pbi-cli-tool 3.12.0

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

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)

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.

pip install pbi-cli-tool

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

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)

Report Layer (no connection needed)

All Commands

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

Use --json for machine-readable output:

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

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

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.

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)

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.

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

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