Power BI App Deployment with Azure DevOps

[camelopardkh]

Hello Power BI Community,

I’m currently exploring ways to update a Power BI app through an Azure DevOps pipeline. From what I’ve found so far, it looks like Microsoft only offers GET APIs for Power BI apps, which seems to limit direct automation.

Still, I'd love to hear if anyone has implemented any workarounds or creative solutions in their projects. We're aiming for a fully automated deployment process, and any insights or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much in advance!

[v-ssriganesh]

Hello @camelopardkh, 

Could you please confirm if your query has been resolved by the provided solutions? This would be helpful for other members who may encounter similar issues.

Thank you for being part of the Microsoft Fabric Community.

[camelopardkh]

Hi @v-ssriganesh,

We don't want to update the app manually, this is the main topic of this thread. I saw that there are some options to automate it via Deployment Pipelines of Power BI service, but we cannot integrate it with our current solution in Azure DevOps where we deploy specific reports from master rather than moving all the reports from one env to another (as it is the case in Deployment Pipelines). Do you know if there are some tricks to make it work with ADO? Thank you

[v-ssriganesh · Accepted solution]

Hello @camelopardkh,
Thank you for your follow-up.

you can automate deploying specific reports and updating the associated app by combining Power BI REST APIs with ADO pipelines. consider below points:

• Store your .pbix or .pbip files in an ADO Git repository (master branch). Use an ADO pipeline to selectively upload a specific report to your Power BI workspace using the POST /imports API. This allows you to target individual reports rather than moving all workspace content.
• After uploading the report, use the POST /groups/{groupId}/apps API to programmatically publish or update the app. This API updates the app’s content based on the workspace, including your newly deployed report. You can trigger this in ADO using a task that calls the API with a service principal for authentication.
• Use a service principal for secure, non-interactive access to Power BI APIs. Configure it in ADO with credentials stored securely in Azure Key Vault.

This approach avoids manual app updates and aligns with your ADO workflow for selective report deployment.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us through the community. We are happy to assist you.

Thank you.

[HarishKM]

@camelopardkh  Hey,

Power BI APIs provide limited direct functionalities for automating app updates, but there are ways to streamline the deployment process using Azure DevOps pipelines:

Potential Approaches:

1. Deployment Using Azure DevOps and PowerShell:

   • PowerShell Scripts: Utilize PowerShell scripts within Azure DevOps to interact with the Power BI APIs. You can use scripts to refresh datasets or republish reports.
   • Service Principal: Configure a service principal for authentication, so your scripts can perform administrative tasks without manual intervention.
   • While direct app publishing may be limited, you can automate the deployment of reports and datasets using REST APIs.
   • First, implement continuous integration for datasets and reports, followed by manual steps if necessary for app deployment.

2. Consider custom-building solutions using Azure Functions or Logic Apps to automate some of the processes, leveraging any available triggers, even if retrieval is limited.

Thanks

Harish KM

If these steps help resolve your issue, your acknowledgment would be greatly appreciated.

[v-ssriganesh]

Hello @camelopardkh,

Hope everything’s going great on your end. Just checking in has the issue been resolved or are you still running into problems? Sharing an update can really help others facing the same thing.

Thank you.

[v-ssriganesh]

Hello @camelopardkh,

We hope you're doing well. Could you please confirm whether your issue has been resolved or if you're still facing challenges? Your update will be valuable to the community and may assist others with similar concerns.

Thank you.

[v-ssriganesh]

Hello @camelopardkh,
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community.

You're correct that as of now, the Power BI REST API only supports GET operations for Power BI apps and it does not support POST/PUT/PATCH to automate publishing or updating a Power BI app through an Azure DevOps pipeline. This is a known limitation for teams aiming to fully automate their deployment workflows using CI/CD pipelines. Please consider below points:

• Use Deployment Pipelines for deploying content across development, test, and production stages.
• Use Azure DevOps to manage .pbip project files or .pbix files and automate pushing content to workspaces.
• Manually publish or update the app in the production workspace via the UI since the REST API doesn’t support automating this step yet.

If this information is helpful, please “Accept as solution” and give a "kudos" to assist other community members in resolving similar issues more efficiently.
Thank you.