ripbi

Static analysis, linting, and tree-shaking for Power BI semantic models and DAX.

I created ripbi because I liked Measure Killer, but I was looking for an agent-friendly, free, fast tool to scan semantic models and the connected reports to identify potentially unused semantic model objects. I tested it on a shared semantic model with 14 connected reports, and it's 99% faster than Measure Killer, reducing processing time from almost 4 minutes to a couple of seconds.

It works without opening the reports or semantic models, so it can run as part of a CI pipeline. It's also cross-platform, with no dependency on Power BI Desktop or similar.

It currently works only on local PBIP projects — a TMDL semantic model plus PBIR reports; .pbix and .pbit files are not supported yet. I plan to implement guided automated cleanup, a UI, and tenant scanning.

Install

macOS and Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bgarcevic/ripbi/main/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bgarcevic/ripbi/main/install.ps1 | iex

Both scripts verify the download against the release's sha256 checksums and install the binary into ~/.local/bin. Or cargo install ripbi.

Pin a version:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bgarcevic/ripbi/main/install.sh | RIPBI_VERSION=v0.1.0 sh

$env:RIPBI_VERSION = 'v0.1.0'; irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bgarcevic/ripbi/main/install.ps1 | iex

Both scripts are plain shell and PowerShell. Download them first if you would rather read before running:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bgarcevic/ripbi/main/install.sh -o install.sh
sh install.sh

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bgarcevic/ripbi/main/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1  # the flag is only needed if your policy blocks script files

From a clone of this repository:

cargo install --path crates/ripbi-cli

Quickstart

Clone the repository to get the sample projects, then scan one:

git clone https://github.com/bgarcevic/ripbi.git
cd ripbi
ripbi scan "samples/AdventureWorks Sales.pbip"

Output from the committed AdventureWorks sample (trimmed):

130 objects, 74 reachable from 51 roots, 56 unused

Measures (11)
  'Sales'[Average Sales per Order]
    ← nothing references it
Columns (28)
  'Customer'[City]
    ← only used by hierarchy 'Customer'[Geography] — hierarchy level (also unused)
  …

The summary line counts the model's objects, how many the reports reach, and how many are unused. Each finding says why it is dead: nothing references it, or its only consumer is itself unused.

ripbi scan discovers the project itself: pass a .pbip file, a project folder, a .SemanticModel, or a .Report, or nothing to scan the current directory.

Exit codes:

ripbi scan -q   # no output; exit code only

Output

The full output contract (human, --summary, --plain, --json, and ripbi.toml configuration) is documented in crates/ripbi-cli/docs/output.md.

License

Dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0. The samples/ are Microsoft's own sample projects (MIT) and are not covered by ripbi's license.