fabric-cli
Expert guidance for using the Fabric CLI (`fab`) to fully interact with Fabric workspaces, items, and configuration. Automatically invoke this skill whenever the user mentions "Fabric" or "Power BI Service" or a "Fabric/Power BI workspace".
npx skills add data-goblin/power-bi-agentic-development --skill fabric-cli --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
What it does
Guides the user in using the Fabric CLI (fab) to interact with Fabric workspaces, items, and configuration. It covers installation, upgrading, authentication status checks, and how to discover commands with fab --help and fab <command> --help. It instructs the agent to search the skill references for relevant files before using commands and to confirm access or workspace/item details with fab ls, fab exists, and related commands. It emphasizes creating output directories before export and to append -f to non-interactive, forceful operations as listed in the Quickstart and Essential Concepts sections.
How it works
The skill instructs the agent to:
- Install and keep up to date the Fabric CLI via
uv tool install ms-fabric-clianduv tool upgrade ms-fabric-cliunless pinned; verify withfab auth statusand prompt login withfab auth loginif unauthenticated. - Use
fab --helpandfab <command> --helpto understand syntax; search/references/for relevant files before executing commands. - Before first use, ask the user about admin access, sensitivity labels, DLP policies, API restrictions, and preferences for API usage; remind to store in memory files.
- If workspace/item names are unclear, ask the user and verify with
fab lsorfab exists. - Avoid removing or altering items without explicit direction; if a command is blocked by permissions, pause for user clarification.
- Create output directories before export: e.g.,
mkdir -pprior tofab export. - For non-interactive use, append
-fto commands such asfab get -q "definition",fab export,fab import,fab cp,fab rm,fab assign/unassign,fab mv. - Follow the Quickstart steps to check syntax, authentication, existence, workspace/item discovery, commands per item type, and data/query workflows via the recommended Python scripts and Delta/OneLake paths where applicable.
When to use it
- Triggered automatically when the user mentions "Fabric" or "Power BI Service" or a Fabric/Power BI workspace, and when the user asks about Power BI workspaces, deployment, tenants, publishing, download, permissions, or data.
What it can touch
- The skill references commands and tools such as
fab,uv, and several helper scripts and references located under/references/and/scripts/in the repository. It directs the agent to usefab ls,fab exists,fab get,fab desc,fab open,fab api, and otherfabsubcommands as documented in the Quickstart and Workflows sections.
Caveats
- The behavior depends on user authentication status and permissions; if lacking admin or specific access, the agent should prompt for clarification. The skill notes the need to check for authentication and to handle permissions appropriately. It also warns that Fabric CLI surfaces can change regularly and to rely on
fab --helpfor up-to-date syntax.
# Fabric CLI Guidance for using `fab` to programmatically manage Fabric & Power BI service - Install via `uv tool install ms-fabric-cli` (get `uv` via `winget install uv` or `brew install uv`) - Fabric CLI is for working with the Cloud environment and not local files; it works with Power BI Pro, PPU, or Fabric; you DO NOT need a Fabric SKU to use the Fabric CLI - Keep `fab` current: check the installed version against the latest `ms-fabric-cli` release and upgrade with `uv tool upgrade ms-fabric-cli` unless the user has pinned a specific version. Discover commands and flags with `fab --help` and `fab <command> --help` rather than hard-coding behavior; the CLI surface changes regularly > [!IMPORTANT] > Any time you encounter errors, user preferences or learnings when using the Fabric cli, ALWAYS note these down in the user memory rules, i.e. `.claude/rules/fabric-cli.md` for future improvement. > This is ONLY for generic learnings and not for item- or task-specific learnings. ## When to use this skill - Use whenever the user mentions "Fabric" or "Power BI" - Use when user asks about Power BI workspaces, deployment, tenants, publishing, download, permissions, or data ## Critical gene
- When to use this skill
- Critical general rules
- Use -f (force) for non-interactive use
- Quickstart guide
- Essential Concepts
- Workspaces
- Key Patterns
- Path Format
- Common Item Types
- JMESPath Queries
- Using fab api
- Error Handling & Debugging
- Common workflows
- Finding or exploring workspaces, items, or metadata
Get single field
Get nested field
Filter arrays
Get first element
Then use in API calls
fab api -A powerbi "groups/$WS_ID/datasets/$MODEL_ID/refreshes" -X post -i '{"type":"Full"}'
Find semantic models by name (cross-workspace)
fab api "admin/items" -P "type=SemanticModel" -q "itemEntities[?contains(name, 'Sales')]"
Find all notebooks
fab api "admin/items" -P "type=Notebook" -q "itemEntities[].{name:name,workspace:workspaceId}"What does the fabric-cli skill do?
Expert guidance for using the Fabric CLI (`fab`) to fully interact with Fabric workspaces, items, and configuration. Automatically invoke this skill whenever the user mentions "Fabric" or "Power BI Service" or a "Fabric/Power BI workspace".
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add data-goblin/power-bi-agentic-development --skill fabric-cli --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From data-goblin/power-bi-agentic-development, a repository with 833 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.