Automating Power BI with REST APIs

The Power BI REST APIs enable programmatic management of your Power BI environment, from administrative tasks to embedding reports in applications.

API Categories

Admin APIs Manage your Power BI tenant: - List all workspaces and their contents - Get user access and permissions - Monitor refresh failures - Audit usage and activities

Dataset APIs Control semantic models: - Trigger on-demand refresh - Update parameters - Get refresh history - Manage data sources

Report and Dashboard APIs Work with content: - Clone and copy reports - Export to PDF/PNG - Manage tiles and dashboards

Embedding APIs Integrate Power BI into applications: - Generate embed tokens - Get embed URLs - Control embedded report behavior

Authentication

Service Principal Best for automation and apps: - Create Azure AD app registration - Grant Power BI API permissions - Add to workspace as member - Authenticate with client credentials

User Authentication For user-context operations: - Interactive login flow - Delegated permissions - Honors user's Power BI access

Common Automation Scenarios

Refresh monitoring - Alert on failures
Report deployment - Automate promotions
Usage tracking - Custom analytics dashboards
Bulk operations - Update multiple workspaces
Embedding - Custom portal integration

Best Practices

Use service principals for automated processes
Implement retry logic for transient failures
Cache tokens appropriately
Respect API rate limits
Log all API calls for troubleshooting

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I authenticate to Power BI APIs?

Use Azure AD authentication with either service principals (for automation) or user tokens (for user-context operations). Service principals require an Azure AD app registration with Power BI API permissions.

Can I automate report deployment with APIs?

Yes, you can use APIs to export reports from one workspace and import to another, update data sources, and trigger refreshes. Many organizations build CI/CD pipelines using these APIs.