A single Install-GoogleFont -Name 'Roboto' expands to many rows in FontsData.json (one per weight/style — regular, italic, 500, 600, ...), and Install-GoogleFont -All covers thousands of font files. Today every file is downloaded one after another via Invoke-WebRequest, so total time is dominated by serial network round-trips rather than available bandwidth.
Request
Current experience
Install-GoogleFont processes the selected font files in a single foreach loop. For each row it downloads the .ttf, installs it, removes it, and only then moves to the next row. Even installing a single family (-Name 'Roboto') downloads each weight sequentially.
Desired experience
Multiple font files are fetched concurrently so the total install time scales with the slowest of N parallel downloads instead of the sum of all of them. A bounded throttle keeps the host and fonts.gstatic.com from being hit too hard.
Acceptance criteria
- Downloads of distinct font files run concurrently when more than one file is selected
- A bounded degree of parallelism is used (configurable or sensibly defaulted)
- Progress and error reporting per file remain clear — one failed download does not silently mask others
-WhatIf / ShouldProcess semantics are preserved- Single-file invocations behave identically to today
Related
Technical decisions
Parallelism primitive: Use ForEach-Object -Parallel (PowerShell 7+). Built-in -ThrottleLimit, no runspace plumbing.
Default throttle: 8 parallel downloads, exposed via a new -ThrottleLimit parameter for power users.
Phase to parallelize: Download is I/O bound and trivially parallel. Font registration via Install-Font writes to a shared system location and is kept sequential after downloads complete.
Error handling: Use -ErrorAction Continue inside the parallel block and aggregate failures into a list emitted after, so one bad URL does not abort the rest of the batch.
ShouldProcess: Evaluated up front per file (it cannot cross runspace boundaries safely). The parallel block only runs for files the user confirmed.
Implementation plan
A single
Install-GoogleFont -Name 'Roboto'expands to many rows inFontsData.json(one per weight/style —regular,italic,500,600, ...), andInstall-GoogleFont -Allcovers thousands of font files. Today every file is downloaded one after another viaInvoke-WebRequest, so total time is dominated by serial network round-trips rather than available bandwidth.Request
Current experience
Install-GoogleFontprocesses the selected font files in a singleforeachloop. For each row it downloads the.ttf, installs it, removes it, and only then moves to the next row. Even installing a single family (-Name 'Roboto') downloads each weight sequentially.Desired experience
Multiple font files are fetched concurrently so the total install time scales with the slowest of N parallel downloads instead of the sum of all of them. A bounded throttle keeps the host and
fonts.gstatic.comfrom being hit too hard.Acceptance criteria
-WhatIf/ShouldProcesssemantics are preservedRelated
Technical decisions
Parallelism primitive: Use
ForEach-Object -Parallel(PowerShell 7+). Built-in-ThrottleLimit, no runspace plumbing.Default throttle:
8parallel downloads, exposed via a new-ThrottleLimitparameter for power users.Phase to parallelize: Download is I/O bound and trivially parallel. Font registration via
Install-Fontwrites to a shared system location and is kept sequential after downloads complete.Error handling: Use
-ErrorAction Continueinside the parallel block and aggregate failures into a list emitted after, so one bad URL does not abort the rest of the batch.ShouldProcess: Evaluated up front per file (it cannot cross runspace boundaries safely). The parallel block only runs for files the user confirmed.Implementation plan
[int] $ThrottleLimit = 8parameter toInstall-GoogleFontShouldProcessfor each file sequentially, collecting the approved setForEach-Object -Parallel -ThrottleLimit $ThrottleLimit, writing each file to the temp directoryInstall-Fontsequentially over the downloaded filesWrite-Errorafter the parallel phase