CLI for Microsoft 365 — PowerShell Scripting

You are an expert at writing PowerShell scripts that use CLI for Microsoft 365 (m365) to automate Microsoft 365 management tasks. Follow these instructions when the user asks you to write a PowerShell script that uses CLI for Microsoft 365 commands.

Script Setup

Every PowerShell script using CLI for Microsoft 365 should start with proper configuration. Use this template as a starting point:

#!/usr/bin/env pwsh

$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

# Configure CLI for scripting
m365 cli config set --key "output" --value "json"
m365 cli config set --key "errorOutput" --value "stdout"
m365 cli config set --key "showHelpOnFailure" --value "false"
m365 cli config set --key "printErrorsAsPlainText" --value "false"
m365 cli config set --key "prompt" --value "false"
$env:CLIMICROSOFT365_NOUPDATE = "1"

# Ensure authentication
m365 login --ensure

Why these settings matter

The $env:CLIMICROSOFT365_NOUPDATE = "1" environment variable disables update checks to avoid delays in automated scripts.

Authentication

Check and establish authentication

Always use m365 login --ensure at the start of every script. This command checks if you are already authenticated and only prompts for login if necessary:

    m365 login --ensure

Authentication for automation and CI/CD

For unattended scripts, use certificate-based or secret-based authentication:

    # Certificate-based (recommended for CI/CD)
    m365 login --authType certificate --certificateFile "C:\certs\app.pfx" --password $env:CERT_PASSWORD

    # Client secret
    m365 login --authType secret --secret $env:CLIENT_SECRET

    # Managed identity (Azure-hosted only)
    m365 login --authType identity

Never hardcode credentials or secrets in scripts. Use environment variables or secure stores instead.

Environment variables for app identity

Set these environment variables to avoid passing --appId and --tenant on every login:

$env:CLIMICROSOFT365_ENTRAAPPID = "<app-id>"
$env:CLIMICROSOFT365_TENANT = "<tenant-id>"

Error Handling

Approach 1: Check exit code (simple)

The simplest approach — run the command and check $LASTEXITCODE:

    $siteData = m365 spo site get --url "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/project"
    if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
        Write-Error "Failed to retrieve site"
        exit 1
    }
    $site = $siteData | ConvertFrom-Json
    Write-Host "Site: $($site.Title)"

Approach 2: Helper function with try/catch (recommended)

For detailed error handling, use the Invoke-CLICommand helper function. This requires the CLI configuration from the Script Setup section above (especially errorOutput set to stdout and printErrorsAsPlainText set to false):

function Invoke-CLICommand {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [parameter(Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)] $input
    )

    $output = $input

    if ($null -eq $output) {
        return $null
    }

    $parsedOutput = $output | ConvertFrom-Json

    if ($parsedOutput -isnot [Array] -and $null -ne $parsedOutput.error) {
        throw $parsedOutput.error
    }

    return $parsedOutput
}

Usage with try/catch:

try {
    $site = m365 spo site get --url "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/project" | Invoke-CLICommand
    Write-Host "Site: $($site.Title)"
}
catch {
    Write-Error "Failed: $($_.Exception.Message)"
    exit 1
}

When to use which approach

• Exit code checking: Simple scripts, one-off commands, scripts where you just need pass/fail
• Invoke-CLICommand helper: Scripts with many commands, when you need the parsed error message, when using try/catch for control flow

Output Handling

Always use JSON for scripting

Set --output json (or configure it globally) and parse with ConvertFrom-Json:

$sites = m365 spo site list --output json | ConvertFrom-Json

foreach ($site in $sites) {
    Write-Host "Site: $($site.Url) - $($site.Title)"
}

When using the Invoke-CLICommand helper, output is already parsed:

$sites = m365 spo site list | Invoke-CLICommand

foreach ($site in $sites) {
    Write-Host "Site: $($site.Url) - $($site.Title)"
}

Export to CSV

m365 spo site list --output csv > sites.csv

Suppress output for write operations

Use --output none when you do not need the response:

    m365 spo site remove --url "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/old" --force --output none

Filtering Data with JMESPath

Use the --query option for server-side filtering instead of piping to Where-Object:

    # Good — filter with JMESPath
    $projectSites = m365 spo site list --query "[?contains(Title, 'Project')]" | Invoke-CLICommand

    # Less efficient — filter in PowerShell after fetching everything
    $allSites = m365 spo site list | Invoke-CLICommand
    $projectSites = $allSites | Where-Object { $_.Title -like "*Project*" }

Common JMESPath patterns

    # Select specific fields
    m365 spo site list --query "[*].{Title: Title, Url: Url}"

    # Filter and project
    m365 spo site list --query "[?contains(Title, 'Project')].{Title: Title, Url: Url}"

    # Get a single value
    m365 entra user get --id "[email protected]" --query "id" --output text

JMESPath queries are case-sensitive.

PowerShell-Specific Syntax

Escaping the @ character

In PowerShell, @ is a special character. When using the CLI file reference syntax or tokens like @meId, escape with a backtick:

    # File reference
    m365 spo sitescript add --title "Script" --content `@script.json

    # User tokens
    m365 entra user get --id "`@meId"

Values starting with a dash

Use = to pass values that start with a dash:

    m365 planner task get --id=-9rMKQooUjZdxgv1qQVZYABEuw

Complex JSON payloads

Store complex JSON in files rather than inline strings:

    $payload = @{
        displayName = "Project Team"
        description = "Team for the project"
    } | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10

    $payload | Out-File -FilePath "payload.json" -Encoding utf8

    m365 request --url "`@graph/teams" --method post --body `@payload.json

Boolean values

In PowerShell, you can use $true / $false, or the CLI accepted values: 1, yes, true, on / 0, no, false, off.

Common Script Patterns

Check if a resource exists before creating

try {
    $list = m365 spo list get --webUrl $webUrl --title $listTitle | Invoke-CLICommand
    Write-Host "List '$($list.Title)' already exists"
}
catch {
    Write-Host "List not found, creating..."
    m365 spo list add --webUrl $webUrl --title $listTitle --baseTemplate GenericList | Invoke-CLICommand
    Write-Host "List '$listTitle' created"
}

Batch operations with error handling

$users = @("[email protected]", "[email protected]", "[email protected]")
$webUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/project"

$succeeded = 0
$failed = 0

foreach ($user in $users) {
    try {
        m365 spo user add --webUrl $webUrl --loginName $user | Invoke-CLICommand
        Write-Host "Added: $user" -ForegroundColor Green
        $succeeded++
    }
    catch {
        Write-Host "Failed: $user — $($_.Exception.Message)" -ForegroundColor Red
        $failed++
    }
}

Write-Host "`nCompleted. Succeeded: $succeeded, Failed: $failed"

Pipe output between commands

# Get all team IDs and archive each team
$teams = m365 teams team list --query "[?contains(displayName, 'Old')]" | Invoke-CLICommand

foreach ($team in $teams) {
    m365 teams team archive --id $team.id
    Write-Host "Archived: $($team.displayName)"
}

Read data from CSV and process

$usersToCreate = Import-Csv -Path "users.csv"

foreach ($user in $usersToCreate) {
    try {
        m365 entra user add `
            --displayName $user.DisplayName `
            --userName $user.UserPrincipalName `
            --password $user.Password `
            --accountEnabled $true | Invoke-CLICommand
        Write-Host "Created user: $($user.DisplayName)" -ForegroundColor Green
    }
    catch {
        Write-Host "Failed to create $($user.DisplayName): $($_.Exception.Message)" -ForegroundColor Red
    }
}

Use the context feature to avoid repeating options

    # Set up context for repeated operations on the same site
    m365 context init
    m365 context option set --name "webUrl" --value "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/project"

    # Commands now pick up --webUrl automatically
    $lists = m365 spo list list | Invoke-CLICommand
    $items = m365 spo listitem list --listTitle "Tasks" | Invoke-CLICommand

Server-relative URLs for SharePoint

After running any spo command or setting the SPO URL explicitly, you can use server-relative URLs:

    m365 spo set --url "https://contoso.sharepoint.com"

    # Now use server-relative URLs
    $site = m365 spo site get --url "/sites/project" | Invoke-CLICommand

Using @meId and @meUserName tokens

These built-in tokens resolve to the currently authenticated user:

    $me = m365 entra user get --id "`@meId" | Invoke-CLICommand
    Write-Host "Logged in as: $($me.displayName)"

Raw API Requests

Use m365 request to call any Microsoft API not covered by specific commands:

    # GET request with URL tokens
    $profile = m365 request --url "`@graph/me" | Invoke-CLICommand

    # POST with inline body
    m365 request --url "`@graph/me/messages" --method post --body '{"subject":"Test","body":{"content":"Hello"}}'

    # POST with body from file
    m365 request --url "`@graph/teams" --method post --body `@team-payload.json

URL tokens:

• @graph → https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0
• @graphbeta → https://graph.microsoft.com/beta
• @spo → Current SharePoint URL (set via m365 spo set)

Debugging Scripts

Verbose mode

For development and troubleshooting:

    m365 spo site get --url "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/project" --verbose

Or set via environment variable for all commands:

    $env:CLIMICROSOFT365_VERBOSE = "1"

Debug mode

Shows full HTTP request and response details:

    $env:CLIMICROSOFT365_DEBUG = "1"

Security Best Practices

1. Never hardcode credentials — use environment variables, Azure Key Vault, or secure parameter stores
2. Use certificate or managed identity authentication for automation
3. Grant minimum required permissions to the app registration
4. Rotate secrets and certificates regularly
5. Do not log sensitive output — use --output none when possible for write operations

Complete Script Template

#!/usr/bin/env pwsh

<#
.SYNOPSIS
    Description of what this script does.
.DESCRIPTION
    Detailed description.
.EXAMPLE
    .\Script.ps1 -SiteUrl "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/project"
#>

param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [string]$SiteUrl
)

$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

# --- CLI Configuration ---
m365 cli config set --key "output" --value "json"
m365 cli config set --key "errorOutput" --value "stdout"
m365 cli config set --key "showHelpOnFailure" --value "false"
m365 cli config set --key "printErrorsAsPlainText" --value "false"
m365 cli config set --key "prompt" --value "false"
$env:CLIMICROSOFT365_NOUPDATE = "1"

# --- Helper Function ---
function Invoke-CLICommand {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [parameter(Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)] $input
    )

    $output = $input
    if ($null -eq $output) { return $null }

    $parsedOutput = $output | ConvertFrom-Json
    if ($parsedOutput -isnot [Array] -and $null -ne $parsedOutput.error) {
        throw $parsedOutput.error
    }

    return $parsedOutput
}

# --- Authentication ---
m365 login --ensure

# --- Script Logic ---
try {
    $site = m365 spo site get --url $SiteUrl | Invoke-CLICommand
    Write-Host "Site: $($site.Title)" -ForegroundColor Green
}
catch {
    Write-Error "Script failed: $($_.Exception.Message)"
    exit 1
}

Write-Host "Script completed successfully" -ForegroundColor Green