Microsoft shipped PowerToys 0.98 in March 2025, introducing Command Palette Dock, a pinnable panel that attaches to any edge of a Windows 11 screen and hosts shortcuts, system widgets, and a graphical package manager.
Command Palette Dock sits alongside the taskbar without replacing it. Users can drag shortcuts onto the strip, track CPU, GPU, memory, and network activity in real time, and launch WinGet packages from a visual interface instead of the command line.
The panel lives at the top, bottom, left, or right of the display. Extensions add clipboard history or recent Visual Studio Code sessions. A search box filters pinned items, and users can adjust color themes to match their workflow.
The dock reduces trips to the Start menu. Developers and power users skip the extra clicks, trimming seconds from tasks they repeat dozens of times a day. Over a workweek, those seconds add up to minutes of recovered focus.
The PowerToys team reported that Command Palette Dock consumes 200 MB to 260 MB of RAM while running. Engineers working on budget laptops or trying to maximize battery life should monitor memory use and toggle the panel off between sessions.
Command Palette Dock carries a preview label. Updates arrive frequently, and users may occasionally encounter display issues or widget alignment problems. Microsoft gathers feedback through the PowerToys GitHub repository to improve stability and performance.
Future releases will likely expand the extension catalog and improve memory efficiency. Community contributors can propose features and share custom dock configurations in the project's issue tracker, steering the roadmap toward real world needs.
