AutoGineer
Generated banner for Powerbi Report CLI
Generated logo for Powerbi Report CLI

Powerbi Report CLI

MicrosoftOfficialPublished by Microsoft

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Data and AI
  • MIT
  • Low risk
Download ZIP

From the author

Plan, design, author, preview, publish, and manage Power BI reports across requirements, page design, local PBIR/PBIP edits, validation, screenshots, Fabric upload/download, and rebinding. Use for report lifecycle work; use semantic-model-authoring for model or DAX changes and fabriciq for data questions. Triggers: plan Power BI report, design report page, edit PBIR, preview PBIP, publish report, rebind report
— the description by Microsoft

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

The powerbi-report-cli skill provides a structured, mode-based framework for managing the entire Power BI report lifecycle. It acts as a dispatcher across four distinct phases: planning (requirements and scope), design (visual and layout strategy), authoring (local PBIR/PBIP file manipulation and validation), and management (Fabric item transport and rebinding). The skill enforces strict boundaries between these modes to ensure quality, requiring explicit approval for new reports and utilizing a dedicated CLI for metadata-driven validation and authoring tasks.

What it does

  • Guides users through report requirements, scope, and page planning.
  • Provides design contracts for visual archetypes, layouts, and branding.
  • Enables local editing, validation, and previewing of PBIR and PBIP files.
  • Handles report item transport to and from Microsoft Fabric.
  • Supports re-theming, conditional formatting, and visual configuration.
  • Enforces a mandatory approval gate for greenfield report development.

When to use it

  • When planning a new Power BI report from a semantic model.
  • When you need to define a professional design brief or layout strategy.
  • When editing local PBIR/PBIP files, including visuals, filters, and themes.
  • When validating report structure and formatting before deployment.
  • When publishing or managing report items within a Fabric workspace.

Advantages

  • Ensures consistent report quality through a structured, multi-mode workflow.
  • Prevents premature publishing by enforcing a mandatory approval barrier.
  • Uses a dedicated CLI to eliminate guesswork in PBIR schema and property editing.
  • Maintains clear separation between design intent and technical implementation.
  • Provides robust validation tools to catch errors before Fabric deployment.

Usage examples

“Create a new executive report from this semantic model.”
The agent enters planning mode, inspects the model, generates a report spec, and requests user approval before proceeding.
“Design an operational page and choose the right charts.”
The agent enters design mode, produces a design brief with page archetypes and chart recommendations.
“Add a KPI page to this PBIP, validate it, and take screenshots.”
The agent enters authoring mode, modifies the local PBIP files, runs validation, and captures screenshots for review.
“Publish this local PBIP to my Fabric workspace and rebind it.”
The agent enters management mode, performs the upload to Fabric, and completes the rebind operation.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/microsoft/powerbi-report-cli/download

  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip powerbi-report-cli.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Microsoft

Telemetry — MANDATORY. Every api.fabric.microsoft.com call must carry x-ms-fabric-skill: powerbi-report-cli (az rest: --headers "x-ms-fabric-skill=powerbi-report-cli"), including every LRO poll, fabric_lro and retry. Snippets omit it — add it anyway.

CRITICAL NOTES

  1. To find workspace details, including its ID, from a workspace name: list all workspaces, then use JMESPath filtering.

  2. To find item details, including its ID, from a workspace ID, item type, and item name: list all items of that type in that workspace, then use JMESPath filtering.

  3. Use powerbi-report-cli for the report artifact: requirements, design, PBIR/PBIP page and visual edits, preview, and publishing. Semantic model, measure, and DAX work belongs to a semantic-model skill. Natural-language questions about report data belong to fabriciq.

Power BI Reports - CLI Skill

This skill owns the Power BI report lifecycle end to end: requirements and scope, visual design, local PBIR/PBIP authoring and preview, and report-item transport to and from Microsoft Fabric.

It is a mode dispatcher and intentionally contains no detailed procedures. Select the mode that matches the request, then read the matching mode reference end to end before acting. The mode file holds the required workflow, commands, payloads, templates, and failure rules.

Mode Selection

ModeUse when the request...Existing route examplesRead first
planningcreates a new report/dashboard and needs requirements, model/dependency inspection, scope, a page plan, and approval before implementationcreate a report, build a dashboard, create from a semantic model, plan then implement, walk me through creating a reportreferences/planning.md, then references/planning-part-02.md
designdecides what a report should look like: tone, signature, page archetype, chart type, layout, color, typography, theme direction, accessibility, brand application, redesign, or critiquedesign a Power BI report, make the dashboard professional, choose a chart, apply a brand, redesign the report, create a design briefreferences/design.md
authoringreads or edits local PBIR/PBIP files, validates them, previews the report, or captures screenshotsedit PBIR, create/add a report page or visual, format a visual, add filters/slicers/bookmarks/themes, validate PBIR, preview/reload/screenshot in Desktop or servicereferences/authoring.md
managementmoves a report definition to or from Fabric or manages the workspace report itempublish/upload/download PBIR or PBIP, list reports, get/update/delete a report, rebind a reportreferences/management.md

Mode Boundary Rules

  • Classify by intent, not by which file or tool is already open.

  • design decides what the report should look like; authoring writes the PBIR that realizes it. Choosing a chart type is design; encoding it into visual.json is authoring.

  • Restyling or reformatting an existing local report is authoring, even when the request uses design language. Use design when the user wants advice or a design contract rather than a file change.

  • authoring changes local files and performs preview/validation. It does not publish to Fabric.

  • management transports definitions and manages Fabric report items. It does not invent or directly author PBIR content.

  • planning owns the guided requirements-to-approval flow for a new report. A focused edit to an existing report goes directly to authoring.

A greenfield request can span modes in this order:

planning -> design -> authoring -> management

Handle one mode at a time. Announce each switch and read the new mode reference before starting that part. The planning approval gate is a turn boundary: never build or publish until the user explicitly approves the locked spec in a later reply.

GREENFIELD APPROVAL BARRIER — MANDATORY. When a new-report request asks to plan, build, and/or publish but the user has not approved a locked spec in a prior reply, set the current phase to approval_pending and keep planning as the only active mode. In this phase, do not load authoring or management, edit/scaffold PBIR or semantic-model files, generate synthetic data, call Fabric write APIs, or publish. Persist _brief/report-spec.md, ask for explicit approval, and end the turn. The build/publish wording in the original request is desired future scope, not approval to cross this barrier.

Required Deliverable by Mode

ModeCompletion requirement
planningPersist _brief/report-spec.md or the user-named equivalent, ask for explicit approval, and stop before implementation.
designProduce the complete Design Brief: contract, including design_identity and a page archetype/layout contract for every page. Do not edit PBIR or call Fabric APIs.
authoringPersist the requested PBIR/PBIP changes, validate each logical batch, then complete the selected preview and screenshot-review workflow required by the authoring reference. Do not publish.
managementComplete the requested Fabric report operation, including LRO polling and documented readback verification.

Rules

MUST

  • Select the narrowest mode that fully covers the current request.

  • Read references/<mode>.md end to end before the first command or file edit in that mode. When an already-loaded mode explicitly routes one narrow cross-mode operation to a named topic reference, treat that topic reference as the complete handoff; do not load the target mode's umbrella file unless the work expands beyond that operation.

  • In planning mode, also read references/planning-part-02.md before producing _brief/report-spec.md; it contains the required canonical design contract and approval checks.

  • Across a multi-turn task, retain a compact working state containing resolved workspace/item/model IDs, local and downloaded paths, and references already read. Reuse it in later turns unless the user explicitly requests a fresh query or the preceding operation invalidated a value.

  • Preserve every argument and safety boundary documented by the selected mode.

  • Announce and perform an explicit mode switch when the request crosses a boundary.

  • Use the powerbi-report-author CLI metadata and validation surfaces instead of guessing PBIR schemas, roles, formatting properties, selectors, or enum values.

  • Keep local edits local unless the user explicitly requests publishing.

  • Resolve Fabric workspace and item IDs by listing and filtering rather than guessing identifiers.

  • Produce the artifact the user requested; reading or summarizing a reference is not task completion.

PREFER

  • Infer facts already present in the prompt, semantic model, existing PBIP, or prior approved spec instead of asking again.

  • Load only the selected mode and its directly relevant topic references.

  • Reuse reference guidance already loaded in the current task. Open a new reference only when the requested operation or an observed mismatch requires it.

  • Preserve the user's existing project structure, schemas, host, operation, binding, and delivery target unless the selected mode explicitly requires a change.

AVOID

  • Acting from this dispatcher without reading the selected mode reference.

  • Reloading this dispatcher, a mode file, or a topic reference already read in the current task solely because the conversation advanced to a later turn.

  • Loading a retired sibling skill name; planning, design, authoring, and management are modes of this skill.

  • Editing PBIR or calling Fabric APIs in planning or design.

  • Publishing from authoring, or authoring PBIR content from management.

  • Bypassing the planning approval gate because the original request also asked to build or publish.

<!-- BEGIN GENERATED REFERENCE INDEX -->

Complete Reference Index

Open every relevant reference directly from this index. Files named part-XX continue the named topic.

Authoring
Design
Mode Guides

<!-- END GENERATED REFERENCE INDEX -->

Examples

User requestMode
"Create a new executive report from this semantic model."planning
"Design an operational page and choose the right charts."design
"Add a KPI page to this PBIP, validate it, and take screenshots."authoring
"Publish this local PBIP to my Fabric workspace and rebind it."management

Route Compatibility

The merged skill preserves the four previous route surfaces. Treat the following phrases as explicit aliases for the corresponding mode:

ModePreserved route phrases
planningcreate a report; build a report; create a dashboard; create a new report from scratch; create a report from a semantic model or dataset link; build a report for this model; make me a dashboard; plan then implement; walk me through creating a report
designdesign Power BI report; make dashboard look professional; choose chart type; apply brand to report; redesign report; create design brief; Power BI report design archetype
authoringedit PBIR; create Power BI report page; add visual to PBIP; format report visual; validate Power BI report; preview Power BI report; Power BI Desktop preview status; preview report in service; preview report in browser; screenshot report page; screenshot all report pages; list preview hosts; implement dashboard in PBIP; add dashboard visuals to report; implement an approved PBIP report spec; edit PBIR pages/visuals; edit a Power BI report
managementupload PBIR report definition; upload Power BI report; download PBIR definition; publish PBIR definition; publish Power BI report to Fabric; manage Power BI reports; list workspace reports

Files

references/design/signatures.md

Signatures

Contents

  • Typographic signatures

    • S1. Tabular numerals throughout

    • S2. Display serif headlines

    • S3. All-caps tracked headlines

    • S4. Caption-style annotations under every visual

  • Chromatic signatures

    • S5. Single-accent discipline

    • S6. Highlight-and-grey

    • S7. FT pink (or any tinted) surface

    • S8. Status-coded KPI cards

  • Structural signatures

    • S9. Composite KPI focus

    • S10. Hairline rules instead of borders

    • S11. Pill-shaped section labels

    • S12. Modular grid with consistent gutter

  • Iconographic signatures

    • S13. Duotone iconography on KPI cards

    • S14. Channel/brand logos in cards

    • S15. Status icons in tables

  • Composing tone + signature

  • Authoring fresh signatures

A signature is the one defining visual move every page of a report shares. It's what a user remembers about the report after closing it. Every report should commit to exactly one — pick from the gallery below, remix a gallery entry, or author a fresh one.

A signature should be:

  • Specific — not "good typography" but "tabular-numeral KPI values set in monospace, vertically center-aligned in cards"

  • Recurring — appears on every page (or every relevant page), not one hero element somewhere

  • Coherent with the tone — Editorial Newsroom doesn't pair with "neon glow KPIs"; pick something the tone supports

This gallery is a pattern library, not an enum. Pick a listed signature only when it fits the report's audience, data shape, tone, and implementation constraints. Otherwise author a custom signature using the same rules: specific, recurring, authorable, and coherent. The goal is a memorable design identity, not compliance with the gallery.

Font guardrail: font names in this gallery are design direction. Prefer Power BI-supported fonts or provide built-in fallbacks (Segoe UI, DIN, Georgia, Consolas, Arial, Calibri, Tahoma, Verdana) so Desktop, Service, mobile, and embedded rendering do not silently diverge.

Typographic signatures

S1. Tabular numerals throughout

Every number in the report — KPI values, axis labels, table cells, data labels — uses tabular (monospaced-digit) numbers. Columns of numbers align cleanly. The eye reads patterns instantly.

When: Editorial, FT-style financial, scholarly, anything heavy on quantitative comparison.

How:

  • Treat tabular numerals as design intent; Power BI does not expose reliable theme-level tabular-figure controls

  • Prefer fonts whose digits render consistently in Power BI; if alignment still fails, use a monospaced family for KPI/table numeric values only (Cascadia Code, Consolas) and keep labels in the body family

  • Verify alignment in a test page with two columns of values of different magnitudes

Theme direction:

"textClasses": {
  "callout": { "fontFace": "'Segoe UI', sans-serif", "fontSize": 32 }
}

Per-visual: card value.fontFamily set to the monospace family for the KPI cards specifically.

S2. Display serif headlines

Page titles and section headers in a display serif (Source Serif Pro, Merriweather, Georgia). Body and chart text in a sans. The serif/sans contrast is the signature.

When: Editorial, Scholarly, FT-style.

How:

  • textClasses.title.fontFace → serif

  • textClasses.largeTitle.fontFace → serif (visual titles)

  • textClasses.label.fontFace → sans (data labels stay legible)

  • textClasses.callout.fontFace → sans bold (KPI values stay readable at high contrast)

S3. All-caps tracked headlines

Page titles in ALL CAPS with extra letter-spacing. Reads as deliberate, editorial, Bauhaus. Don't track lowercase body — only the headline.

When: Bauhaus, Industrial, Brand-forward.

How: Treat tracking as intent. Power BI does not expose reliable letter-spacing per text class, so do not promise exact tracking. Set short headings/section labels to uppercase in the brief; authoring uses uppercase text and spacing/layout to approximate the tracked look.

S4. Caption-style annotations under every visual

Every chart has a small caption (8–9pt) below it explaining the takeaway. The caption is the headline; the chart is the evidence.

When: Narrative Story, Scholarly, Editorial.

How: Per-visual subTitle.show: true with text set to a hand-authored takeaway sentence. Subtitle font 9pt, fontColor #6B7280 (mid-grey).

Chromatic signatures

S5. Single-accent discipline

One saturated accent color used throughout. Everything else greyscale. The eye goes straight to whatever wears the accent.

When: Minimal Restrained, Executive landing, any primary-metric-with-context report.

How:

  • dataColors[0] = the accent (any saturated hue)

  • dataColors[1..7] = greyscale ramp (#9CA3AF, #6B7280, #4B5563, #374151, #1F2937, #111827, #0F172A)

  • Primary KPI value in accent; supporting cards in #374151

  • Every chart: hero series in accent, others in greys

S6. Highlight-and-grey

All bars/lines in muted grey EXCEPT the one being highlighted (top performer, current period, selected category). The highlight is the entire visual story.

When: Comparative Benchmark, Operational Monitor, "rank by X" pages.

How: Per-visual dataPoint.fill with scope-identity selector for the highlighted category — set to accent. Everything else: dataColors[0] = #BDBDBD.

S7. FT pink (or any tinted) surface

Page background is a tinted surface (FT pink #FFF1E5, cream #FAF7F0, mint #F0FDF4, etc.) — not white, not grey. The tint is the signature.

When: Editorial Newsroom, FT Pink Financial, Scholarly Calm.

How: page.json → objects.background.color to the tint hex with transparency: 0D. Visual containers stay white #FFFFFF to layer.

S8. Status-coded KPI cards

Every KPI card's accent bar (or background tint) reflects status — green if good, amber if warning, red if bad. The dashboard reads as a traffic-light board at a glance.

When: Operational Monitor, Executive Summary with KPI status.

How: Per-card accentBar.color driven by a measure (uses conditional formatting). Card backgrounds stay neutral; the accent bar or a colored top-border carries the signal.

Structural signatures

S9. Composite KPI focus

One KPI treatment — the page's primary metric plus its context — is visually emphasized without wasting the hero region on a bare number. The eye lands on the metric instantly, then sees why it matters.

When: Executive Summary, landing pages, single-question reports where the primary metric needs immediate emphasis.

How: Use a compact-but-prominent card or status tile with value, delta/reference label, sparkline or threshold band, and a nearby explanation chart. Keep supporting cards 28–36pt. Do not let a bare single-measure cardVisual occupy the largest/dominant region; the large hero area belongs to the trend, ranked driver, variance, or other explanatory visual.

S10. Hairline rules instead of borders

No borders on any visual. Section breaks marked by 1px hairline rules (top + bottom of section). Whitespace + rules carry the structure; containers are invisible.

When: Editorial Newsroom, Scholarly Calm, Minimal Restrained.

How: Per-visual border.show: false; background.show: false on chart visuals (white-on-white); section dividers are 1px tall textboxes with background.color: #E5E7EB.

S11. Pill-shaped section labels

Section headers wrapped in pill-shaped chips with rounded ends. Every section ("KPIs", "Trends", "Top Performers") gets its own pill. Reads warm, modern, energetic.

When: Playful Energetic, consumer-facing, brand-forward.

How: Textbox with background.color (warm tint), border.radius: 24px, horizontal padding 16px. Position at top-left of each section.

S12. Modular grid with consistent gutter

Every visual on the page snaps to a strict 12-column grid with a single gutter value (16px or 24px). No exceptions, no off-grid elements. The signature is the regularity itself.

When: Industrial Dense, Bauhaus Catalog, any analyst workbench.

How: Brief specifies the grid; authoring computes coordinates so every visual's x/y/width/height is on the grid. Pre-flight checks the grid before handoff.

Iconographic signatures

S13. Duotone iconography on KPI cards

Every KPI card carries a duotone icon (filled silhouette + accent color overlay) to its left of the value. The icons are a consistent visual family.

When: Playful Energetic, Corporate Cool with personality, B2B SaaS.

How: Registered PNGs (one per metric) at 32px; keep sizing and style consistent across the card row.

S14. Channel/brand logos in cards

One KPI card per channel/platform/region/competitor, each carrying that entity's logo. The logo IS the card's identity element.

When: Multi-platform marketing reports, competitor benchmarking, multi-region operations.

How: One registered PNG per entity. Cards arrayed in a row; consistent logo sizing (32–40px); logo positioned top-left, value centered, label below.

S15. Status icons in tables

Every row in a table carries a status icon column (✓ / ! / ✗ or custom glyphs). The table reads as a status board.

When: Operational Monitor, compliance reports, project tracking.

How: Conditional formatting iconRule on a status measure. Use the built-in icon set, or register custom PNGs for brand-specific status glyphs.

Composing tone + signature

The signature should emerge from the tone, not contradict it. Quick checks:

If tone is…Don't pick signature…Do pick signature…
Editorial NewsroomS11 (pill labels), S13 (duotone icons)S2 (display serif), S1 (tabular numerals), S10 (hairline rules)
Industrial CockpitS2 (display serif), S11 (pill labels)S5 (single-accent), S8 (status-coded cards), S15 (status icons)
Playful EnergeticS10 (hairline rules), S5 (single-accent monochrome)S11 (pill labels), S13 (duotone icons), S14 (channel logos)
Minimal RestrainedS13 (duotone icons), S11 (pill labels)S5 (single-accent), S9 (composite KPI focus), S10 (hairline rules)
FT Pink FinancialS11 (pill labels), S13 (duotone icons)S1 (tabular numerals), S2 (display serif), S7 (pink surface)
Monospace TerminalS2 (display serif), S11 (pill labels)S1 (tabular numerals), S5 (single-accent), S15 (status icons)
Industrial DenseS11 (pill labels), S9 (KPI-focus signature — too sparse for dense analysis)S1 (tabular numerals), S12 (modular grid), S15 (status icons)
Clinical CalmS5 with red accent (red is reserved for alerts)S5 with teal/sage, S10 (hairline rules), S13 (duotone icons in muted palette)

When tone and signature feel disconnected, the signature wins visually — but reads as accidental. Pick a signature the tone naturally supports.

Authoring fresh signatures

If none of the gallery entries fit, author a new one. The Design Brief: may use a gallery signature ID/name, a remixed signature, or a custom one-sentence signature. Do not force a report into the gallery if a custom recurring move fits better.

A good signature has these properties:

  1. One sentence describes it — "every KPI card has a hairline rule above the value and the value is set 2× the label size"

  2. Theme-snippet authorable — there's a concrete textClasses / visualStyles / per-visual VCO change that delivers it

  3. Recurs across pages — not a one-time hero element

  4. Tone-coherent — fits the report's mood

Document the new signature in the brief's design_identity.signature field with the same one-sentence pattern.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

What our scanner noticed· Low risk

  • Phrasing that asks for actions without confirmation
  • Instructions that use the network

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Published by
Microsoft
Publisher
Microsoft (Official)
Source
microsoft/skills-for-fabric · skills/powerbi-report-cli · commit f8fac11
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced
Also distributed in
microsoft/skills-for-fabric

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft or Microsoft.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download powerbi-report-cli.zip