Cannot retrieve Contacts from API

[stephan_]

I have the following code:

(With url and url2 I get the exact same error). The SPN I am using is Power BI Admin, has Tenant.ReadWrite.All, Report.Read.All & Workspace.Read.All. Its role also has permissions on the "Service principals can access read-only Admin APIs" setting in Power BI Tenant Settings. And this works for almost all APIs, but not this one. Is there something else I should do to get this API to work? Or does this API only work with user accounts and not SPNs?

[tharunkumarRTK]

@stephan_ 

I could not find this endpoint in power bi api documentation or in fabric api documentation 

GET /v1.0/myorg/reports/{reportId}/contacts

From the screenshot you shared I believe you found this API in network traces. Please correct me if I am wrong. 

I believe you are trying to extract the report contacts by running this API call. Its hard to identify the supported authentication mechanisms for the APIs which are not exposed by Microsoft in their docuementation. 

I also checked the GetReportUsersAsAdmin and GetReportsAsAdmin API none of these APIs expose "report contact" details. If you check this recent thread, in that Community team has confirmed that this detail is not exposed in any API

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Service/Owner-Contact-Field-on-reports/m-p/4927085

You can post this idea in Fabric ideas forum

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Fabric-Ideas/idb-p/fbc_ideas

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[stephan_]

I found the URL by modifying the URL found in this StackOverflow post: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76102839/powerbi-api-getting-all-reports-contact-owner-i-can-onl...

[Zanqueta]

Hi @stephan_ 

I am not completely certain, but based on the 403 error and the message “API is not accessible for application”, this behaviour is expected for this specific endpoint.

The endpoint
GET /v1.0/myorg/reports/{reportId}/contacts
does not support application-only authentication (service principal / client credentials). It requires a delegated user context, meaning it works only when authenticated with a user account and not with a service principal.

This is not a missing permission issue. Even with permissions such as Tenant.ReadWrite.All, Report.Read.All, and Workspace.Read.All, the endpoint remains inaccessible because it is not designed to work with application tokens. The error message clearly indicates that the API is restricted to user-based authentication.

In addition, Microsoft has not published an official Power BI REST API to retrieve the report contact list configured in the Power BI Service user interface. This confirms that the endpoint is either internal or UI-related and therefore unsuitable for automation with service principals.

Recommended Alternatives

1. Governance and access control

   • Use Admin APIs such as Get Report Users as Admin or tenant scan endpoints.

   • These APIs are supported with service principals and provide information about who has access to reports, which is usually sufficient for governance and ownership tracking.

2. Operational workaround

   • Maintain report contact ownership in an external metadata store (for example, SharePoint, Dataverse, or SQL).

   • Populate this store using supported REST APIs (such as listing reports per workspace) and manage contacts as governed metadata rather than relying on the UI contact list.

[stephan_]

I found the URL by modifying the URL found in this StackOverflow post: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76102839/powerbi-api-getting-all-reports-contact-owner-i-can-onl...

I think Microsoft changed this API to make it not accessible by SPNs. Very disappointing they do not provide a way to retrieve Workspace / Report contacts

[v-veshwara-msft]

Hi @stephan_ ,

Thanks for sharing the reference and your observation.

I understand why this feels like a change in behavior. Based on what you’re seeing, it does appear that access to this endpoint using service principals may be restricted now. Since this isn’t a documented Power BI REST API, its behavior can change, which could explain why it might have worked earlier in some cases.

At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be a supported way to retrieve the report or workspace contact details via SPNs.

If this is something critical for your scenario and as already suggested by @tharunkumarRTK you may consider sharing it in the Fabric Ideas forum so the product team can review it.

Please reach out for further assistance.
Thank you.