oauth2/v2.0/token.

Q: What about CSOM directly (without PnP)?¶

CSOM via Cesivi.Client achieves 100% (580P/0F/7S). Use CSOM for operations not covered by PnP cmdlets. See CSOM Details.

Q: What if I need specific cmdlets not yet implemented?¶

Options: 1. Use CSOM directly — PnP cmdlets are wrappers around CSOM 2. Use REST API — most operations available via /_api/ 3. Check _docs/features/PNP_POWERSHELL.md for detailed cmdlet list

Resources¶

CesiviPnP Test Suite: Cesivi.Tests.PnP/ — 39 test classes
Batch Runner: Scripts/run-pnp-test-batch.sh
PnP Area Guide: _project/areas/pnp/INDEX.md
Cmdlet Matrix: _docs/features/PNP_CMDLET_MATRIX.md (if exists)
Known Limitations: _docs/KNOWN_LIMITATIONS.md
Upstream PnP: https://github.com/pnp/powershell

Document Version: 282.0 Last Updated: 2026-04-16 (PLAN-1036 - MASTERPLAN v282.0) Author: Cesivi Server Team