Option to disable spinner as a command line argument

Description of the new feature / enhancement

Add an option to disable the spinner and any other progress indicator.
This adds clutter to the screen if you are trying to capture what happened, and makes it harder to process winget output with command line tools.

Proposed technical implementation details

Add an option ~~to the settings.json file~~ (done) and a command line argument.

You might want to give the "Microsoft.WinGet.Client" PowerShell module or look at the COM API in WinGet for automation scenarios.

I'm using the PowerShell module, but it is still incomplete. I need the pins to be available there.
I'll check out the COM API.
Still, one might need to capture the output, for example, in CI scenarios, and it will produce a lot of unnecessary text.

I just checked out the API, you can't manage pins through it, either.
https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/blob/master/doc/specs/%23888%20-%20Com%20Api.md

Giovanni Bassi (@giggio)

I agree with Giovanni Bassi (@giggio). Getting rid of the spinner output using a command line argument would help to get the captured output clean. BTW, the same applies to the download progress output IMO. TBH I would expect all this output suppressed when using a the /silent switch.

And no, switching to the PowerShell module or using the COM API is no option for me. The automation script works as it is. It's just tooooo noisy!

[Policy] Area-Output

The spinners should always be disabled when --disable-interactivity parameter is specified by the user.

If interactive features are explicitly disabled, there is absolutely no reason to print spinners, which are a purely interactive feature.

Here's my current workaround to skip spinners, progress bars and blank lines:

    # patterns to omit in output
    $spinners = '\', '/', '|', '-' | ForEach-Object { "^\s*\$_\s*`$" } | Join-String -Separator '|'
    $progressBars = '█', '▒' | ForEach-Object { "^.+\$_.+`$" } | Join-String -Separator '|'
    $blankLine = '^\s*$'
    $skip = "$spinners|$progressBars|$blankLine"

    winget upgrade `
        --all `
        --accept-source-agreements `
        --accept-package-agreements `
        --silent `
        --disable-interactivity `
    | Select-String -NotMatch $skip

I did something similar but replaced the characters instead of using Select-String so that the output could be viewed in real-time...

https://gist.github.com/asheroto/96bcabe428e8ad134ef204573810041f

My solution for lists and tables so far was to look for the separator line (--------------) and trim everything before it +/- 1 line (in some scripts I need to parse the headers, since winget list, for example, can produce a different number of columns). But you always get the line.

$output = WinGet.exe $params
$lineNumber = $output.IndexOf($output -match '----+') - 2 #-2 returns the header line. W/o -2 you get all past the separator line
if ($lineNumber -lt 0) { return $null}
return $output[$lineNumber..($output.Length-1)]

To make matter worse, when the output is captured in a string, you get encoding issues and skewed columns
Here's an example of winget list - check the Inter Graphics Command Center name and id
We need --disable-interactivity to properly handle all this

Interactive

Name                                                        Id                                                               Version            Available    Source
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
LogiOptionsWordAddin                                        2C559D7A6B8C383AF1FC7ED06D375EAC624F143E6F778C4FCDD50D9E023A4354 10.10.4.0
Tag Explorer                                                46887Dr.Cooper.TagExplorer_s0pf5z833f2vc                         3.7.0.0
Ritt                                                        62283Ritt.Ritt_qr54r3v2h1vqw                                     1.4.0.0
Visual Studio Enterprise 2022                               Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.Enterprise                           17.9.6                          winget  
LogiOptionsExcelAddin                                       67C3222594B96ED78A8AA3050861B9C717ACC01FF3F90093DB70B6D61707DA57 10.10.4.0
LogiOptionsPowerPointAddin                                  75B10E1044297ED2ACEE0B524BDF62C55A10D7609038BE3D371ABA95D4F4DA6F 10.10.4.0
Intel® Graphics Command Center                              AppUp.IntelGraphicsExperience_8j3eq9eme6ctt                      1.100.5435.0
ThunderboltTM Control Center                                AppUp.ThunderboltControlCenter_8j3eq9eme6ctt                     1.0.37.0

Captured into a string

   \ 
   | 

Name                                    Id                                       Version            Available    Source
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LogiOptionsWordAddin                    2C559D7A6B8C383AF1FC7ED06D375EAC624F143ΓÇª 10.10.4.0
Tag Explorer                            46887Dr.Cooper.TagExplorer_s0pf5z833f2vc 3.7.0.0
Ritt                                    62283Ritt.Ritt_qr54r3v2h1vqw             1.4.0.0
Visual Studio Enterprise 2022           Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.Enterprise   17.9.6                          winget
LogiOptionsExcelAddin                   67C3222594B96ED78A8AA3050861B9C717ACC01ΓÇª 10.10.4.0
LogiOptionsPowerPointAddin              75B10E1044297ED2ACEE0B524BDF62C55A10D76ΓÇª 10.10.4.0
Intel┬« Graphics Command Center          AppUp.IntelGraphicsExperience_8j3eq9emeΓÇª 1.100.5435.0
ThunderboltTM Control Center            AppUp.ThunderboltControlCenter_8j3eq9emΓÇª 1.0.37.0

As far as I can tell, this feature is already implemented? The issue should probably be closed, in that case.

André Fertig de Oliveira (@AdreKiseque)

As far as I can tell, this feature is already implemented? The issue should probably be closed, in that case.

André Fertig de Oliveira (@AdreKiseque) how so? You linked to config file, that is not an option. I'd only disable progress when piping to another tool, not on every use. Using a global option does not make sense for the provided use case.

It is possible to disable the spinner in WinGet Settings.

Demitrius Nelon (@denelon)

It is possible to disable the spinner in WinGet Settings.

Demitrius Nelon (@denelon) I'm aware, this issue touches that (already fixed) and a command line option. See the issue description.

Giovanni Bassi (@giggio)

Giovanni Bassi (@giggio) I think we crossed paths with some of the work happening. The PR to add the argument was just merged. I'm expecting the next preview with that feature to get published within a couple of weeks.

Demitrius Nelon (@denelon)

Thanks Demitrius Nelon (@denelon).
For reference, the option to disable via settings.json in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState or if self-built in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WinGet\Settings is

{
    "$schema": "https://aka.ms/winget-settings.schema.json",
    "visual": {
        "progressBar": "disabled"
    }
}

Add note about upcoming `--no-progress` option

@giggio I think we crossed paths with some of the work happening. The PR to add the argument was just merged. I'm expecting the next preview with that feature to get published within a couple of weeks.

Is there a particular reason that the spinner is tied to stdout in the first place? Utilities like curl tend to display progress on stderr so even if you're redirecting stdout you can still see how far along it is.

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Option to disable spinner as a command line argument #3494

Description of the new feature / enhancement

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Captured into a string

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Option to disable spinner as a command line argument #3494

Description

Description of the new feature / enhancement

Proposed technical implementation details

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denelon commented on Aug 3, 2023

giggio commented on Aug 3, 2023

giggio commented on Aug 3, 2023

markusheiliger commented on Sep 29, 2023

mdanish-kh commented on Nov 29, 2023

jantari commented on Dec 18, 2023

igorakkerman commented on Feb 8, 2024

asheroto commented on Feb 14, 2024

apcsb commented on Apr 25, 2024

Interactive

Captured into a string

AdreKiseque commented on Feb 22, 2025

giggio commented on Feb 22, 2025

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denelon commented on Feb 17, 2026

giggio commented on Feb 18, 2026

denelon commented on Feb 18, 2026

cachius commented on Feb 19, 2026

God-damnit-all commented on Feb 24, 2026

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