Table of Contents

Tabular Editor CLI (Limited Public Preview)

  • 2026-05-06
  • Peer Grønnerup
Applies to:
  • ❌ Tabular Editor 2
  • ❌ Tabular Editor 3
  • ✔ Tabular Editor CLI

The Tabular Editor CLI (te) is a cross-platform command-line interface for Power BI and Analysis Services semantic models. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux as a single self-contained executable and wraps the same model engine (TOMWrapper) that powers Tabular Editor 3.

Use it to inspect, edit, validate, deploy, refresh, and test semantic models from a terminal — against local TMDL or BIM files, Power BI Desktop, or semantic models in Fabric and Power BI Service workspaces.

Important

The Tabular Editor CLI is in Limited Public Preview. It is offered for evaluation with a Tabular Editor account; no license is required during preview. Commands, flags, and outputs may change before general availability. The preview build stops functioning after 2026-09-30. We recommend against using the CLI in production CI/CD pipelines during preview. Please refer to our [license agreement](TBD: ADD LINK TO EULA)

Built for three audiences

The CLI was designed to serve three consumers from the same binary:

  • Humans — scripting bulk edits, exploring a model from the terminal, composing commands in shell pipelines.
  • AI agents — token-lean structured output, predictable exit codes, machine-parseable errors.
  • CI/CD pipelines — non-interactive mode, GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps annotations, VSTEST-compatible test results.

The same design choices — structured JSON output, a --non-interactive global flag, clear errors — serve all three.

What the CLI can do

The CLI organizes more than 50 commands into 10 families. Each family maps to a concrete stage of the semantic-model lifecycle.

Family What it does Example commands
Model I/O Load, save, convert, initialize models te load, te save, te init
Model Editing Get/set properties, add/remove/move objects te set, te add, te rm, te mv
Inspection List objects, search, diff, dependency analysis te ls, te find, te diff, te deps
Analysis & Quality Validate, run BPA, format DAX, analyze storage te validate, te bpa run, te format, te vertipaq
Execution Run DAX queries, C# scripts, macros te query, te script, te macro
Deployment & Refresh Deploy to workspace, trigger refresh, incremental refresh te deploy, te refresh, te incremental-refresh
Testing Assertion tests, snapshots, A/B comparison te test run
Connection & Auth Connect to workspaces, manage authentication and profiles te connect, te auth, te profile
Configuration Settings and licensing te config, te license
Shell Interactive mode, shell completions te interactive, te completion

See Command Reference for a full command reference with syntax, options, and examples for each command.

Getting started

  1. Sign up or sign in at tabulareditor.com with a Tabular Editor account.
  2. Download and install — see Installation and Setup for Windows, macOS, and Linux instructions.
  3. Authenticate — run te auth login to connect to Power BI or Fabric. See Authentication and Connections.
  4. Run your first command — te --help lists every command; te <command> --help shows detailed options.

A first look at a live model takes two commands:

te auth login
te ls -s MyWorkspace -d MyModel

Preview notice

Every command prints a yellow preview banner on stderr by default. To quiet it down:

te config set hidePreviewNotice true

The banner always reappears within 14 days of the expiry date (2026-09-30), regardless of this setting, to give you a clear runway to update.

License outlook

During Limited Public Preview, the CLI does not require a license; you only need a Tabular Editor account to download it. At general availability the CLI will require a license; pricing is still being finalized and will be announced ahead of GA.

Feedback and community

During the preview, bug reports, feature requests, and general discussion happen in the public TabularEditor/CLI repository on GitHub:

  • Issues — report bugs, request features, and track known problems.
  • Discussions — ask questions, share feedback, and swap usage tips with other early adopters.

The repository does not host the CLI source code; it exists to give the community a public place to reach us during the preview.

Next steps