Understanding Devops with PBI

[msprog]

hey team, 

a quick question:

I published a PBIX onto a workspace and this workspace is git integrated. 

i commit the changes from the workspace and i see the 2 artifacts in my Devops repo. 

I thought i had to create a PBI project .pbip to enable git publishing. that is not clearly not the case.  

So why do we need .pbip? 

Please can someone shed some light on this .

thanks

[msprog]

Thanks @Poojara_D12   This is very useful. Please can you help me understand this:

.pbip is mainly used for local development, customization via code, or advanced DevOps scenarios where you want more granular control over individual components of a Power BI solution.

Please are you able to elaborate on this may be an example would help thanks

[Poojara_D12]

Hi @msprog 

The .pbip format, or Power BI Project, is designed primarily for advanced development scenarios where teams require detailed control over the components of a Power BI report. Unlike the traditional .pbix file, which is a single compressed file, a .pbip project separates the report into multiple readable files and folders—such as those for the data model, report visuals, and data source connections. This makes it ideal for local development, customization using code editors, and integration with DevOps tools like Git for version control and CI/CD pipelines. For example, a development team can collaborate more efficiently by working on different parts of the report (like visuals or DAX measures) simultaneously, track changes using source control, and automate the deployment process across environments like dev, test, and production. This structure also enables code reviews and rollback capabilities, which are critical for enterprise-level development and governance.

[Poojara_D12 · Accepted solution]

Hi @msprog 

Great question! What you're observing is part of the new Git integration in Power BI Service, which allows you to commit artifacts like semantic models (.SemanticModel) and reports (.Report) directly from a workspace to a Git repo (like Azure DevOps) without needing to manually export or create a .pbip file. This modern integration simplifies version control directly within the service.

However, the.pbip (Power BI Project) format is still valuable—especially for developer-led workflows. A.pbip project is a folder-based representation of a Power BI file (PBIX), allowing deeper version control and modular development. It breaks the PBIX into separate files like report layout, dataset schema, and metadata, making it easier to manage changes in source control, collaborate across teams, and automate deployment in CI/CD pipelines.

So, while the Git integration in the Power BI Service handles artifact-level commits automatically (as you've seen in your DevOps repo), the .pbip is mainly used for local development, customization via code, or advanced DevOps scenarios where you want more granular control over individual components of a Power BI solution. In short: you don't need .pbip to use Git integration in the service—but it still plays a role in more advanced or offline development workflows.