Setting up the Power BI MCP for Visuals Studio Code and Claude!

Description

Want AI to actually take action in your Power BI model—creating relationships, helping with hierarchies, improving DAX, and speeding up documentation work? In this video, you’ll learn how to set up the Power BI Modeling MCP server (Model Context Protocol) so you can use agentic AI inside Visual Studio Code—and optionally connect the same MCP server to Claude Desktop for an even smoother prompting experience. We walk through the full setup: enabling MCP in the Power BI Admin Portal tenant settings, installing Visual Studio Code, validating required extensions (GitHub Copilot + GitHub Copilot Chat), and installing the Power BI Modeling MCP extension (including when you may need the pre-release version). Then you’ll verify the connection by prompting Copilot in Agent mode, connecting to an open Power BI Desktop file, and testing commands like listing model tables (including hidden tables). Finally, we cover the manual install path needed for Claude Desktop: downloading the VSIX from GitHub, extracting it, running the MCP executable to generate config, and updating Claude’s Developer configuration—plus the common “doesn’t show up / doesn’t work” gotchas and how to fully restart Claude so the MCP server loads correctly. -Power BI Modeling MCP server (for the manual download method): https://github.com/microsoft/powerbi-modeling-mcp -Replace the Claude Desktop MCP configuration with this: { "mcpServers": { "powerbi-mcp-server": { "command": "C:\\YOURFOLDER\\extension\\server\\powerbi-modeling-mcp.exe "args": [ "--start" ], "type": "stdio" } } } 00:00 Why Power BI developers should care about MCP (agentic AI) 00:26 What MCP is: Model Context Protocol + actions, not just text 01:04 Video goal: setup now, prompts in the next video 01:22 Step 1: Enable MCP in Power BI tenant settings (Admin Portal) 02:16 Step 2: Install VS Code (Microsoft Store or download) 02:58 Step 3: Install extensions (GitHub Copilot + Chat + Power BI MCP) 03:43 Pre-release note: when you may need the beta version 04:19 Use Copilot Chat in Agent mode + Configure Tools 05:31 Connect MCP to an open Power BI Desktop file (verification) 06:25 “Allow” prompts + troubleshooting failed connects 07:38 Test prompt: list tables (including hidden/auto date tables) 09:02 Manual + Claude setup: VSIX download, config, restart, verify👉 On-Demand Learning - Start With The FREE Community Plan: https://prag.works/odl-trial-yt 🔗Pragmatic Works On-Demand Learning Packages: https://pragmaticworks.com/pricing/ 🔗Pragmatic Works Boot Camps: https://pragmaticworks.com/boot-camps/ 🔗Pragmatic Works Hackathons: https://pragmaticworks.com/private-training/hackathons/ 🔗Pragmatic Works Virtual Mentoring: https://pragmaticworks.com/virtual-mentoring/ 🔗Pragmatic Works Enterprise Private Training: https://pragmaticworks.com/private-training/customized-enterprise-training/ 🔗Pragmatic Works Blog: http://blog.pragmaticworks.com/ Let's connect: ✔️Discord: https://prag.works/yt-discord ✔️Facebook: https://prag.works/yt-fb ✔️Instagram: https://prag.works/yt-insta ✔️LinkedIn: https://prag.works/yt-li Pragmatic Works 350 Governor St, Suite 300, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043 Phone: (904) 638-5743 Email: training@pragmaticworks.com #PragmaticWorks