PBIP Documenter

Generate comprehensive documentation from Power BI PBIP/TMDL semantic models — instantly, in your browser.

No PBIP file? Try the live demo with Contoso sample data — no setup required.

Manual documentation vs. PBIP Documenter

	Manual	PBIP Documenter
10 tables, 11 measures, 15 visuals	~45 minutes	< 10 seconds
Visual lineage tracing	Not feasible	Built-in
Relationship diagrams	Draw by hand	Auto-generated SVG
Keeps up with model changes	Start over	Re-run instantly
Privacy	Varies	100% client-side

What You Get

Point the tool at your PBIP project folder and get instant, professional documentation:

• Full model documentation — tables, columns, measures with DAX syntax highlighting, and cross-references
• Interactive relationship diagram — SVG visualization with pan/zoom, showing all table connections
• Visual usage mapping — see exactly which report visuals use each measure and column
• Page layout minimaps — pixel-accurate SVG previews of visual positions on each report page
• Field parameter & calculation group detection — automatically identified and annotated
• Export as self-contained HTML or Markdown — ready for wikis, Git repos, or printing to PDF

Your files never leave your browser. All parsing happens client-side — nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Quick Start

1. Open the tool: jonathanjihwankim.github.io/pbip-documenter
2. Click Open Project Folder and select your PBIP project folder
3. The tool auto-discovers your .SemanticModel and .Report folders (if multiple models exist, a discovery panel lets you choose)
4. Browse the parsed model using the sidebar — tables, measures, relationships, visuals, and more
5. Download documentation:
   • Full Report (.html) — self-contained with embedded diagrams, collapsible sections, and DAX highlighting
   • Full Report (.md) — clean Markdown with ASCII layout grids, ideal for Git repos and wikis
   • Each format offers three scopes: All, Semantic Model Only, or Visuals Only

Support Development

This tool is free forever — built and maintained solo by Jihwan Kim (Microsoft MVP). If PBIP Documenter saves you even 30 minutes of manual documentation work, please consider sponsoring. Every contribution goes directly toward new features and maintenance.

Funding goal: 0 / 200 EUR per month ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 0%

Features

Semantic Model Documentation

• Model Overview — database name, compatibility level, culture, and aggregate counts
• Table Inventory — columns with data types, descriptions, format strings, hidden status
• Measure Catalog — DAX expressions with syntax highlighting, display folders, format strings, and automatic cross-reference extraction (which columns and measures each formula uses)
• Relationships — from/to columns, cardinality, cross-filter direction, active/inactive status
• Roles — role names, permission levels, RLS filter expressions per table
• Expressions — shared and parameter M expressions

Report Analysis

• Visual Field Mapping — every visual's fields organized by role (Values, Category, Series, Filters, Tooltips)
• Page Layout Minimap — SVG canvas showing actual visual positions, color-coded by type (tables, charts, slicers, cards); hover for names, click to jump to details
• Visual Usage Map — two views: "By Visual" (which fields each visual uses) and "By Field" (which visuals use each field)

Smart Detection

• Field Parameters — automatically detected via NAMEOF/SWITCH patterns in expressions; available fields listed as clickable chips
• Calculation Groups — identified and rendered with individual calc item cards and collapsible DAX expressions

Interactive Diagrams

• Relationship Diagram — SVG with pan, zoom, and zoom-to-fit controls; shows only relationship-participating columns; disconnected tables displayed as compact standalone cards
• Visual Usage Diagram — SVG mapping of fields to the visuals that consume them

Export

• HTML — fully self-contained file with embedded CSS, SVG diagrams, DAX syntax highlighting, collapsible sections, table of contents with anchor links
• Markdown — clean document with ASCII page layout grids, fenced DAX code blocks, structured tables, and visual field breakdowns

Free forever, no paywalls. Help keep it that way — support development.

Browser Support

Requires the File System Access API:

• ✅ Chrome 86+
• ✅ Edge 86+
• ✅ Opera 72+
• ❌ Firefox (not supported)
• ❌ Safari (not supported)

PBIP Folder Structure

The tool expects a standard PBIP project structure:

MyProject/
├── MyProject.SemanticModel/
│   └── definition/
│       ├── database.tmdl
│       ├── model.tmdl
│       ├── relationships.tmdl
│       ├── expressions.tmdl (optional)
│       ├── tables/
│       │   ├── Sales.tmdl
│       │   ├── Product.tmdl
│       │   └── ...
│       └── roles/ (optional)
│           └── Reader.tmdl
├── MyProject.Report/ (optional, for visual analysis)
│   └── definition/
│       └── pages/
│           └── Page1/
│               ├── page.json
│               └── visuals/
│                   └── visual1/
│                       └── visual.json

Sponsors & Support

I'm Jihwan Kim (Microsoft MVP), and I build PBIP tools so Power BI developers can work faster. This project is free forever — no paywalls, no premium tiers. Sponsoring keeps it that way and funds what comes next.

What Your Support Funds

• New features (lineage diagrams, DAX formatting, CI/CD integration)
• Bug fixes, browser compatibility, and performance improvements
• Community support and documentation

Sponsor Tiers

Tier	Amount	Recognition
Gold	50+ EUR/mo	Logo + link on README and app footer
Silver	10+ EUR/mo	Name + link on README + shoutout in release notes
Bronze	Monthly supporter	Name + link on README
Coffee	One-time	Name listed in Hall of Sponsors

Hall of Sponsors

Name	Tier
Alessandro Tiberti Bertin	Bronze

Your name could be here too! Become a sponsor and join the wall.

Also by Jihwan Kim

Tool	Description
PBIR Visual Manager	Manage visual properties in Power BI PBIR reports
PBIP Impact Analyzer	Analyze dependencies and safely refactor semantic models
PBIP Documenter	Generate documentation from TMDL (you are here)

License

MIT — Jihwan Kim

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Who is this for?

• Enterprise BI architects managing governance across large semantic model estates
• Power BI developers who need instant documentation from PBIP/TMDL metadata
• Data governance teams implementing documentation standards at scale
• DevOps engineers integrating documentation into CI/CD pipelines for Power BI

Built for: Power BI | Microsoft Fabric | PBIP | PBIR | TMDL | Semantic Models | DAX | Data Governance | CI/CD | Developer Tools