Power BI Python API Docs | dltHub

Build a Power BI-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.

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Power BI REST API provides programmatic access to manage, monitor, and automate Power BI service resources such as workspaces, datasets, and reports. The REST API base URL is https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg and all requests require a Bearer token via the Authorization header.

dlt is an open-source Python library that handles authentication, pagination, and schema evolution automatically. dlthub provides AI context files that enable code assistants to generate production-ready pipelines. Install with uv add "dlt[hub]" and start loading Power BI data in under 10 minutes.


What data can I load from Power BI?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Power BI:

ResourceEndpointMethodData selectorDescription
datasetsv1.0/myorg/datasetsGETvalueReturns a list of datasets from My workspace.
datasets_in_groupv1.0/myorg/groups/{groupId}/datasetsGETvalueReturns a list of datasets from the specified workspace.
reportsv1.0/myorg/reportsGETvalueReturns a list of reports from My workspace.
reports_in_groupv1.0/myorg/groups/{groupId}/reportsGETvalueReturns a list of reports from the specified workspace.
refresh_historyv1.0/myorg/datasets/{datasetId}/refreshesGETvalueReturns the refresh history for a dataset.

How do I authenticate with the Power BI API?

All requests require an 'Authorization' header with a Bearer token. The token is obtained via OAuth 2.0 from Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD).

1. Get your credentials

  1. Sign in to the Azure Portal and navigate to Microsoft Entra ID. 2. Register a new application under 'App registrations'. 3. Note the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID. 4. Create a client secret under 'Certificates & secrets' (or upload a certificate). 5. In the Power BI Admin Portal, go to 'Tenant settings' > 'Developer settings' and enable 'Allow service principals to use Power BI APIs'. Add your service principal to the designated security group. 6. Add the service principal as a member or admin to the required Power BI workspaces.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

[sources.power_bi_source] access_token = "your_access_token_here" # Alternatively, if using a connector that supports direct auth: # client_id = "your_client_id" # client_secret = "your_client_secret" # tenant_id = "your_tenant_id"

dlt reads this automatically at runtime — never hardcode tokens in your pipeline script. For production environments, see setting up credentials with dlt for environment variable and vault-based options.


How do I set up and run the pipeline?

Set up a virtual environment and install dlt:

uv init uv add "dlt[hub]"

1. Install the dlt AI harness:

uv run dlthub ai init --agent <your-agent> # <agent>: claude | cursor | codex

This installs project rules, a secrets management skill, appropriate ignore files, and configures the dlt MCP server for your agent. Learn more →

2. Install the rest-api-pipeline toolkit:

uv run dlthub ai toolkit install rest-api-pipeline

This loads the skills and context about dlt the agent uses to build the pipeline iteratively, efficiently, and safely. The agent uses MCP tools to inspect credentials — it never needs to read your secrets.toml directly. Learn more →

3. Start LLM-assisted coding:

Use /find-source to load data from the Power BI API into DuckDB.

The rest-api-pipeline toolkit takes over from here — it reads relevant API documentation, presents you with options for which endpoints to load, and follows a structured workflow to scaffold, debug, and validate the pipeline step by step.

4. Run the pipeline:

uv run python power_bi_pipeline.py

If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:

Pipeline power_bi_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset power_bi_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/power_bi.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs

Inspect your pipeline and data:

uv run dlthub show

This opens the Pipeline Dashboard where you can verify pipeline state, load metrics, schema (tables, columns, types), and query the loaded data directly.


Python pipeline example

This example loads 'datasets and reports' from the Power BI API into DuckDB. It mirrors the endpoint and data selector configuration from the table above:

import dlt from dlt.sources.rest_api import RESTAPIConfig, rest_api_resources @dlt.source def power_bi_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": access_token}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "reports", "endpoint": {"path": "v1.0/myorg/reports", "data_selector": "value"}}, {"name": "datasets", "endpoint": {"path": "v1.0/myorg/datasets", "data_selector": "value"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="power_bi_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="power_bi_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(power_bi_source()) print(load_info)

To add more endpoints, append entries from the resource table to the "resources" list using the same name, path, and data_selector pattern.


How do I query the loaded data?

Once the pipeline runs, dlt creates one table per resource. You can query with Python or SQL.

Python (pandas DataFrame):

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("power_bi_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.reports.df() print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

SELECT * FROM power_bi_data.reports LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("power_bi_pipeline").dataset() data.reports.df().head()

See how to explore your data in marimo Notebooks and how to query your data in Python with dataset.


What destinations can I load Power BI data to?

dlt supports loading into any of these destinations — only the destination parameter changes:

DestinationExample value
DuckDB (local, default)"duckdb"
PostgreSQL"postgres"
BigQuery"bigquery"
Snowflake"snowflake"
Redshift"redshift"
Databricks"databricks"
Filesystem (S3, GCS, Azure)"filesystem"

Change the destination in dlt.pipeline(destination="snowflake") and add credentials in .dlt/secrets.toml. See the full destinations list.


Next steps

Continue your data engineering journey with the other toolkits of the dltHub AI harness:

  • data-exploration — Build custom notebooks, charts, and dashboards for deeper analysis with marimo notebooks.
  • dlthub-platform — Deploy, schedule, and monitor your pipeline in production.
uv run dlthub ai toolkit install data-exploration uv run dlthub ai toolkit install dlthub-platform

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