Getting Started

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Pagination Configuration

Centralized pagination configuration with per-tool overrides. All paginated tools pull their defaults from a single configuration source.

Configuration File (appsettings.json)

{
  "Pagination": {
    "DefaultLimit": 50,
    "MaxLimit": 1000,
    "SearchGroupedDefaultLimitPerType": 25,
    "Tools": {
      "list_model": { "DefaultLimit": 100 },
      "manage_audit": { "DefaultLimit": 100, "MaxLimit": 10000 }
    }
  }
}

Precedence: Environment variables override appsettings.json, which overrides hardcoded defaults.

Default Tool Overrides

Per-Tool Override via Environment

export MCP_ENGINE_PAGINATION_TOOLS_JSON='{"list_model":{"DefaultLimit":200},"manage_audit":{"MaxLimit":50000}}'

External Change Detection

Detects when the Power BI model is modified outside of MCP (e.g., in Power BI Desktop UI or Tabular Editor) and can prompt to reload metadata or block operations until refreshed.

How It Works

• •Before each tool call, MCP checks when the model was last modified
• •Compares against a baseline (set on connect and after each change you make)
• •If the model was modified more recently than the baseline, an external change is detected
• •Works with both Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service (XMLA)

Behavior Modes

Environment Variables

Manual Reload

Manually refresh metadata anytime via manage_model_connection:

{ "operation": "reload" }

Design Points

• •No false positives: Baseline resets after each change you make through MCP
• •Graceful degradation: If timestamp data is unavailable, feature auto-disables
• •Transient-failure resilient: Temporary network issues don't disable detection
• •Thread-safe: Concurrent tool calls handled correctly

Text Search Cache

Text searches in list_model (mode="text" and mode="any") use an in-memory cache for faster performance. The cache is automatically invalidated when you connect to a different model, refresh metadata, or make changes.

Environment Variables

Runtime Preferences

These settings can also be adjusted at runtime via manage_memory:

{
  "operation": "set",
  "scope": "global",
  "preferences": {
    "text_search_cache_enabled": true,
    "text_search_cache_ttl_seconds": 30
  }
}

When to Disable

Consider disabling the cache if:

• •Debugging issues with external model changes not being detected
• •Running in memory-constrained environments with very large models

Expression Formatting

DAX and M expressions can be automatically formatted before saving to the model. Formatting uses external services and requires explicit consent since your code is sent to these services.

DAX Formatting

M (Power Query) Formatting

Usage in Tools

Add formatting options to write operations. The consent flag is required when formatting is enabled:

// DAX formatting (measures, calc items)
"format_dax": {
  "enabled": true,
  "consent": true
}

// M formatting (partitions, named expressions)
"format_m": {
  "enabled": true,
  "consent": true
}

Supported Operations

• •DAX: Measures, calculation items, calculated partitions
• •M: M partitions, named expressions

Runtime Preferences

Formatting settings can also be adjusted at runtime via manage_memory without restarting. Environment variables take precedence over runtime preferences.

// Set DAX line style to short
{
  "operation": "put",
  "id": "dax_formatting_line_style",
  "value": "short"
}

// European locale (semicolon separator)
{
  "operation": "put",
  "id": "dax_formatting_list_separator",
  "value": ";"
}

Available preferences: dax_formatting_enabled, dax_formatting_line_style, dax_formatting_spacing_style, dax_formatting_list_separator, dax_formatting_decimal_separator, m_formatting_enabled, m_formatting_line_width, m_formatting_indent_length, m_formatting_indent_style

Ready to explore more?

Check out the full API reference or get help from the community.