pbi-cli/README.pypi.md

Give Claude Code the Power BI skills it needs. Install once, then just ask Claude to work with your semantic models and reports.

Get Started • Skills • All Commands • REPL Mode • Contributing

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What is this?

pbi-cli gives Claude Code (and other AI agents) the ability to manage Power BI semantic models and reports. It ships with 12 skills that Claude discovers automatically. You ask in plain English, Claude uses the right pbi commands.

You                        Claude Code              pbi-cli              Power BI
 "Add a YTD measure   --->  Uses Power BI    --->   CLI commands   --->  Desktop
  to the Sales table"       skills (12)

Two layers, one CLI:

• Semantic Model -- Direct .NET interop to Power BI Desktop (measures, tables, DAX, security)
• Report Layer -- Reads/writes PBIR JSON files directly (visuals, pages, themes, filters)

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Get Started

Fastest way: Just give Claude the repo URL and let it handle everything:

Install and set up pbi-cli from https://github.com/MinaSaad1/pbi-cli.git

Or install manually (two commands):

pipx install pbi-cli-tool    # 1. Install (handles PATH automatically)
pbi-cli skills install       # 2. Register Claude Code skills (one-time setup)
pbi connect                  # 3. Connect to Power BI Desktop

Open Power BI Desktop with a .pbix file, run the three commands above, and start asking Claude.

Requires: Windows with Python 3.10+ and Power BI Desktop running.

Using pip instead of pipx?

pip install pbi-cli-tool

On Windows, pip install often places the pbi command in a directory that isn't on your PATH.

Fix: Add the Scripts directory to PATH

Find the directory:

python -c "import site; print(site.getusersitepackages().replace('site-packages','Scripts'))"

Add the printed path to your system PATH, then restart your terminal. We recommend pipx to avoid this entirely.

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Skills

After running pbi-cli skills install, Claude Code discovers 12 Power BI skills. Each skill teaches Claude a different area. You don't need to memorize commands.

Semantic Model (require pbi connect)

Skill	What you say	What Claude does
DAX	"Top 10 products by revenue?"	Writes and executes DAX queries
Modeling	"Create a star schema"	Creates tables, relationships, measures
Deployment	"Save a snapshot"	Exports/imports TMDL, diffs snapshots
Security	"Set up RLS"	Creates roles, filters, perspectives
Docs	"Document this model"	Generates data dictionaries
Partitions	"Show the M query"	Manages partitions, expressions
Diagnostics	"Why is this slow?"	Traces queries, benchmarks

Report Layer (no connection needed)

Skill	What you say	What Claude does
Report	"Create a new report"	Scaffolds PBIR reports, validates, previews
Visuals	"Add a bar chart"	Adds, binds, bulk-manages 32 visual types
Pages	"Add a new page"	Manages pages, bookmarks, drillthrough
Themes	"Apply brand colours"	Themes, conditional formatting
Filters	"Show top 10 only"	TopN, date, categorical filters

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All Commands

27 command groups covering both the semantic model and the report layer.

Category	Commands
Queries	dax execute, dax validate, dax clear-cache
Model	table, column, measure, relationship, hierarchy, calc-group
Deploy	database export-tmdl/import-tmdl/export-tmsl/diff-tmdl, transaction
Security	security-role, perspective
Connect	connect, disconnect, connections list/last
Data	partition, expression, calendar, advanced culture
Diagnostics	trace start/stop/fetch/export, model stats
Report	report create/info/validate/preview/reload, report add-page/delete-page/get-page
Visuals	visual add/get/list/update/delete/bind, visual bulk-bind/bulk-update/bulk-delete
Filters	filters list/add-categorical/add-topn/add-relative-date/remove/clear
Formatting	format get/clear/background-gradient/background-conditional/background-measure
Bookmarks	bookmarks list/get/add/delete/set-visibility
Tools	setup, repl, skills install/list/uninstall

Use --json for machine-readable output:

pbi --json measure list
pbi --json visual list --page overview

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32 Supported Visual Types

Charts: bar, line, column, area, ribbon, waterfall, stacked bar, clustered bar, clustered column, scatter, funnel, combo, donut/pie, treemap

Cards/KPIs: card, cardVisual (modern), cardNew, multi-row card, KPI, gauge

Tables: table, matrix • Slicers: slicer, text, list, advanced • Maps: Azure Map

Decorative: action button, image, shape, textbox, page navigator

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REPL Mode

For interactive work, the REPL keeps a persistent connection:

$ pbi repl

pbi> connect --data-source localhost:54321
Connected: localhost-54321

pbi(localhost-54321)> measure list
pbi(localhost-54321)> dax execute "EVALUATE TOPN(5, Sales)"
pbi(localhost-54321)> exit

Tab completion, command history, and a dynamic prompt.

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Development

git clone https://github.com/MinaSaad1/pbi-cli.git
cd pbi-cli
pip install -e ".[dev]"

ruff check src/ tests/         # Lint
mypy src/                      # Type check
pytest -m "not e2e"            # Run tests (488 tests)

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Bundled third-party software

pbi-cli-tool ships with Microsoft Analysis Services client library assemblies (Microsoft.AnalysisServices.*.dll) inside the PyPI wheel under src/pbi_cli/dlls/. These binaries are not covered by pbi-cli's MIT license. They are redistributed unmodified under the Microsoft Software License Terms for Microsoft Analysis Management Objects (AMO) and Microsoft Analysis Services - ADOMD.NET. Full terms are in THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md and the companion NOTICE file. By installing pbi-cli-tool you agree to those terms in addition to the MIT License that applies to the rest of the package.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes with tests
4. Open a pull request

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_{MIT License — bundled Microsoft DLLs are licensed separately, see THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md}