Skip to main content

Maester v1

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

Today we are super excited to announce a huge milestone.

Maester reaches v1! 🎉​

Maester - v1

We launched Maester at the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit in March this year and it has been an amazing journey since then.

Here are some quick stats for you:

  • 🚀 100,000+ downloads on PowerShell Gallery
  • 🌐 17,000 monthly visitors to maester.dev
  • 💻 1,800+ commits on GitHub
  • 🤝 48+ contributors
  • ✳️ 194 Maester tests
  • 📦 155 releases

We have added a lot of new features and improvements based on your feedback. Thank you for that! 🙏

What's new since March v0.1.0​

It’s taken a whole village to bring you Maester v1. 🌟 Here are some of the highlights:

🧪 New Tests​

We've almost doubled the number of tests, growing from 96 to 194! 🎉 Check out the test list for the full breakdown. Special mentions go to:

  • Mike – Mike started adding CISA tests to Maester the very next day after Maester was unveiled at the PowerShell conference. 🚀 Since then, he’s been instrumental in contributing code, replying to issues on GitHub, and engaging on Discord. Maester wouldn’t be where it is today without him. Thank you, Mike! 🙌
  • Ben – Ben took the initiative to add CIS benchmark tests and is now our #6 highest contributor. Thanks, Ben, for the tremendous value you've brought to Maester! 💪

🤖 Maester GitHub Action​

Fabian built the Maester - GitHub Action, simplifying the setup and running of Maester on GitHub. He completed this just in time for the PowerShell Conference Europe. Thank you, Fabian! 👏

🛡️ Entra ID - Security Config Analyzer Updates​

Thomas has done phenomenal work keeping Maester updated with EIDSCA. His vigilance in monitoring Entra ID and adding new security checks has been invaluable in improving the security posture of countless Entra tenants. 🙏

📊 Pester Test & Report Improvements​

A massive shout-out to Frode Flaten for refactoring the Maester codebase and elevating it to new heights. 🚀 From enhancing performance for PSScriptAnalyzer to improving test reports with filtering and tag support, Frode has made Maester run smoother and more efficiently. Thank you, Frode! 🌟

🛠️ New & Improved Test Folder Installation​

Thanks to Sam Erde for making Maester more robust. From improving the test install/update process to fixing PowerShell mistakes (😉), Sam has been a powerhouse!

🫂 New Teams Tests​

Kudos to Stefan Wey for a whirlwind of contributions! Stefan added new tests for Microsoft Teams meeting policies, fixed Entra Recommendations tests, and ensured PowerShell 5 compatibility. Incredible work! 👏

💬 Teams Alerts​

Thanks to Guido Baijense for adding support to send Teams alerts from Maester using a cmdlet with Adaptive Card templates. 💬

🗨️ Slack Alerts​

Shout-out to Fabrizio Di Carlo for adding Slack alert support to Maester. 💻

☁️ Azure Automation​

Daniel Bradley added Azure Automation support to Maester. 🚀

🏗️ Azure Automation with Bicep​

Brian Veldman elevated Azure Automation by adding Bicep support. Amazing! 🙌

🐳 Azure Container App Job​

Thanks to Mike Soule for enabling Docker and Azure Container App Job support for Maester. ⚙️

🖥️ Azure DevOps - Virtual Machine Scale Set Support​

Ilija Ranogajec added support for running Maester in VMSS hosted agents. Awesome work! 🚀

✍️ New Maester Blog​

We’ve started a new blog to share ideas on tests, security, DevOps, and automation. Don’t forget to subscribe via RSS! 📰

📚 Test Documentation Updates​

Big thanks to the following contributors for improving remediation steps for tests, making them clearer and easier to follow:

Thank you to all our amazing contributors! 🙏​

There are many, many more new features, improvements and fixes that have gone in by this amazing list of contributors 👇

What's next?​

We are super excited about the future of Maester and we have a lot of ideas for new features and improvements. We are even more excited to have you come and shape the future of Maester with us! 🙌