Power BI MCP Server
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI assistants to interact with Power BI workspaces, datasets, reports, and dashboards programmatically.
🚀 Features
- Workspace Management: List and manage Power BI workspaces
- Report Operations: Access, clone, export, and rebind reports
- Dataset Management: Execute DAX queries, refresh datasets, manage schedules
- Dashboard Access: List and interact with dashboards
- Push Datasets: Create and manage push datasets with real-time data
- Authentication: Secure OAuth2 authentication with Microsoft Entra ID
📋 Prerequisites
- Node.js (v18 or higher)
- npm or yarn
- Power BI Pro or Premium license
- Microsoft Entra ID app registration
- MCP-compatible AI assistant (Claude Desktop, etc.)
🔧 Installation
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/michaelmckinleyconsulting/powerbi-mcp-server.git
cd powerbi-mcp-server
- Install dependencies:
npm install
- Build the project:
npm run build
⚙️ Configuration
1. Microsoft Entra ID Setup
- Register an application in Azure Portal
- Configure API permissions for Power BI Service
- Note your:
- Client ID
- Tenant ID
- Client Secret (if using app-only auth)
2. Environment Variables
Create a .env file in the root directory (see .env.example for template):
PBI_PUBLIC_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
PBI_TENANT_ID=your_tenant_id # Optional, defaults to 'common'
PBI_SCOPES=https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/.default # Optional, or specify custom scopes
Note: This server uses Authorization Code flow with PKCE (no client secret required). Configure your Azure app with redirect URIs:
http://localhosthttp://127.0.0.1
3. MCP Configuration
Add to your MCP client configuration:
Claude Desktop
{
"mcpServers": {
"powerbi": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["path/to/powerbi-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
"env": {
"PBI_PUBLIC_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id",
"PBI_TENANT_ID": "your_tenant_id"
}
}
}
}
VS Code MCP Extension
{
"mcp.servers": {
"powerbi": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["path/to/powerbi-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
"transport": "stdio",
"env": {
"PBI_PUBLIC_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id"
}
}
}
}
📖 Usage
Basic Operations
Once configured, your AI assistant can:
- List workspaces: "Show me all my Power BI workspaces"
- Execute DAX: "Run a DAX query to get sales by region"
- Export reports: "Export the quarterly report to PDF"
- Refresh datasets: "Refresh the sales dataset"
- Manage access: "Add user@example.com to the Analytics workspace"
Example Prompts
"List all reports in my Sales workspace"
"Execute this DAX query against the Finance dataset: EVALUATE SUMMARIZE(...)"
"Export the Monthly KPI report to PowerPoint"
"Show me the refresh history for the Customer dataset"
"Create a push dataset for real-time monitoring"
🔐 Authentication
The server supports two authentication methods:
- Interactive (Recommended): User signs in via browser
- App-Only: Uses client credentials (requires admin consent)
On first run, the server will prompt for authentication via your default browser.
📁 Project Structure
powerbi-mcp-server/
├── src/
│ ├── index.ts # Main server entry point
│ ├── auth/ # Authentication logic
│ ├── handlers/ # Request handlers
│ ├── types/ # TypeScript definitions
│ └── utils/ # Utility functions
├── dist/ # Compiled JavaScript (git-ignored)
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── README.md
🛠️ Development
Running in Development Mode
npm run dev
Running Tests
npm test
Building for Production
npm run build
📊 Supported Power BI Operations
Workspaces (Groups)
- List workspaces
- Get workspace users
- Add/remove users
Reports
- List reports
- Get report metadata
- Clone reports
- Export to various formats (PDF, PPTX, PNG)
- Rebind to different datasets
Datasets
- List datasets
- Execute DAX queries
- Trigger refreshes
- Manage refresh schedules
- Get refresh history
Dashboards
- List dashboards
- Get dashboard tiles
Push Datasets
- Create push datasets
- Add rows to tables
- Clear table data
🔧 Troubleshooting
Common Issues
- Authentication fails: Ensure your Azure app registration has proper Power BI permissions
- No workspaces found: Verify your account has access to Power BI workspaces
- DAX queries fail: Check dataset permissions and query syntax
- Export timeouts: Large reports may take time; the server handles async polling
Debug Mode
Enable verbose logging:
DEBUG=powerbi:* node dist/index.js
📄 License
This project is source-available under a Modified MIT License with Commons Clause - see the LICENSE file for details.
Non-Commercial Use: Free for personal, educational, and internal company use.
Commercial Use: Requires a separate commercial license. Contact [michael@mckinley.consulting] for commercial licensing.
This is not OSI-approved "open source" due to the commercial restrictions, but allows full community use for non-commercial purposes.
🤝 Contributing
We welcome contributions! Please note:
- By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the same license
- For substantial changes, please open an issue first to discuss
- Ensure all tests pass and add tests for new features
💬 Support
- Issues: GitHub Issues
- Commercial Support: [michael@mckinley.consulting]
- Documentation: Wiki
🙏 Acknowledgments
- Built on the Model Context Protocol specification
- Uses Microsoft Power BI REST APIs
- Inspired by the MCP community
Note: This is not an official Microsoft product. Power BI is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.