pbi-tools
freeCommunity command-line tool that brings source control to Power BI by extracting .pbix files into a diff-able folder structure and compiling them back.
- Category
- reporting-embedding
- Type
- cli
- Language
- C#
- Maintainer
- community
- Author
- Mathias Thierbach
- Added
- Jun 1, 2026
What it does
pbi-tools is a command-line tool that brings source-control workflows to Power BI. It extracts .pbix files into a human-readable, diff-able folder structure and compiles them back, working alongside Power BI Desktop to enable branching, merging, and CI/CD for Power BI projects.
Why use it
Use it to put Power BI reports and models under meaningful version control — reviewing changes as diffs and automating builds — particularly for projects that predate or sit outside the native PBIP format. Note that pbi-tools is licensed under AGPL-3.0, a strong copyleft license worth reviewing if compliance matters for your use.
Getting started
Download the release from the GitHub releases page; it ships as a portable CLI. See https://pbi.tools/cli/ for command reference.