Power-bi-agentic-development te2-cli

CLI syntax reference for Tabular Editor 2 (TabularEditor.exe); deployment, scripting, BPA analysis, and CI/CD integration. Automatically invoke when the user mentions "TabularEditor.exe", TE2 CLI flags (-D, -S, -A, -B, -TMDL, -O, -C), or asks to "deploy a model via CLI", "set up CI/CD for Power BI", "automate model deployment", "run BPA from command line", "save model as TMDL".

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/data-goblin/power-bi-agentic-development

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/data-goblin/power-bi-agentic-development "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/plugins/tabular-editor/skills/te2-cli" ~/.claude/skills/data-goblin-power-bi-agentic-development-te2-cli && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: plugins/tabular-editor/skills/te2-cli/SKILL.md

source content

Tabular Editor 2 CLI

Command-line interface for Tabular Editor 2 (TE2). This skill covers the

TabularEditor.exe

executable; TE3 has its own CLI and is a separate product.

Installation

Tabular Editor 2 (Free)

Download: https://github.com/TabularEditor/TabularEditor/releases
Extract to preferred location or use Chocolatey:
```
choco install tabulareditor2
```

Executable

TabularEditor.exe

-- free, Windows-only. For Mac/Linux, run via a Windows VM or container.

Connection Sources

Local Files

# model.bim (JSON format)
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim

# TMDL folder
TabularEditor.exe definition/

# PBIP project
TabularEditor.exe MyReport.pbip

Remote XMLA Endpoints

# Analysis Services
TabularEditor.exe "localhost\tabular" "AdventureWorks"

# Power BI Premium/Fabric
TabularEditor.exe "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/WorkspaceName" "ModelName"

Power BI Desktop

# Auto-detect running instance
TabularEditor.exe localhost:PORT DatabaseName

Note: Find the port in PBIDesktop diagnostic files or use tools like DAX Studio.

Command-Line Reference

Basic Syntax

TabularEditor.exe <source> [options]

Script Execution

# Inline C# script
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -S "Info(Model.Name);"

# Script file
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -S script.csx

# Multiple scripts (executed in order)
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -S script1.csx -S script2.csx

Deployment

# Deploy to XMLA endpoint
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -D "server" "database"

# Deploy with options
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -D "server" "database" -O -C -P -R -M -E -V -W

Deployment Options

Flag	Long Form	Description
`-O`	`-OVERWRITE`	Overwrite existing database
`-C`	`-CONNECTIONS`	Deploy/overwrite data sources (supports connection string placeholder substitution)
`-P`	`-PARTITIONS`	Deploy/overwrite existing table partitions
`-R`	`-ROLES`	Deploy roles
`-M`	`-MEMBERS`	Deploy role members
`-S`	`-SHARED`	Deploy shared expressions (within `-D` context; note: `-S` also means script outside `-D` )
`-E`	`-ERR`	Return non-zero exit code if AS returns error messages after deployment
`-V`	`-VSTS`	Output Azure DevOps logging commands
`-W`	`-WARN`	Output warnings for unprocessed objects
`-F`	`-FULL`	Full deployment (equivalent to `-O -C -P -S -R -M` )
`-X`	`-XMLA`	Generate XMLA/TMSL script instead of deploying
`-L`	`-LOGIN`	Disable integrated security for deployment
`-Y`	`-SKIPPOLICY`	Skip incremental refresh policy partitions

Save Output

# Save to model.bim
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -S script.csx -B Output.bim

# Save to TMDL folder
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -S script.csx -TMDL output/

# Save to legacy folder structure
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -S script.csx -F output/

Best Practice Analyzer

# Run BPA rules
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -A rules.json

# Run BPA with Azure DevOps logging output
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -A rules.json -V

# Run BPA with GitHub Actions logging output
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -A rules.json -G

# Analyze excluding rules embedded in model annotations
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -AX rules.json

Schema Check

# Validate data source schemas against the model
TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -SC

Common Operations

1. Deploy Local Model to Service

TabularEditor.exe Model.bim ^
    -D "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/Workspace" "SemanticModel" ^
    -O -C

2. Run Script and Save

TabularEditor.exe Model.bim -S format-dax.csx -B Model.bim

3. Run BPA Analysis

TabularEditor.exe Model.bim ^
    -A https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/Analysis-Services/master/BestPracticeRules/BPARules.json ^
    -V

4. Refresh Model Data

TabularEditor.exe "server" "database" ^
    -S "Model.RequestRefresh(RefreshType.Full);" ^
    -D "server" "database"

5. Export Model from Service

TabularEditor.exe "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/Workspace" "Model" ^
    -TMDL output/definition

Authentication

For authentication methods (Windows, Service Principal, Interactive) and CI/CD integration (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions), see

references/auth-and-cicd.md

Exit Codes

Code	Description
0	Success
1	Any error-level output (script error, deployment failure, BPA violations at severity >= 3)

File Formats

Input Formats

```
model.bim
```
- Tabular JSON (legacy)
```
definition/
```
- TMDL folder (modern)
```
*.pbip
```
- Power BI Project (TE3)

Output Formats

Flag	Format	Description
`-B`	`.bim`	Tabular JSON
`-TMDL`	folder	TMDL
`-F`	folder	Legacy folder structure

Troubleshooting

For common errors (database not found, authentication failed, script execution failed), see

references/auth-and-cicd.md

Quick Reference Card

+---------------------------------------------------------+
| TABULAR EDITOR CLI QUICK REFERENCE                      |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| SOURCES                                                 |
|   Model.bim           Local JSON model                  |
|   definition/         TMDL folder                       |
|   "server" "db"       XMLA connection                   |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| SCRIPTS                                                 |
|   -S "code"           Inline C# script                  |
|   -S file.csx         Script file                       |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| DEPLOYMENT                                              |
|   -D "server" "db"    Deploy to target                  |
|   -O                  Overwrite existing                |
|   -C                  Create if not exists              |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| OUTPUT                                                  |
|   -B output.bim       Save as JSON                      |
|   -TMDL folder/       Save as TMDL                      |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| BPA                                                     |
|   -A rules.json       Run BPA analysis                  |
|   -G results.sarif    Output BPA results                |
+---------------------------------------------------------+

References

To retrieve current XMLA and deployment docs, use

microsoft_docs_search

microsoft_docs_fetch

(MCP) if available, otherwise

mslearn search

mslearn fetch

(CLI). Search based on the user's request and run multiple searches as needed to ensure sufficient context before proceeding.