Get Your Power BI Reports AI-Ready with GitHub
A beginner-friendly setup walkthrough for getting a Power BI project into a GitHub repository so you can safely bring AI into your reporting workflow, with rollback and visible diffs as the safety net.
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What you'll learn
Install Git and Visual Studio Code and configure Git with your name and email
Create a GitHub repository and clone it locally with VS Code
Save an existing Power BI report as a Power BI project (PBIP) inside the repo
Use a .gitignore to keep the local data cache out of the repository
Run a full lifecycle pass: branch, add a DAX measure, view the diff, commit, sync, and merge a pull request
Covered
GitHub account setup, Visual Studio Code, Git installation, git config global user.name and user.email, repository creation, cloning, PBIP save-as, .gitignore and cache.abf exclusion, branches, DAX measure changes, diffs, commits, sync, pull requests
Tools
Power BI Desktop
Visual Studio Code — https://code.visualstudio.com/download
Git — https://git-scm.com
GitHub (free account) — https://github.com
Prerequisites
A Power BI report saved as a Power BI project (PBIP) — see the prior video below if you haven't done this yet
A Windows machine where you can install Visual Studio Code and Git
No source control experience required
Chapters
0:00 — Why source control makes AI safe to use
1:25 — What we'll build in this video
1:51 — The three tools you need
4:49 — Signing into VS Code with GitHub
6:02 — Introducing yourself to Git: user.name and user.email
7:02 — Creating the GitHub repository
9:50 — Cloning the repo into VS Code
12:00 — Saving the report as a Power BI project
12:47 — The .gitignore and why cache.abf stays out
14:08 — First commit and sync to GitHub
16:00 — Branching to make a change in isolation
17:56 — Adding a DAX measure and viewing the diff
20:08 — Commit, sync, and merge the pull request
21:59 — Letting AI run the git commands for you