Power Viz — Power BI Projects for VS Code

See, review and edit Power BI reports as code. Power Viz renders Power BI Project (PBIP) reports right inside VS Code — offline, with Power BI-style formatting and the real data from your .pbix — shows visual diffs between versions, validates PBIR and TMDL files as you type, converts .pbix files into editable PBIP projects, and lets AI assistants edit dashboards safely.

Works on macOS, Windows and Linux. Power BI Desktop is not required.

Preview release. Power Viz is under active development. Feedback and bug reports are welcome through the Q & A tab of this page.

Features

Report preview

Open a .pbip file, a report folder (definition.pbir), a .pbix or a .pbit and see its pages rendered with charts, cards, tables and matrices, slicers, shapes, images and the report theme.
Real data, offline. Values are decoded from the .pbix and calculated by a built-in DAX engine, so no connection to Power BI is needed.
Updates as you edit. The preview re-renders when files change on disk — including edits made by AI assistants or version-control checkouts — and also shows unsaved changes in open editors.
Click a visual to see its fields and any warnings; double-click to open its visual.json. With Follow active editor on, opening a visual.json selects that visual in the preview.
Zoom, fit to page or width, show hidden visuals, and export a page as a PNG image.
.pbix and .pbit files open straight into a read-only preview with a Convert to PBIP action.

Visual diff

Compare your working copy with the last commit, the staged version, a branch, a tag or any earlier commit.
Every changed page is shown before, after and as an overlay: added, changed and moved visuals are highlighted and removed ones are drawn as dashed outlines.
Lists changes to pages, visuals, report settings and the semantic model, including measure DAX before and after.
Copy Markdown for review descriptions and Export images to share.
Available from the Changes view, the Source Control view, the Timeline and the diff editor.

Semantic model diagram

Tables laid out as in Power BI Desktop, or arranged automatically, with relationships, cardinality and filter direction.
Columns, measures (with their DAX) and hierarchies, plus where each field is used in the report.
Jump to any object in its .tmdl file.

Projects and Changes views

The Power BI icon in the Activity Bar lists every project in the workspace — report pages and visuals, model tables, columns, measures and hierarchies — and the report changes not yet committed, grouped by page.

Validation

A language server checks PBIR and PBIP JSON and TMDL against the Microsoft Fabric JSON schemas and Power BI rules (page order, visual types and roles, fields missing from the model, positions and more), with hovers, completion and quick fixes. Power Viz: Validate Project checks the whole project and lists the results in the Problems view.

Convert .pbix to PBIP

Power Viz: Convert .pbix to PBIP Project… (Explorer context menu or the preview toolbar) writes a PBIP project — a PBIR report plus a TMDL semantic model — next to the file or into a folder you choose. Reports saved in Power BI's older layout can optionally be upgraded to PBIR (experimental). The original .pbix is remembered so previews keep showing its data.

AI editing

Power Viz gives AI assistants safe tools to read reports, render pages, make validated edits, check their work and run DAX queries:

a built-in chat panel backed by Claude or GitHub Copilot ("Ask AI" on any page, visual or model object);
GitHub Copilot through language model tools and the @powerviz chat participant (/edit, /review, /explain);
Claude Code, Copilot agent mode and Cursor through the bundled MCP server.

Every AI edit is a normal file change you can review in the visual diff before you keep it.

Power BI service

Sign in with your Microsoft account to query published models, render reports live in the Power BI service, deploy projects to a workspace, pull definitions back, and work with Fabric Git integration.

Getting started

Open a folder that contains a Power BI project: a .pbip file, a *.Report folder or a .pbix file. In Power BI Desktop you can create one with File → Save as → Power BI project, or convert a .pbix with Power Viz.
Click the Power BI icon in the Activity Bar, or run Power Viz: Open Report Preview from the Command Palette.
To review changes, open the Changes view or run Power Viz: Visual Diff with HEAD.

Data modes

Mode	Data	Requirements
Local data (default)	Real data decoded from the `.pbix` and calculated on your machine	A `.pbix` with data; otherwise sample data is used
Sample data	Generated values, using real category names when available	None
Power BI service	Queries against a published semantic model	Sign in, then Select Service Dataset…
Live	The report rendered by the Power BI service itself	A PBIP project, a Power BI Pro sign-in and a published model — Set Up Live Mode… guides you

Choose the mode for each project from the preview toolbar, the status bar or Power Viz: Select Data Mode…. The default comes from the powerViz.dataMode setting.

Commands

Command	Description
Power Viz: Open Report Preview (to the Side)	Preview the project of the active file
Power Viz: Open Visual Diff…	Compare two versions
Power Viz: Visual Diff with HEAD	Compare your working copy with the last commit
Power Viz: Open Semantic Model Diagram	Tables, relationships, measures and field usage
Power Viz: Convert .pbix to PBIP Project…	Create an editable PBIP project from a `.pbix` or `.pbit`
Power Viz: Validate Project	Check the whole project and list problems
Power Viz: Export Page as PNG…	Save the current page as an image
Power Viz: Select Data Mode…	Local, sample, service or live data for the project
Power Viz: Toggle Side Panel	Show or hide the inspector, change list or details panel
Power Viz: Refresh	Find projects again and reload previews
Power Viz: Show Log	Open the Power Viz output channel
Power Viz: Open AI Chat / Ask AI	Chat about the project, page, visual or model object
Power Viz: Set Anthropic API Key…	Store the key used by the chat panel's Claude provider
Power Viz: Configure Claude Code for This Workspace…	Set up Claude Code to use the Power Viz tools
Power Viz: Sign in to / Sign out of Power BI / Fabric	Microsoft account for the service features
Power Viz: Deploy to Power BI / Fabric…	Preview the plan, confirm, then deploy the model and report
Power Viz: Pull from Power BI / Fabric…	Bring a report or model definition from the service into the project
Power Viz: Show Fabric Git Status… / Update Fabric Workspace from Git…	Fabric Git integration for a workspace
Power Viz: Select Service Dataset…	Published model used by the service and live modes
Power Viz: Set Up Live Mode… / Publish Sandbox… / Re-publish Sandbox	Connect a model, or upload the project's `.pbix` (after confirmation) for Live mode
Power Viz: Diagnose Live Mode	Step-by-step checks with fixes for any problem found

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`powerViz.dataMode`	`local`	Default data mode for previews
`powerViz.preview.followActiveEditor`	`true`	Select the visual or page of the active `visual.json` / `page.json`
`powerViz.preview.showHidden`	`false`	Show hidden visuals (dimmed) by default
`powerViz.render.concurrency`	`0`	Data queries run at once per page (0 = automatic)
`powerViz.validation.enable`	`true`	Validate PBIR and TMDL while editing
`powerViz.validation.schemaFallbackSeverity`	`info`	Severity of "file uses a newer schema than bundled" notes
`powerViz.validation.projectOnType`	`true`	Re-check the whole project shortly after you stop typing
`powerViz.log.level`	`info`	Detail level of the output channel
`powerViz.live.embedTimeoutSeconds`	`60`	How long to wait for a Live mode report before reporting a timeout
`powerViz.ai.provider`	`copilot`	Chat panel provider: `copilot` or `claude`
`powerViz.ai.claudeModel`	`claude-opus-5`	Claude model used by the chat panel
`powerViz.ai.maxToolIterations`	`24`	Maximum tool steps per chat request
`powerViz.mcp.enable`	`true`	Offer the Power Viz MCP server to agent hosts (Copilot agent mode, Cursor)
`powerViz.fabric.clientId`	`""`	Your own Microsoft Entra app (client) ID for sign-in; leave empty to use VS Code's sign-in
`powerViz.fabric.tenantId`	`""`	Microsoft Entra tenant; leave empty for your home tenant
`powerViz.fabric.defaultWorkspaceId`	`""`	Workspace offered first for deploy, pull and dataset selection

AI setup

Built-in chat: choose Claude or Copilot in the panel. Claude needs an Anthropic API key, set with Power Viz: Set Anthropic API Key…; it is stored in VS Code's secret storage, never in settings files.
GitHub Copilot: the Power Viz tools are available in Copilot agent mode, and the @powerviz participant works in Copilot Chat.
Claude Code: run Power Viz: Configure Claude Code for This Workspace…. It adds the Power Viz MCP server and a report-editing skill to the workspace. Run it again after updating the extension.
Other agent hosts (Copilot agent mode, Cursor): the MCP server is offered automatically for folders that contain Power BI projects while powerViz.mcp.enable is on.

Privacy

Power Viz works on your machine. Reports are rendered, validated, converted and compared locally, and report data never leaves your computer. There is no telemetry.

Network requests happen only when you use a cloud feature yourself:

signing in to Power BI / Fabric for service data, Live mode, deploy or pull;
chatting with Claude or Copilot — the content you send goes to that provider;
Publish Sandbox, the only feature that uploads report data: it sends the whole .pbix to the Power BI workspace you choose, after asking you to confirm.

Requirements and limitations

VS Code 1.106 or later. Git must be installed for visual diffs.
The offline preview closely follows Power BI's formatting but is not a pixel-exact copy. Use Live mode to see a report exactly as the Power BI service renders it.
Maps (Azure Maps, shape maps), AI visuals and custom visuals appear as labelled placeholders in the offline preview.
Values from the built-in DAX engine may differ from Power BI for DAX functions it does not support; those visuals are marked as approximate.
Visual diffs, the Changes view, deploy and pull are turned off in Restricted Mode (untrusted workspaces).
.pbix and .pbit files are read-only; convert them to PBIP to edit them.

License

Power Viz is released under the MIT License. Bundled third-party components keep their own licenses.

Power BI and Microsoft Fabric are trademarks of Microsoft. Power Viz is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.

Power Viz — Power BI Projects

Afzal Khan