Pbip

PBIP Project Format

PBIP (Power BI Project) is the developer-mode file format for Power BI. It decomposes a .pbix binary into human-readable text files organized in folders, enabling source control, external editing, and multi-author collaboration.

General, critical guidance

• This skill covers project structure, not file editing. To modify TMDL files (semantic model), load the tmdl skill. To modify PBIR JSON files (report), load the pbir-format skill -- or preferably use the pbir CLI with the pbir-cli skill if available. Install with uv tool install pbir-cli or pip install pbir-cli on macOS or Windows; check with pbir --version. Neither command works on Linux (no wheel, no sdist), so use pbir-format there rather than retrying the install. If the required skill is not loaded, ask the user to install the appropriate plugin before proceeding.
• PBIX is a black box; PBIP is transparent. PBIX is a single binary that cannot be diffed or edited externally. PBIP splits the same content into text files. Convert between them with File > Save As in PBI Desktop.
• Thick vs thin reports: A thick report bundles .Report/ + .SemanticModel/ in the same project (definition.pbir uses byPath). A thin report has .Report/ only, connecting to a remote model via byConnection. Thin reports are preferred for managed/shared BI.
• A project can contain multiple items. Multiple .Report/ and .SemanticModel/ folders can coexist. The .pbip file is optional -- open definition.pbir directly.
• UTF-8 without BOM. All files must be saved as UTF-8 without BOM. A BOM prefix causes parse errors in some tools.
• Git line endings: PBI Desktop writes CRLF. Configure core.autocrlf or * text=auto in .gitattributes to normalize.
• 260-char Windows path limit. Use short root paths. Deep nesting of page/visual GUIDs can exceed this limit.
• PBI Desktop 26.08+ applies external changes in place. Editing PBIP files on disk while Desktop is open raises an "Apply external changes" banner that reloads the project without a restart. Close and reopen only on older builds, when the edit changes a data source or adds a table needing a real refresh, when Desktop has already resolved a field as deleted, or for theme files under StaticResources -- see the pbi-desktop:connect-pbid skill's references/desktop-lifecycle.md.
• Rename cascades are cross-cutting. Renaming a table, measure, or column requires updating references in TMDL files, visual JSONs, report extensions, culture files, DAX queries, and diagram layouts. Missing even one location causes broken visuals or DAX errors.
• SparklineData metadata selectors embed Entity references in compact strings that do not follow the standard SourceRef.Entity JSON structure. Easy to miss.
• DAX query files exist in TWO locations: <Name>.SemanticModel/DAXQueries/ and <Name>.Report/DAXQueries/. Always check both during renames.

Working with PBIX Files

A .pbix file is a ZIP archive following the OPC (Open Packaging Convention) standard. It can be extracted with standard zip tools to inspect its contents or manually assemble a PBIP from the extracted files.

PBIX Internal Structure

Thick PBIX -- contains an embedded semantic model (DataModel binary). The report and model are bundled together:

ThickReport.pbix (ZIP archive)
+-- [Content_Types].xml          # OPC manifest (UTF-8 with BOM)
+-- Version                      # Power BI version string (UTF-16LE)
+-- Settings                     # Query settings JSON (UTF-16LE)
+-- Metadata                     # Creation timestamp JSON (UTF-16LE)
+-- SecurityBindings             # Binary (empty for new reports)
+-- DataModel                    # <-- THIS MAKES IT THICK: binary ABF blob (opaque, not programmatically readable)
+-- Report/
|   +-- definition/              # PBIR report definition (modern PBIX)
|   |   +-- report.json
|   |   +-- pages/
|   |   +-- ...
|   +-- Layout                   # Legacy monolithic JSON (legacy PBIX, UTF-16LE)
|   +-- StaticResources/         # Themes, images

Thin PBIX -- no embedded model. Uses a Connections file to reference a remote semantic model:

ThinReport.pbix (ZIP archive)
+-- [Content_Types].xml          # OPC manifest (UTF-8 with BOM)
+-- Version                      # Power BI version string (UTF-16LE)
+-- Settings                     # Query settings JSON (UTF-16LE)
+-- Metadata                     # Creation timestamp JSON (UTF-16LE)
+-- SecurityBindings             # Binary (empty for new reports)
+-- Connections                  # <-- Remote model reference (UTF-8 JSON, contains connection string)
+-- Report/
|   +-- definition/              # PBIR report definition (modern PBIX)
|   |   +-- report.json
|   |   +-- pages/
|   |   +-- ...
|   +-- Layout                   # Legacy monolithic JSON (legacy PBIX, UTF-16LE)
|   +-- StaticResources/         # Themes, images

A PBIX is thick if DataModel exists in the ZIP; thin if it has Connections instead. The Report/ folder structure is the same in both cases. A PBIX will have either Report/definition/ (modern PBIR format) or Report/Layout (legacy format), not both.

Thick vs Thin PBIX

A thick PBIX contains a DataModel entry -- a binary ABF (Analysis Services Backup) blob with the semantic model data and metadata baked in. A thin PBIX has no DataModel and instead has a Connections file (UTF-8 JSON) pointing to a remote semantic model. The DataModel binary cannot be deserialized programmatically -- thick PBIX semantic models are opaque.

Legacy vs Modern PBIX

Legacy PBIX files (pre-PBIR) store the report as a single Report/Layout file encoded in UTF-16LE -- a monolithic JSON blob with nested JSON strings (e.g. config, filters, query are JSON-encoded strings inside the outer JSON). Modern PBIX files store the report in Report/definition/ using the PBIR JSON format with separate files per page and visual. Detect legacy format by checking for the Report/Layout entry in the ZIP.

Encoding

PBIX internal files use mixed encodings:

Mismatched encoding when reading or writing these files causes parse failures.

Extracting a PBIX

import zipfile
from pathlib import Path

pbix_path = Path("MyReport.pbix")
output_dir = Path("MyReport_extracted")

with zipfile.ZipFile(pbix_path, "r") as z:
    # Safety: validate no entries escape the target directory (Zip Slip protection)
    resolved_output = output_dir.resolve()
    for member in z.infolist():
        member_path = (output_dir / member.filename).resolve()
        if not member_path.is_relative_to(resolved_output):
            raise ValueError(f"Zip entry escapes target: {member.filename}")
    z.extractall(output_dir)

# Detect PBIX type
is_thick = (output_dir / "DataModel").exists()
is_legacy = (output_dir / "Report" / "Layout").exists()
is_modern = (output_dir / "Report" / "definition" / "report.json").exists()

# Quick extraction via CLI
unzip MyReport.pbix -d MyReport_extracted/

# Check contents without extracting
unzip -l MyReport.pbix

Assembling a PBIP from an Extracted Thin PBIX

For thin PBIX files (no DataModel), a PBIP can be assembled from the extracted contents:

1. Extract the PBIX ZIP
2. Create the PBIP folder structure:

   MyReport/
   +-- MyReport.pbip
   +-- MyReport.Report/
   |   +-- definition.pbir
   |   +-- definition/           # Copy from extracted Report/definition/
   |   +-- StaticResources/      # Copy from extracted Report/StaticResources/
   |   +-- .platform
   

3. Create MyReport.pbip:

   {
     "version": "1.0",
     "artifacts": [
       { "report": { "path": "MyReport.Report" } }
     ],
     "settings": { "enableAutoRecovery": true }
   }
   

4. Create definition.pbir with byConnection derived from the extracted Connections file. The Connections file contains a JSON array with connection string details:

   {
     "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/fabric/item/report/definitionProperties/2.0.0/schema.json",
     "version": "4.0",
     "datasetReference": {
       "byConnection": {
         "connectionString": "Data Source=powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/WorkspaceName;Initial Catalog=ModelName"
       }
     }
   }
   

5. Create .platform with a new logicalId GUID and "type": "Report"

This only works for thin PBIX with modern PBIR format. Thick PBIX files require the semantic model to be handled separately (e.g. exported via XMLA/TOM, or deployed from a model.bim or TMDL source). Legacy PBIX report content (Report/Layout) is not compatible with the PBIR definition/ structure.

PBIX vs PBIP

Project Structure

The .Report/ folder is required in a PBIP. The .SemanticModel/ folder is optional — a thin report has only .Report/ and points at a remote semantic model via definition.pbir byConnection.

The .pbi/ subfolders in both items (localSettings.json, editorSettings.json, cache.abf, etc.) are all optional — they are per-user/per-machine runtime state generated by Power BI Desktop. A freshly authored PBIP from an external tool may not have any of them, and the project still opens fine in Desktop.

<ProjectName>/
+-- <Name>.pbip                              # Entry point (references .Report folder) — optional
+-- .gitignore                               # Recommended; excludes .pbi/localSettings.json and cache.abf
+-- <Name>.SemanticModel/                    # OPTIONAL — absent for thin reports
|   +-- .pbi/                                # All contents OPTIONAL, per-user runtime state
|   |   +-- localSettings.json               # User-specific (gitignored)
|   |   +-- editorSettings.json              # Editor settings (committed)
|   |   +-- cache.abf                        # Data cache (gitignored)
|   |   +-- unappliedChanges.json            # Pending Power Query changes
|   |   +-- daxQueries.json                  # DAX query view tab settings
|   |   +-- tmdlscripts.json                 # TMDL view script tab settings
|   +-- definition.pbism                     # SM entry point (required if .SemanticModel exists)
|   +-- definition/                          # TMDL format (preferred) — see tmdl skill
|   +-- model.bim                            # TMSL format (legacy alt to definition/, mutually exclusive)
|   +-- diagramLayout.json                   # SM diagram (no external edit)
|   +-- DAXQueries/                          # .dax files from DAX query view
|   +-- TMDLScripts/                         # .tmdl files from TMDL view
|   +-- Copilot/                             # Copilot tooling metadata
|   +-- .platform                            # Fabric identity (displayName, logicalId)
+-- <Name>.Report/                           # REQUIRED
|   +-- .pbi/                                # OPTIONAL runtime state
|   |   +-- localSettings.json               # User-specific (gitignored)
|   +-- definition.pbir                      # Report entry point (required for PBIR format)
|   +-- definition/                          # PBIR format — see pbir-format skill
|   |   +-- report.json
|   |   +-- version.json
|   |   +-- pages/
|   |   |   +-- pages.json
|   |   |   +-- <page-slug>/                 # See "Page folder naming" below
|   |   |   |   +-- page.json
|   |   |   |   +-- visuals/...
|   +-- report.json                          # PBIR-Legacy format (legacy alt to definition/)
|   +-- mobileState.json                     # Mobile layout (no external edit)
|   +-- semanticModelDiagramLayout.json      # Diagram positions (table renames)
|   +-- CustomVisuals/                       # Private custom visual metadata
|   +-- StaticResources/
|   |   +-- SharedResources/                 # Base themes, shared resources
|   |   |   +-- BaseThemes/<name>.json       # Resolution path: <report>/StaticResources/SharedResources/<item.path>
|   |   +-- RegisteredResources/             # Custom themes, images, .pbiviz files
|   +-- DAXQueries/                          # .dax files from report DAX query view
|   +-- .platform                            # Fabric identity

Page folder naming

Power BI Desktop uses opaque 20-character hex slugs for new page, visual, bookmark, and filter folders by default (e.g. 847663d71e27e0840063). Per Microsoft docs, these can be renamed to friendly names but the replacement must satisfy:

• Regex: ^[\w-]+$ — word characters (letters, digits, underscore) or hyphen only.
• No spaces, no dots, no other punctuation. Names outside this set are silently ignored by Power BI Desktop and the page/visual vanishes from the loaded report. This is the hardest bug class to diagnose because there is no error dialog.
• Folder name and name field must match exactly (case-sensitive). The folder may be bare (<slug>/) or suffixed (<slug>.Page/) — both forms are valid on disk. pbir-cli uses the .Page suffix in its CLI path syntax; current Desktop saves omit the suffix.
• pages.json.pageOrder entries must reference the slug, not the display name. activePageName must be one of the entries in pageOrder.
• Restart Desktop after external rename. PBI Desktop does not detect file changes while open.

If you rename a page from a hex slug to a friendly name, you must also update every reference to the old slug in visual JSONs, filter configs, bookmarks, sparkline metadata, and DAX queries — see references/rename-cascade.md.

SharedResources path resolution

Items listed in resourcePackages[] are resolved relative to:

<Report>/StaticResources/<package_type>/<item.path>

For a SharedResources package with an item { "path": "BaseThemes/Fluent2-CY26SU03.json" }, Power BI Desktop looks for:

<Report>/StaticResources/SharedResources/BaseThemes/Fluent2-CY26SU03.json

Missing resource files are a common blocking error. If report.json declares themeCollection.baseTheme.type = "SharedResources" and points at a resource that doesn't exist on disk, the report will not open. validate_pbip.py checks this explicitly.

What to Read for Common Tasks

Forking a PBIP Project

1. Copy the project folder -- duplicate the entire root folder with a new name.
2. Rename artifact folders -- rename .Report/ and .SemanticModel/ subfolders to match the new project name.
3. Rename and update .pbip -- rename the .pbip file and update artifacts[].report.path to point to the renamed .Report folder.
4. Update .pbir -- if the report uses byPath, update the path to point to the renamed .SemanticModel folder.
5. Update .platform files -- set displayName to the new project name in each .platform file. Regenerate logicalId (new GUID) if deploying as a separate Fabric item.

Verification

Two tools for validation, used together:

1. scripts/validate_pbip.py — project-level validator for cross-cutting concerns: .pbip root file, .platform identity, semantic model format (TMDL vs TMSL), datasetReference resolution, theme resource resolution on disk, orphan page folders, and the silent-ignore page name regex rule (page names outside ^[\w-]+$ are silently ignored by Power BI Desktop). Delegates deep .Report schema validation to pbir validate if it is on PATH.

   python3 scripts/validate_pbip.py <path-to-.pbip-or-project>           # validate
   python3 scripts/validate_pbip.py <path> --fix                         # scaffold .gitignore
   python3 scripts/validate_pbip.py <path> --json                        # machine-readable
   python3 scripts/validate_pbip.py <path> --no-pbir-cli                 # skip delegation
   

   Exit codes: 0 clean, 1 warnings only, 2 errors, 3 usage error.

2. pbir validate <Report.Report> (from the pbir-cli skill) — canonical JSON schema + PBIR structure validator for the .Report folder. Covers JSON syntax, schema compliance, required fields, and optional --qa / --fields / --strict checks.

3. pbip-validator agent — use for interactive, LLM-driven checking of orphaned references after renames, when you need reasoning over the whole project rather than a deterministic report.

Known gotcha with pbir validate: if the project's .pbi/localSettings.json uses a schema version newer than the one bundled in pbir-cli, pbir validate returns SCHEMA_UNSUPPORTED. Pass --allow-download-schemas to let it fetch the missing schema on demand, or ignore .pbi/ files (they are per-user runtime state and not part of the committed definition).

After any rename or fork operation, verify no old references remain.

# Search for old name across all project files
grep -r "Old Name" "Project.Report/" "Project.SemanticModel/" --include="*.json" --include="*.tmdl" --include="*.dax"

# Search with word boundaries to avoid partial matches
grep -rP "\bOld Name\b" "Project.Report/" "Project.SemanticModel/"

# Look for old name in single-quoted DAX references
grep -r "'Old Name'" --include="*.tmdl" --include="*.dax"

Common missed locations:

1. SparklineData metadata -- compact string format outside standard JSON structure
2. Conditional formatting expressions -- Entity refs nested in Conditional.Cases
3. Filter config -- page-level and visual-level filters in filterConfig sections
4. Sort definitions -- sortDefinition blocks in visual JSON
5. DAX queries in Report folder -- the second DAX query location
6. Culture file linguisticMetadata -- ConceptualEntity and ConceptualProperty inside embedded JSON

Related Skills

Within this plugin:

• tmdl -- TMDL syntax, authoring, and editing rules for direct .tmdl file editing
• pbir-format -- PBIR JSON format, visual.json, theme, filters, report extensions

Other plugins:

• semantic-models plugin -- tooling and workflows for semantic model development (naming conventions, model quality). Use for working with the actual model content, not just its file format.
• pbi-desktop plugin -- connecting to Power BI Desktop's local Analysis Services instance via TOM/ADOMD.NET
• tabular-editor plugin -- Tabular Editor CLI, C# scripting, BPA rules, documentation search

References

Project structure:

• references/pbip-file-types.md -- Entry point file structures (.pbip, .pbir, .pbism, .platform), .pbi/ subfolder, DAXQueries/, TMDLScripts/, model.bim, .gitignore, version properties, JSON examples
• references/copilot-folder.md -- Copilot/ folder structure (AI instructions, verified answers, schema, example prompts)

Rename operations:

• references/rename-cascade.md -- Detailed before/after examples for each rename cascade location (TMDL + report files)

Fetching Docs: To retrieve current PBIP reference 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.

External references:

• PBIP overview (Microsoft Learn)
• Semantic model folder (Microsoft Learn)
• Report folder (Microsoft Learn)