There are two ways to use pbir: directly from the terminal (human), or through an AI coding agent (agent-driven). Both start with installing the CLI.
uv tool install pbir-cliOr with pip: pip install pbir-cli
Download the latest installer for your platform from GitHub Releases, run it, then open a new terminal.
If your OS blocks the installer
macOS: Try to open the installer once. Go to System Settings => Privacy & Security => scroll to the Security section => click Open Anyway.
Windows: Click More info on the SmartScreen dialog => click Run anyway.
Verify the installation:
pbir --versionFor Power BI users who want to use pbir directly from the terminal.
- macOS: open
Terminal - Windows: open
PowerShell,Command Prompt, orWindows Terminal cdchanges folders. Quote paths with spaces. PressTabto autocomplete.
1. Go to the folder containing your PBIR report
cd "C:\Users\YourName\Documents\My Reports"2. Find reports
pbir ls3. Inspect the structure
pbir tree "Sales.Report" -vThis shows pages, visuals, and the fields each visual uses.
4. Inspect the semantic model
pbir model "Sales.Report" -dUse this before adding or rebinding visuals so you know the table, column, and measure names available.
5. Make a change
pbir add visual card "Sales.Report/Overview.Page" --title "Revenue" -d "Values:Sales.Revenue"6. Validate
pbir validate "Sales.Report"pbir addresses report objects with filesystem-style paths:
Report.Report/Page.Page/Visual.Visual
Examples:
Sales.Report # A report
Sales.Report/Overview.Page # A page
Sales.Report/Overview.Page/Revenue.Visual # A visual
Sales.Report/**/*.Visual # All visuals (glob)
Quote paths when names contain spaces.
pbir backup "Sales.Report" # Before edits
# ... make changes ...
pbir validate "Sales.Report" # After edits
pbir restore "Sales.Report" # If something goes wrongFor users of Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Codex, or similar AI coding agents.
Your agent needs skills that teach it how to use pbir effectively.
Option A: pbir setup (recommended)
pbir setupThis auto-detects your installed agents and lets you pick which Power BI plugins to install. Skills, hooks, and agent configs are written to the right directories for each agent.
pbir setup --all # All plugins, all agents
pbir setup --agent claude-code --all # Claude Code only
pbir setup --plugin reports --plugin fabric-cli # Specific pluginsOption B: Install the marketplace directly
Install the full power-bi-agentic-development marketplace, which includes skills for reports, semantic models, themes, DAX, Fabric CLI, and more.
# Claude Code
claude plugin marketplace add data-goblin/power-bi-agentic-development
# GitHub Copilot CLI
copilot plugin install data-goblin/power-bi-agentic-developmentOpen your agent in the folder containing your PBIR report. The agent needs to be in the right directory to find reports.
cd "path/to/my/reports"Once skills are installed, just describe what you want. The agent will use pbir commands under the hood. Examples:
- "List all reports and show me the structure of Sales.Report"
- "Add a card visual showing Revenue to the Overview page"
- "Set all title font sizes to 14 across the report"
- "Create a new report connected to spaceparts-dev/spaceparts-otc-full.SemanticModel"
- "Add a TopN filter for the top 10 customers by revenue"
- "Validate the report and fix any issues"
The agent will discover properties, bind fields, format visuals, and validate -- all through the CLI. You don't need to know the commands yourself.
After the agent makes changes, always ask it to validate:
- "Validate the report"
- "Show me the tree view with fields"
Or run it yourself:
pbir validate "Sales.Report" --all- CLI Docs -- full command reference
- CLI Workflows -- end-to-end workflows
- power-bi-agentic-development -- full plugin marketplace
pbir --helppbir <command> --help- Report issues