About powerbi-consumption-cli
powerbi-consumption-cli is a read-only skill for exploring Power BI semantic models through DAX queries. It guides metadata discovery from table inventories to deeper model details, while keeping queries scoped and avoiding model changes.
Key features
- 01Discovers tables, columns, measures, and relationships
- 02Uses DAX INFO.VIEW and INFO functions
- 03Guides scoped metadata and dependency queries
- 04Runs analytical DAX queries
- 05Restricts work to read-only operations
Use cases
- 01Inventorying a semantic model before analysis
- 02Inspecting measures and relationships
- 03Tracing dependencies between model objects
- 04Running a data query against a semantic model
MCP support
The README notes that ExecuteQuery should be available through a Fabric MCP server, and includes troubleshooting for when the capability is absent. It does not describe this skill as an MCP server or client.
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/ / github.com/ microsoft/ skills-for-fabric --skill powerbi-consumption-cliAfter installing, type/powerbi-consumption-cliin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Bundled filesreferences/discovery-queries.md
Details
From the project READMEUpdate Check — ONCE PER SESSION (mandatory) The first time this skill is used in a session, run the check-updates skill before proceeding.
- GitHub Copilot CLI / VS Code: invoke the
check-updatesskill.- Claude Code / Cowork / Cursor / Windsurf / Codex: compare local vs remote package.json version.
- Skip if the check was already performed earlier in this session.
CRITICAL NOTES
- To find the workspace details (including its ID) from workspace name: list all workspaces and, then, use JMESPath filtering
- To find the item details (including its ID) from workspace ID, item type, and item name: list all items of that type in that workspace and, then, use JMESPath filtering
Power BI Semantic Model Consumption — CLI Skill
Table of Contents
| Task | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Finding Workspaces and Items in Fabric | COMMON-CLI.md § Finding Workspaces and Items in Fabric | Mandatory — READ link first [needed for finding workspace id by its name or item id by its name, item type, and workspace id] |
| Fabric Topology & Key Concepts | COMMON-CORE.md § Fabric Topology & Key Concepts | Hierarchy; Finding Things in Fabric |
| Environment URLs | COMMON-CORE.md § Environment URLs | Production (Public Cloud) |
| Authentication & Token Acquisition | COMMON-CORE.md § Authentication & Token Acquisition | Wrong audience = 401; covers token audiences, delegated vs app permissions, OAuth flows, identity types, and Entra app registration |
| Core Control-Plane REST APIs | COMMON-CORE.md § Core Control-Plane REST APIs | Includes workspace/item CRUD, resolve-by-name, pagination, LRO polling, and rate-limiting patterns |
| OneLake Data Access | COMMON-CORE.md § OneLake Data Access | Requires storage.azure.com token, not Fabric token; covers URL structure, ADLS Gen2 parity, and shortcuts |
| Job Execution | COMMON-CORE.md § Job Execution | Run On-Demand Job; Get / Cancel Job |
| Capacity Management | COMMON-CORE.md § Capacity Management | List Capacities; Assign Workspace to Capacity |
| Gotchas, Best Practices & Troubleshooting | COMMON-CORE.md § Gotchas, Best Practices & Troubleshooting | Common Errors; Best Practices |
| Tool Selection Rationale | COMMON-CLI.md § Tool Selection Rationale | |
| Authentication Recipes | COMMON-CLI.md § Authentication Recipes | az login flows, environment detection, token acquisition, and debugging |
Fabric Control-Plane API via az rest | COMMON-CLI.md § Fabric Control-Plane API via az rest | Always pass --resource; includes workspace/item operations, pagination, and LRO patterns |
OneLake Data Access via curl | COMMON-CLI.md § OneLake Data Access via curl | Use curl not az rest (different token audience); file list/read/upload/delete and directory creation |
| SQL / TDS Data-Plane Access | COMMON-CLI.md § SQL / TDS Data-Plane Access | sqlcmd (Go) connect, query, CSV export, service principal auth, and connection parameter discovery |
| Job Execution (CLI) | COMMON-CLI.md § Job Execution | Run notebooks/pipelines, refresh semantic models, check/cancel jobs |
| OneLake Shortcuts | COMMON-CLI.md § OneLake Shortcuts | Create a Shortcut; List Shortcuts; Delete a Shortcut |
| Capacity Management (CLI) | COMMON-CLI.md § Capacity Management | List Capacities; Assign Workspace to Capacity |
| Composite Recipes | COMMON-CLI.md § Composite Recipes | End-to-end workspace→lakehouse→file, SQL endpoint→query, and notebook execution recipes |
| Gotchas & Troubleshooting (CLI-Specific) | COMMON-CLI.md § Gotchas & Troubleshooting (CLI-Specific) | |
| Quick Reference | COMMON-CLI.md § Quick Reference | az rest Template; Token Audience ↔ CLI Tool Matrix |
| Prerequisites | SKILL.md § Prerequisites | |
| Must/Prefer/Avoid | SKILL.md § Must/Prefer/Avoid | Guardrails for read-only semantic model usage. MUST DO; PREFER; AVOID |
| Metadata Discovery | SKILL.md § Metadata Discovery | INFO.VIEW.* and INFO.* functions. |
| Recommended Discovery Order | SKILL.md § Recommended Discovery Order | Preferred order for metadata exploration |
| Frequently Used INFO Functions | SKILL.md § Frequently Used INFO Functions | High-usage function list for first-pass discovery |
| Complete INFO Function Catalog (Dynamic) | discovery-queries.md § Complete INFO Function Catalog (Dynamic) | |
| Metadata Object → INFO Function Map | SKILL.md § Metadata Object → INFO Function Map | Inlined mapping for object-focused discovery |
| Query Execution | SKILL.md § Query Execution | ExecuteQuery usage shape |
| Troubleshooting | SKILL.md § Troubleshooting | Resolve common execution and metadata issues |
| Examples | SKILL.md § Examples | Sample Metadata Query; Sample Data Query |
| Scope Estimation Queries | discovery-queries.md § Scope Estimation Queries | |
| INFO Output Columns | discovery-queries.md § INFO Output Columns | INFO.VIEW.* (preferred first-pass metadata); Critical INFO.* (deep metadata / diagnostics) |
| Narrowing Results (Projection + Filtering) | discovery-queries.md § Narrowing Results (Projection + Filtering) | |
| Deep Metadata Queries | discovery-queries.md § Deep Metadata Queries | |
| Dependency Discovery | discovery-queries.md § Dependency Discovery | Dependency rowset for a DAX query; Dependency rows scoped to a measure; Reverse dependencies (what references a measure) |
Prerequisites
- COMMON-CORE.md — Fabric concepts, authentication, and control-plane API context.
- COMMON-CLI.md — CLI-oriented discovery and token/audience patterns.
Must/Prefer/Avoid
MUST DO
- Keep this skill read-only: metadata discovery and analytical DAX queries only.
- Treat DAX data queries and
INFO.VIEW.*as available to any user with read access to the semantic model; assume otherINFO.*functions may require elevated permissions. - Resolve workspace and semantic model item identity dynamically; do not hardcode IDs.
- Use DAX
INFO.VIEW.*/INFO.*for metadata discovery before writing data queries.
PREFER
- Validate semantic model scope early (
artifactId) before iterative query refinement. - Discover semantic model schema progressively: use filtered and projected
INFO.VIEW.*/INFO.*calls (e.g.,SELECTCOLUMNS+FILTER) to fetch only the information directly relevant to the current task instead of retrieving the full schema up front. See discovery-queries.md § Narrowing Results (Projection + Filtering). - Keep guidance provider-agnostic so tool endpoint migration is low risk.
AVOID
- Model-change operations in this skill.
Recommended Discovery Order
- Run the discovery-queries.md § Scope Estimation Queries to estimate metadata scope (table, column, measure, and relationship counts) before deep discovery.
- Start with
INFO.VIEW.TABLES()for a fast table inventory. - Expand to
INFO.VIEW.COLUMNS()andINFO.VIEW.MEASURES()for semantic details. - Use
INFO.VIEW.RELATIONSHIPS()to validate joins and filter behavior. - Use the full query catalog in discovery-queries.md for deeper patterns.
Frequently Used INFO Functions
INFO.VIEW.TABLESINFO.VIEW.MEASURESINFO.VIEW.COLUMNSINFO.VIEW.RELATIONSHIPSINFO.PARTITIONSINFO.MODELINFO.STORAGETABLECOLUMNSEGMENTSINFO.DEPENDENCIESINFO.EXPRESSIONSINFO.ROLESINFO.STORAGETABLECOLUMNSINFO.CALCULATIONGROUPSINFO.CALCULATIONITEMSINFO.CULTURESINFO.OBJECTTRANSLATIONSINFO.USERDEFINEDFUNCTIONSINFO.REFRESHPOLICIESINFO.ATTRIBUTEHIERARCHYSTORAGESINFO.COLUMNPARTITIONSTORAGESINFO.COLUMNSTORAGESINFO.DICTIONARYSTORAGESINFO.HIERARCHYSTORAGESINFO.PARTITIONSTORAGESINFO.RELATIONSHIPINDEXSTORAGESINFO.RELATIONSHIPSTORAGESINFO.SEGMENTMAPSTORAGESINFO.SEGMENTSTORAGESINFO.STORAGEFOLDERSINFO.STORAGEFILESINFO.TABLESTORAGESINFO.GENERALSEGMENTMAPSEGMENTMETADATASTORAGESINFO.DELTATABLEMETADATASTORAGESINFO.PARQUETFILESTORAGESINFO.STORAGETABLES
Metadata Object → INFO Function Map
| Metadata Object | Primary INFO functions |
|---|---|
| Model | INFO.MODEL |
| Tables | INFO.VIEW.TABLES |
| Columns | INFO.VIEW.COLUMNS, INFO.GROUPBYCOLUMNS, INFO.RELATEDCOLUMNDETAILS |
| Measures | INFO.VIEW.MEASURES, INFO.FORMATSTRINGDEFINITIONS, INFO.DETAILROWSDEFINITIONS |
| Relationships | INFO.VIEW.RELATIONSHIPS |
| Partitions | INFO.PARTITIONS, INFO.EXPRESSIONS, INFO.QUERYGROUPS, INFO.REFRESHPOLICIES, INFO.DATACOVERAGEDEFINITIONS |
| Security roles & permissions | INFO.ROLES, INFO.TABLEPERMISSIONS, INFO.COLUMNPERMISSIONS |
| Hierarchies | INFO.HIERARCHIES, INFO.LEVELS, INFO.ATTRIBUTEHIERARCHIES, INFO.VARIATIONS |
| Calculation groups/items | INFO.CALCULATIONGROUPS, INFO.CALCULATIONITEMS, INFO.CALCULATIONEXPRESSIONS |
| Perspectives | INFO.PERSPECTIVES, INFO.PERSPECTIVETABLES, INFO.PERSPECTIVECOLUMNS, INFO.PERSPECTIVEHIERARCHIES, INFO.PERSPECTIVEMEASURES |
| Calendars | INFO.CALENDARS, INFO.CALENDARCOLUMNGROUPS, INFO.CALENDARCOLUMNREFERENCES |
| Cultures | INFO.CULTURES |
| Object translations | INFO.OBJECTTRANSLATIONS |
| Functions | INFO.USERDEFINEDFUNCTIONS |
| Dependencies / lineage | INFO.DEPENDENCIES, INFO.CHANGEDPROPERTIES, INFO.EXCLUDEDARTIFACTS |
| Storage internals / size | INFO.STORAGEFOLDERS, INFO.STORAGEFILES, INFO.TABLESTORAGES, INFO.COLUMNSTORAGES, INFO.PARTITIONSTORAGES, INFO.SEGMENTMAPSTORAGES, INFO.DICTIONARYSTORAGES, INFO.COLUMNPARTITIONSTORAGES, INFO.SEGMENTSTORAGES, INFO.RELATIONSHIPSTORAGES, INFO.RELATIONSHIPINDEXSTORAGES, INFO.ATTRIBUTEHIERARCHYSTORAGES, INFO.HIERARCHYSTORAGES, INFO.GENERALSEGMENTMAPSEGMENTMETADATASTORAGES, INFO.DELTATABLEMETADATASTORAGES, INFO.PARQUETFILESTORAGES, INFO.STORAGETABLES, INFO.STORAGETABLECOLUMNS, INFO.STORAGETABLECOLUMNSEGMENTS |
Query Execution
Use a single ExecuteQuery capability with payload concepts:
artifactId: target semantic model identifier.daxQuery: direct DAX query text.
Temporary implementation note: current query integration is expected to be replaced before release by a public HTTP endpoint exposing
ExecuteQuery.
Troubleshooting
- ExecuteQuery capability is unavailable in the MCP server
- Issue: Query execution cannot start because
ExecuteQueryis not available in the active tool list. - Cause: The Fabric MCP server is not registered, not loaded, or the current client session has stale tool metadata.
- Fix: Verify the active MCP server/tool inventory and confirm
ExecuteQueryis exposed.
- Issue: Query execution cannot start because
- Advanced INFO functions return permission errors
- Issue: Queries against
INFO.*fail with authorization or privilege-related errors. - Cause: Many
INFO.*functions require elevated semantic model permissions beyond standard read access. - Fix: Start with
INFO.VIEW.*functions for read-oriented discovery.
- Issue: Queries against
- Metadata output volume is too large for focused analysis
- Issue: Returning full metadata rowsets introduces too many properties and crowds the working context.
- Cause: Unbounded
INFO.VIEW.*andINFO.*queries return broad object/property surfaces that are often unnecessary for the current task. - Fix: Use the scope estimation queries in discovery-queries.md § Scope Estimation Queries to estimate scope and inspect output schemas, then narrow results with projection and filtering as shown in discovery-queries.md § Narrowing Results (Projection + Filtering).
- Do not use
INFODAX functions to retrieve role memberships- Issue:
INFO.ROLEMEMBERSHIPS()returns empty or incomplete results. - Cause: Role members are assigned at the service level (Entra ID) after deployment, not in the model definition — so DAX
INFOfunctions cannot reliably surface them. - Fix: Use the Power BI REST API instead. See powerbi-authoring-cli § Security Role Memberships.
- Issue:
Examples
For the full query catalog (including dependency patterns), see discovery-queries.md.
Sample Metadata Query
EVALUATE
INFO.VIEW.TABLES()
ORDER BY [Name]
Sample Data Query
DEFINE
MEASURE 'Sales'[Total Sales] = SUM('Sales'[Amount])
EVALUATE
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS(
'Customer'[Customer Name],
"Total Sales", [Total Sales]
)
ORDER BY [Total Sales] DESC