Power BI API: what you can do and how to use it with AI agents
The Power BI REST API lets you administer workspaces, reports and datasets, trigger refreshes and run queries on published models. Data and IT teams that need to automate BI operations use it. Access goes through the customer's Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD).
What the Power BI API offers
Workspaces
List and manage workspaces and who has access to them.
Reports and dashboards
Query, clone, export and embed reports.
Datasets (semantic models)
Read metadata, scheduled or on-demand refresh, and refresh history.
DAX queries
Run queries on a published model to get specific numbers.
Administration
Features for admins to follow usage, inventory and tenant activity.
How to access the Power BI API
- With your company’s credentialsUses OAuth 2.0 through Microsoft Entra ID, with a registered app and delegated permissions, or a service principal authorized in the Power BI tenant settings.
- There are limits on calls and refreshes, depending on the capacity you have.
- Respect row-level security: the agent should not see more than the user would.
- Prefer a service principal with a restricted scope to personal accounts.
Official documentation: learn.microsoft.com/rest/api/power-bi
What an iTeam agent does with the Power BI API
Business question answered from the model
The manager asks in Teams for the region's revenue for the month. The agent queries the official model and replies with the number and the filter used.
Refresh watch
The agent checks the datasets' refresh history and alerts the data team when a load fails or runs late.
Report sent to leadership
Every Monday, the agent exports the agreed pages and sends them with a summary of what changed.
Workspace inventory
The agent lists unused reports and workspaces with overly broad access for IT to review.
From the credential to the agent at work, with approval
Register the app in Entra ID
IT registers the application, grants the Power BI permissions and, if using a service principal, enables it in the admin portal.
Give access only to the right workspaces
Add the identity to the necessary workspaces and register the credential in the iTeam vault, with permissions per agent.
Validate answers with the data team
Compare the agent's first answers with the official reports before releasing it to managers.
Ready-made AI teams that use Power BI
Cash flow forecast team
Every week the projection is rebuilt from your books, open invoices and bills, with a plain note on what changed and why.
Management reporting team
Revenue, margin, pipeline and cash in one report, built from your systems, with a short note on what changed and why.
Data analysis team
Ask which customers stopped buying or which region lost margin. The team writes the SQL, runs it and explains the result.
Questions about the Power BI API
Is the Power BI API free?
Using the API has no separate charge, but it depends on the Power BI licenses and capacity the company already has.
Do I need to write code to use the Power BI API with iTeam?
Not necessarily. IT registers the app and the iTeam deployment team sets up queries and routines from Microsoft's documentation.
Does the agent make up numbers?
It should answer from queries to the published model and cite the filter used. That is why the initial validation with the data team matters.
