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Behind the Tenant: one of the first looks at Maester 3.0

· 2 min read
Merill Fernando
Merill Fernando
Maester maintainer + Product Manager, Microsoft

I joined Rich Dean on the very first episode of Syncro's Behind the Tenant show, and it turned out to be one of the first public looks at Maester 3.0.

We talk about why Maester exists (starting with a Conditional Access policy that looked right in the portal but protected no one for a year), and then walk through what's new in 3.0: the new test engine, drift tracking between runs, tests that skip themselves when the tenant isn't licensed, framework mappings, and the affected objects view. We also cover MaesterCloud for MSPs who manage many tenants, and community Packs.

If the episode inspires you to write your own checks, try the brand new Test Builder: pick the attributes of your test in a form, see the rule for each one, and get the code for your test as you go.

Maester 3.0: a new test engine, and a heads-up for preview users

· 14 min read
Merill Fernando
Merill Fernando
Maester maintainer + Product Manager, Microsoft

Maester 3.0 merges into main on Thursday, 8 October 2026 at 10:00 UTC (8 pm AEST). From that moment the preview build of Maester on the PowerShell Gallery is Maester 3.0, and 3.0 has breaking changes.

If you run Maester in automation with the preview build, switch to the release build now

Your next scheduled run after the merge will pick up 3.0. The biggest change is that Maester 3.0 needs PowerShell 7.4 or later. Windows PowerShell 5.1 is no longer supported. We've worked hard to keep your custom tests (including Pester tests) working, but a rewrite this size will have rough edges.

You're on the preview build if your pipeline does any of these:

  • Install-Module Maester -AllowPrerelease or Update-Module Maester -AllowPrerelease
  • maester_version: preview in the Maester GitHub Action

To stay on 2.x, install the release build instead: drop -AllowPrerelease, or pin the version with Install-Module Maester -RequiredVersion 2.3.0. In the GitHub Action, use maester_version: latest.

NowMove automation off the preview build
8 Oct, 10:00 UTC3.0 merges into main and becomes the preview build
After thatWe fix what the preview finds, then ship 3.0 as the release build

If you're using Maester interactively and want to see what's coming, the preview is exactly where we want you. Try it, and tell us what breaks.

Introducing Maester 2.2 🚀

· 11 min read
Maester Team
Maester Team
Maester Contributors

Maester 2.2 is here, and it's our biggest expansion of security coverage yet.

Since 2.1.0 shipped in May, the community has kept up an incredible pace: 261 commits and 311 new tests. Maester now stretches all the way from your on-premises Active Directory to AI data security with Microsoft Purview, SharePoint Online, GitHub, Global Secure Access, and Intune.

What's new in Maester 2.1.0

· 7 min read
Maester Team
Maester Team
Maester Contributors

When we launched Maester 2.0, it was our biggest release yet. Since then the project has kept moving: more than 540 commits, 1,900 files touched, and the published test documentation has grown from 128 to 168 tests.

This release brings Maester into more of the places security teams live every day: Azure DevOps, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Copilot Studio, entitlement management, multi-tenant operations, and the report experience itself.