Semantic models: design, build, refresh, review

Guidance for designing, building, refreshing, and reviewing Power BI / Analysis Services tabular models from the terminal. It consolidates model review with modeling best practices, and routes every change to the narrowest capable tool. Depth lives in references/; this file is the operating loop and the routing.

When to use

• Designing or building a model: star schema, relationships, measures, calculation groups, roles, parameters, storage modes, incremental refresh
• Optimizing a model: size / VertiPaq, DAX correctness, Direct Lake, refresh cost
• Reviewing or auditing a model against quality, performance, and best-practice standards
• Preparing a model for Copilot / AI consumption

When NOT to use

• Editing report visuals, pages, or formatting: use the pbir-cli skill (reports plugin)
• Isolated DAX query performance tuning: use the dax skill
• TMDL file syntax mechanics: use the tmdl skill (this skill routes to it for the file-edit fallback)
• The te command surface itself: the te-cli skill (tabular-editor plugin) is the command reference; this skill is the modeling judgment layered on top

Tool cascade (the core operating rule)