How to do it...

Install and start PowerShell Core and execute the following steps:

1. In order to be able to develop your own provider, you need to install SHiPS from the gallery first. Alternatively, you can follow the steps outlined at https://github.com/powershell/ships to compile it yourself with .NET Core:

# Install SHiPS
Install-Module -Name SHiPS -Force -Scope CurrentUser

1. SHiPS is based on PowerShell classes. First of all, you might want to add your root container:

# SHiPS providers are based around PowerShell classes.
# To create a new directory, or container, your class needs to
# inherit from the class ShipsDirectory
class MyContainerType : Microsoft.PowerShell.SHiPS.SHiPSDirectory
{
    # Your new container should now implement the function GetChildItem() at the very least.
    # In order to actually return child items, your container needs content!
    MyContainerType([string]$name): base($name)
    {
    }

    [object[]] GetChildItem()
    {
        $obj = @()
        $obj += [MyFirstLeafType]::new();
        return $obj;
    }
}

1. Add another container that is nested in your root, as well as one or two leafs:

# Leafs are the child items of your containers that can't contain any more items themselves.
# Containers are still allowed to contain more containers though.
class MyFirstContainerType : Microsoft.PowerShell.SHiPS.SHiPSDirectory
{
    MyFirstContainerType([string]$name): base($name)
    {
    }
}

class MyFirstLeafType : Microsoft.PowerShell.SHiPS.SHiPSLeaf
{
    MyFirstLeafType () : base ("MyFirstLeafType")
    {
    }

    [string]$LeafProperty = 'Value'
    [int]$LeafLength = 42
    [datetime]$LeafDate = $(Get-Date)
}

1. Lastly, store your provider definition as a module and import it:

# Take a look at the sample code
psedit .\ShipsProvider.psm1

# In order to mount your provider drive, you can simply use New-PSDrive
Import-Module -Name .\ShipsProvider -Force

1. With SHiPS and your module imported, you can mount your drive. Notice that the root of your drive relates to the root class that contains your hierarchy:

New-PSDrive -Name MyOwnDrive -PSProvider SHiPS -Root "ShipsProvider#MyContainerType"

1. Examine it with the item cmdlets:

# Now you can use the item cmdlets at your leisure
Get-ChildItem -Path MyOwnDrive:\MyFirstContainerType
Get-ChildItem -Path MyOwnDrive: -Recurse

1. Notice how your leafs and containers are displayed, as follows: