Power BI Skills — Install Guide

A VS Code Copilot agent for end-to-end Power BI development.

Unlike single-file agents you copy into .github/agents/, this one is multi-file: it ships an agent file plus seven companion skill folders that the agent loads on demand.

---

What's in This Repo

powerbi-skills/
├── agents/
│   └── power-bi-developer.agent.md     ← the agent file
└── skills/                              ← 7 skill folders the agent uses
    ├── power-bi-business-analysis/
    ├── power-bi-semantic-model/
    ├── power-bi-dax-development/
    ├── power-bi-report-design/
    ├── power-bi-pbip-report/
    ├── power-bi-performance-troubleshooting/
    └── power-bi-feedback-iteration/

Each skills/<name>/ folder contains a SKILL.md plus its own references/, assets/, or scripts/.

---

Install

You have three options.

Option A — One-line install (recommended)

Use the skills CLI to install directly into your workspace:

npx skills add https://github.com/datacoolie/powerbi-skills

Or use curl to fetch just the agent file:

curl --create-dirs -o .github/agents/power-bi-developer.agent.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/datacoolie/powerbi-skills/main/agents/power-bi-developer.agent.md

Option B — Use this repo as your workspace

Just clone and open. No copying needed.

git clone <this-repo-url> powerbi-skills
code powerbi-skills

VS Code auto-discovers agents/*.agent.md and skills/*/SKILL.md from the workspace root.

Option C — Install into your own workspace

Copy two folders into your project:

Copy from this repo	Paste into your workspace
agents/power-bi-developer.agent.md	.github/agents/power-bi-developer.agent.md
Each folder under skills/power-bi-*/	.agents/skills/<same-folder-name>/

So after copying, your workspace looks like:

your-project/
├── .github/
│   └── agents/
│       └── power-bi-developer.agent.md
└── .agents/
    └── skills/
        ├── power-bi-business-analysis/
        ├── power-bi-semantic-model/
        ├── power-bi-dax-development/
        ├── power-bi-report-design/
        ├── power-bi-pbip-report/
        ├── power-bi-performance-troubleshooting/
        └── power-bi-feedback-iteration/

Important: Copy the whole skill folder (including references/, assets/, scripts/), not just SKILL.md. The agent reads files inside those folders.

---

What VS Code Actually Loads (vs. Reference Files)

Only two file types are auto-discovered by VS Code Copilot. Everything else is pulled in on demand by the agent or a skill.

File	Auto-loaded?	Who reads it
agents/*.agent.md	Yes	VS Code, when you pick the agent in chat
skills/<name>/SKILL.md	Yes (listed)	Agent reads it when the skill applies
skills/<name>/references/*.md	No	Agent reads only when SKILL.md points to a specific file
skills/<name>/scripts/*.py	No	Agent runs them via terminal (e.g. Phase 4c QA)
skills/<name>/assets/*	No	Agent shows them to you (e.g. layout preview SVGs)

So although VS Code only "sees" SKILL.md, that file uses relative paths like references/strategist.md and scripts/pbir_gate.py. If you copy only SKILL.md, those paths break — that's why you copy the entire folder.

---

Verify

1. Open the workspace in VS Code
2. Open Copilot Chat (Ctrl+Shift+I)
3. Switch to Agent mode (dropdown at the top of the chat panel)
4. Power BI Developer should appear in the agent picker

If it doesn't show up, restart VS Code.

---

MCP Servers (Optional but Recommended)

The agent works best with these MCP servers configured in .vscode/mcp.json:

Server	What it does	Required?
microsoft-learn-mcp	Looks up official Microsoft docs	Strongly recommended
powerbi-modeling-mcp	Creates tables, measures, RLS in semantic models	Required for Phase 2–3
fabric-mcp	Publishes to Microsoft Fabric workspaces	Optional
fabric-notebook-mcp	Fabric notebook operations	Optional

Example .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "powerbi-modeling-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "<package-name-for-the-server>"]
    }
  }
}

Replace <package-name-for-the-server> with the actual MCP server package name from its repository. Without these servers the agent still runs but skips the model-build steps.

---

Use It

In Copilot Chat (Agent mode → Power BI Developer), describe what you want:

I need a sales analytics report for our retail division.
We track revenue, units sold, and stock-out rates across 5 stores.
Audience is the Operations Manager who reviews numbers daily.

The agent will walk you through 9 phases: Requirements → Model → DAX → Design → Build → Polish → Feedback → Release.

You can also jump in mid-pipeline:

Say this	Agent starts at
"Help me write DAX measures for this model"	Phase 3
"Design a report for this dataset"	Phase 4a
"Validate this PBIP report"	Phase 4c (runs the QA scripts)
"My report is slow"	Performance troubleshooting skill

---

Optional: QA Scripts

The power-bi-pbip-report skill ships Python scripts you can run standalone:

# Full QA pass on a .Report folder (finalize → lint → validate)
python skills/power-bi-pbip-report/scripts/pbir_gate.py \
  --report path/to/MyReport.Report \
  --style analytical

Requires Python 3.10+. Install jsonschema for full schema validation:

pip install jsonschema

---

Troubleshooting

Agent doesn't appear in Copilot Chat. Make sure you're in Agent mode (not Ask or Edit). Check that the agent file is at .github/agents/power-bi-developer.agent.md (Option B) or agents/power-bi-developer.agent.md (Option A). Restart VS Code.

Agent says "skill not found". You only copied SKILL.md and forgot the rest of the folder. Recopy the entire skills/<name>/ folder including references/.

MCP tool errors. Check .vscode/mcp.json is configured and restart VS Code. The agent will continue with reduced capabilities if a server is missing.

---

What Each Skill Does

Skill	Purpose	Triggers when you say
power-bi-business-analysis	Phase 1: requirements interview, KPI selection	"analyze requirements", "what KPIs"
power-bi-semantic-model	Phase 2: star schema, storage modes, RLS	"build the model", "star schema", "DirectLake"
power-bi-dax-development	Phase 3: DAX measures, time intelligence	"write a measure", "CALCULATE", "YTD"
power-bi-report-design	Phase 4a: layouts, charts, themes, design spec	"design a report", "choose chart types"
power-bi-pbip-report	Phase 4b/4c: generate PBIR JSON, lint, validate	"build the report", "validate this PBIP"
power-bi-performance-troubleshooting	Cross-cutting: diagnose slow reports	"report is slow", "query timeout"
power-bi-feedback-iteration	Phase 5/6: classify feedback, UAT, changelog	"user feedback", "release notes"