minasaad1/pbi-cli/power-bi-dax

Claude Code and agent skill by minasaad1/pbi-cli

Trust tier 2
  • community
LLM review pending
Source check pending

Checking that the SKILL.md file is still in the repository.

Write, execute, and optimize DAX queries and measures for Power BI semantic models using pbi-cli. Invoke this skill whenever the user mentions DAX, queries data in Power BI, writes calculations, creates measures, asks about EVALUATE, SUMMARIZECOLUMNS, CALCULATE, time intelligence, or wants to analyze/aggregate data from a semantic model. Also invoke when the user asks to run a query, test a formula, or check row counts. This skill contains critical guidance on passing DAX expressions via CLI arguments -- multi-line DAX (VAR/RETURN) requires special handling.

Install

npx vskill@latest install minasaad1/pbi-cli/power-bi-dax

SKILL.md

Power BI DAX Skill

Execute and validate DAX queries against connected Power BI models.

Prerequisites

bash
pipx install pbi-cli-tool
pbi-cli skills install
pbi connect

Executing Queries

bash
# Inline query
pbi dax execute "EVALUATE TOPN(10, Sales)"
 
# From file
pbi dax execute --file query.dax
 
# From stdin (piping)
cat query.dax | pbi dax execute -
echo "EVALUATE Sales" | pbi dax execute -
 
# With options
pbi dax execute "EVALUATE Sales" --max-rows 100
pbi dax execute "EVALUATE Sales" --timeout 300       # Custom timeout (seconds)
 
# JSON output for scripting
pbi --json dax execute "EVALUATE Sales"

DAX Expression Limitations in CLI

When passing DAX as a -e argument, the shell collapses newlines into a single line. Simple expressions like SUM(Sales[Amount]) work fine, but multi-line DAX using VAR/RETURN breaks because the DAX parser needs line breaks between those keywords.

Why this matters: A measure like VAR x = [Total Sales] VAR y = [Sales PY] RETURN DIVIDE(x - y, y) will fail with a syntax error because the engine sees it as one continuous line without statement separators.

Workarounds (pick one):

bash
# Option 1: Pipe from stdin (recommended for measures)
echo 'VAR TotalSales = SUM(Sales[Amount])
VAR TotalCost = SUM(Sales[Cost])
RETURN TotalSales - TotalCost' | pbi measure create "Profit" -e - -t Sales
 
# Option 2: Write to a .dax file and use --file (for queries)
echo 'EVALUATE
ROW("Result",
    VAR x = SUM(Sales[Amount])
    RETURN x
)' > query.dax
pbi dax execute --file query.dax

Single-line alternatives (preferred when possible):

For simple ratio/growth measures, use inline patterns instead of VAR/RETURN:

bash
# Instead of: VAR x = SUM(...) / VAR y = SUM(...) / RETURN DIVIDE(x, y)
# Use inline DIVIDE -- it handles division-by-zero gracefully (returns BLANK):
pbi measure create "Margin %" \
  -e "DIVIDE(SUM(Sales[Amount]) - SUM(Sales[Cost]), SUM(Sales[Amount]))" \
  -t Sales --format-string "0.0%"
 
# Instead of: VAR current = [Total Sales] / VAR prev = [Sales PY] / RETURN DIVIDE(...)
# Reference measures directly in DIVIDE:
pbi measure create "YoY %" \
  -e "DIVIDE([Total Sales] - [PY Sales], [PY Sales])" \
  -t Sales --format-string "0.0%"

Validating Queries

bash
pbi dax validate "EVALUATE Sales"
pbi dax validate --file query.dax

Cache Management

bash
pbi dax clear-cache    # Clear the formula engine cache

Creating Measures with DAX

bash
# Simple aggregation
pbi measure create "Total Sales" -e "SUM(Sales[Amount])" -t Sales
 
# Time intelligence
pbi measure create "YTD Sales" -e "TOTALYTD(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Calendar[Date])" -t Sales
 
# Previous year comparison
pbi measure create "PY Sales" -e "CALCULATE([Total Sales], SAMEPERIODLASTYEAR(Calendar[Date]))" -t Sales
 
# Year-over-year change
pbi measure create "YoY %" -e "DIVIDE([Total Sales] - [PY Sales], [PY Sales])" -t Sales --format-string "0.0%"

Common DAX Patterns

Explore Model Data
bash
# List all tables
pbi dax execute "EVALUATE INFO.TABLES()"
 
# List columns in a table
pbi dax execute "EVALUATE INFO.COLUMNS()"
 
# Preview table data
pbi dax execute "EVALUATE TOPN(10, Sales)"
 
# Count rows
pbi dax execute "EVALUATE ROW(\"Count\", COUNTROWS(Sales))"
Aggregations
bash
# Basic sum
pbi dax execute "EVALUATE ROW(\"Total\", SUM(Sales[Amount]))"
 
# Group by with aggregation
pbi dax execute "EVALUATE SUMMARIZECOLUMNS(Products[Category], \"Total\", SUM(Sales[Amount]))"
 
# Multiple aggregations
pbi dax execute "
EVALUATE
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS(
    Products[Category],
    \"Total Sales\", SUM(Sales[Amount]),
    \"Avg Price\", AVERAGE(Sales[UnitPrice]),
    \"Count\", COUNTROWS(Sales)
)
"
Filtering
bash
# CALCULATE with filter
pbi dax execute "
EVALUATE
ROW(\"Online Sales\", CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Sales[Channel] = \"Online\"))
"
 
# FILTER with complex condition
pbi dax execute "
EVALUATE
FILTER(
    SUMMARIZECOLUMNS(Products[Name], \"Total\", SUM(Sales[Amount])),
    [Total] > 1000
)
"
Time Intelligence
bash
# Year-to-date
pbi dax execute "
EVALUATE
ROW(\"YTD\", TOTALYTD(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Calendar[Date]))
"
 
# Rolling 12 months
pbi dax execute "
EVALUATE
ROW(\"R12\", CALCULATE(
    SUM(Sales[Amount]),
    DATESINPERIOD(Calendar[Date], MAX(Calendar[Date]), -12, MONTH)
))
"
Ranking
bash
# Top products by sales
pbi dax execute "
EVALUATE
TOPN(
    10,
    ADDCOLUMNS(
        VALUES(Products[Name]),
        \"Total\", CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]))
    ),
    [Total], DESC
)
"

Performance Tips

  • Use --max-rows to limit result sets during development
  • Run pbi dax clear-cache before benchmarking
  • Prefer SUMMARIZECOLUMNS over SUMMARIZE for grouping
  • Use CALCULATE with simple filters instead of nested FILTER
  • Avoid iterators (SUMX, FILTER) on large tables when aggregations suffice

Security

  • Security scanPassed, 100 of 100Pattern checks on the skill's files.
  • Model reviewNot runA model review is scheduled for the next rescan.

See the full security report

Quality evaluation

  • Task evaluationNot runNo evaluation yet. Run one in Skill Studio.

See evaluation results

Source

Popularity

Repository stars
400
Repository forks
107
7-day trend score
30

Stars and forks are for the whole GitHub repository, not this skill alone. Not refreshed yet.

Works with

Any agent vskill installs to: 56 targets in all. These 39 have a page on this site.

  • Claude Code
  • Cursor
  • GitHub Copilot
  • Windsurf
  • Codex
  • Gemini CLI
  • Cline
  • Amp
  • Roo Code
  • Goose
  • Continue
  • Kilo Code
  • Junie
  • Trae
  • OpenHands
  • Qwen Code
  • AI Agent
  • Tabnine Chat
  • Sourcegraph Cody
  • Amazon Q
  • Firebase Genkit
  • Sweep
  • Devin
  • Phind
  • Mentat
  • Claude Desktop
  • Aider
  • GPT Pilot
  • Plandex
  • bolt.new
  • v0
  • Replit Agent
  • Anse
  • TypingMind
  • BetterChatGPT
  • LibreChat
  • Warp AI
  • Pieces
  • Fig AI
Embed badge
vskill VERIFIED badge
[![vskill VERIFIED](https://verified-skill.com/api/v1/skills/minasaad1/pbi-cli/power-bi-dax/badge)](https://verified-skill.com/skills/minasaad1/pbi-cli/power-bi-dax)

Something wrong with this skill or its page? Tell us.