About PBIXRay
PBIXRay is a set of tools for Power BI developers and data engineers who need to work with .pbix files outside of Power BI Desktop.
The open source library
pbixray is a Python library that parses PBIX files without requiring Power BI Desktop or a Microsoft account. It gives you programmatic access to every component of a PBIX file — tables, columns, DAX measures, M queries, report layout, relationships, and row-level security roles. Because they share the same underlying engine, PowerPivot models from Excel .xlsx workbooks and Analysis Services backups (.abf) are supported through the same API.
pip install pbixrayIt’s used by developers building data catalogues, CI/CD pipelines for Power BI, schema diff tools, documentation generators, and migration utilities.
The macOS app
PBIXRay for macOS is a native Mac app for opening and inspecting PBIX files — a fast, offline viewer for the data model, DAX and Power Query source, report pages, and per-column memory metrics. No Power BI Desktop, no Windows, and your files never leave your Mac. A bundled Quick Look extension previews any PBIX straight from Finder.
The app is free to download from the Mac App Store; a single one-time purchase unlocks the full inspector — no subscription.
Who makes this
PBIXRay is developed by Hugoberry (Igor Cotruta), an independent developer based in London. The commercial product is owned and maintained by Alphaverse Limited, a UK-registered company.
All software is designed, built, and hosted in the United Kingdom.
Articles
The articles on this site document the internals of the PBIX file format in depth — useful reading for anyone building Power BI tooling or wanting to understand how Power BI works under the hood.
Contact
Questions, feedback, or partnership enquiries: pbixray@alphaverse.limited