powerbi-desktop-mcp

CLI tool to automatically download, install and configure the Power BI Desktop MCP Server for Claude Desktop and Claude Code.

Install

npm install -g powerbi-desktop-mcp

Or run directly without installing:

npx powerbi-desktop-mcp install

Commands

Install

Downloads the MCP server and interactively configures Claude Desktop and/or Claude Code:

# If installed globally
powerbi-desktop-mcp install

# Or run with npx (no installation required)
npx powerbi-desktop-mcp install

During installation, you'll be prompted to:

• Configure Claude Desktop automatically? - Adds the MCP server to Claude Desktop's config
• Configure Claude Code automatically? - Adds the MCP server to Claude Code's config

You can choose to configure one, both, or neither (for manual configuration later).

Options:

-d, --dir <path>          Install directory (default: C:\MCPServers\PowerBIModelingMCP)
-v, --mcp-version <ver>   MCP version to install (default: 0.1.9)
-s, --skip-confirmation   Skip confirmation prompts in MCP server

Note: If reinstalling, please close Claude Desktop and Claude Code (VS Code) first to avoid file locking issues.

Status

Check if the MCP is installed and configured:

# If installed globally
powerbi-desktop-mcp status

# Or run with npx
npx powerbi-desktop-mcp status

Uninstall

Remove the MCP server and clean up Claude configs:

# If installed globally
powerbi-desktop-mcp uninstall

# Or run with npx
npx powerbi-desktop-mcp uninstall

Requirements

• Windows (win32-x64)
• Node.js >= 18
• Power BI Desktop (must be open when using the MCP)

What it does

1. Downloads powerbi-modeling-mcp.exe from VS Code Marketplace
2. Extracts it to the install directory
3. Asks if you want to configure Claude Desktop - Registers it in %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
4. Asks if you want to configure Claude Code - Registers it in %USERPROFILE%\.claude.json

You have full control over which Claude applications get configured during installation.

Usage after install

1. Open Power BI Desktop with your model
2. Restart Claude Desktop or Claude Code
3. Say: Connect to [your-file-name] in Power BI Desktop

⚙️ MCP Server Settings

The MCP server supports several command line options and environment variables that can be configured during installation:

Command Line Options

| Command line option | Default | Description | |-------------------|---------|-------------| | --start | | Starts the MCP server; necessary for server registration with MCP client. | | --readwrite | Yes | Enabled by default, enables write operations with confirmation prompt before applying an edit to your semantic model (once per database). | | --readonly | | Safe mode, prevents any write operations to your semantic model. | | --skipconfirmation | | Automatically approves all write operations without confirmation prompts. Only use skip confirmation mode when you're confident about the operations being performed and have appropriate backups of your semantic model. | | --compatibility | PowerBI | By default, it is optimized for Power BI semantic models. Change the setting to Full if you want to run this MCP server against Analysis Services databases. |

Environment Variables

| Environment variable name | Default | Description | |--------------------------|---------|-------------| | PBI_MODELING_MCP_ACCESS_TOKEN | | When configured, the MCP Server uses the specified access token instead of prompting for authentication when connecting to a semantic model in a Fabric workspace. This is useful in scenarios where the application handles authentication itself. |

How to Configure

These settings are automatically configured by this installer with sensible defaults. The --skipconfirmation flag can be set during installation using the -s option:

npx powerbi-desktop-mcp install -s

To manually modify these settings after installation, edit the Claude configuration files:

• Claude Desktop: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Claude Code: %USERPROFILE%\.claude.json

Example configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "powerbi-desktop-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "C:\\MCPServers\\PowerBIModelingMCP\\extension\\server\\powerbi-modeling-mcp.exe",
      "args": ["--start", "--skipconfirmation"],
      "env": {
        "PBI_MODELING_MCP_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

About

This CLI tool automates the installation and configuration of the Power BI Modeling MCP Server developed by Microsoft. The MCP server brings Power BI semantic modeling capabilities to AI agents, enabling natural language interactions with Power BI Desktop and Fabric semantic models.

Official MCP Server

The underlying Power BI Modeling MCP Server is developed and maintained by Microsoft:

• GitHub Repository: microsoft/powerbi-modeling-mcp
• VS Code Extension: Power BI Modeling MCP
• License: MIT

What the MCP Server Does

• 🔄 Build and modify semantic models with natural language
• ⚡ Execute bulk operations at scale across hundreds of objects
• ✅ Apply modeling best practices to your Power BI models
• 🤖 Enable agentic workflows with TMDL and Power BI Project files
• 🔍 Query and validate DAX against your semantic models

For complete documentation, capabilities, and examples, visit the official repository.

What This CLI Does

This powerbi-desktop-mcp package simplifies the installation process by:

1. Automatically downloading the MCP server from VS Code Marketplace
2. Extracting and setting up the executable
3. Providing interactive prompts to configure Claude Desktop and/or Claude Code
4. Managing installation, status checks, and uninstallation

Contributing

Issues and feature requests for the MCP server itself should be directed to the official Microsoft repository.