pbiplint

Best-practice linter for Power BI projects. Point it at a PBIP folder, a .pbip file, a .SemanticModel folder, a .Report folder, a definition folder, or one .tmdl file and get ranked findings with a link to a fix page for each rule, and, when the input has a report, a "Report at a glance" block that says what the report will do when someone opens it. Nothing is uploaded: it reads the files you name and writes to your terminal. Node 20.19 or later (or 22.12 or later).

npx pbiplint path/to/Model.SemanticModel
npx pbiplint --sample                                       # a bundled project, a model and its report, with planted violations
npx pbiplint path/to/model --format sarif --output pbiplint.sarif
npx pbiplint path/to/model --format markdown
npx pbiplint rules                                          # every rule with status and severity
npx pbiplint --help                                         # every option, in one screen
npx pbiplint --version

Formats: text (default), json, sarif (for GitHub code scanning and editors), markdown.

Exit codes: 0 no findings at or above --fail-on, 1 findings, 2 usage or input error. --fail-on error is the default; --fail-on warning and --fail-on info tighten the gate; --fail-on none always exits 0.

Configuration

pbiplint.config.json next to the project, or anywhere above it (the nearest one wins; --config picks one explicitly):

{
  "$schema": "https://pbiplint.com/schema/pbiplint.config.schema.json",
  "rules": {
    "REMOVE_ROLES_WITH_NO_MEMBERS": "off",
    "DAX_COLUMNS_FULLY_QUALIFIED": "warning"
  },
  "failOn": "warning"
}

A rule that takes options is set with an object, such as "REDUCE_VISUALS_ON_PAGE": { "severity": "error", "max": 15 }; each rule's page lists its options.

To ignore a rule on one object, annotate it in TMDL (Power BI Desktop keeps the annotation):

	column 'Product ID'
		dataType: int64
		annotation pbiplint.ignore = HIDE_FOREIGN_KEYS, MARK_PRIMARY_KEYS

To ignore a report rule on one page or visual, add the annotation to the annotations array of its page.json or visual.json (Power BI Desktop keeps it there too):

"annotations": [{ "name": "pbiplint.ignore", "value": "ENSURE_ALTTEXT" }]

What it checks

Every rule from the Microsoft Best Practice Analyzer ruleset, ported literally so the numbers match Tabular Editor. Five rules need statistics only a live model has; they are listed but not run. Each rule has a page at https://pbiplint.com/rules with what it checks, why, how to fix it, and quirks.

The report layer (PBIR) is read beside the model: a .Report folder alone is valid input, and with the model beside it the two are paired through definition.pbir and checked together. The report rules are the 11 base rules of PBI Inspector by Nat Van Gulck, ported so the results match its command line on the same report, with six documented deviations, and pbiplint's own rules for a report's correctness and readiness and for the model objects the report never reaches. When the input has a report, the "Report at a glance" block states what the report will do when someone opens it, whether or not anything fired. A notice names anything about the input a reader must know, such as a file that could not be read or a definition.pbir that points at a model other than the one beside it.

The same linter runs in the browser at https://pbiplint.com. Source, issues, and contributing: https://github.com/pbiplint/pbiplint.

License

Copyright (C) 2026 McKinley Consulting. GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 or later; see LICENSE. The vendored Microsoft ruleset and PBI Inspector rule metadata are MIT-licensed; see NOTICE. The name pbiplint and its logo are trademarks of McKinley Consulting.