TMDL, VS Code and Power BI development | Mathias Tierbach

As part of our Branching Out YouTube series, where we aim to demystify CI/CD for business users, we’re thrilled to be joined by the wonderful Mathias Thierbach.

Mathias breaks down complex concepts like Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment into plain, approachable language — helping you understand not just the what, but the why. Whether you’re hands-on with Power BI or just curious how dev practices apply to business reporting, this episode is for you!

Mathias Thierbach is a Data Platform MVP and the developer of the pbi-tools open-source project, known for his critical role in creating and advocating for the Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) in Power BI.

TMDL is a community-driven format for defining Power BI semantic models, enabling code-first development, source control, and CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) workflows for professional Power BI developers.

Join us tonight for a session with Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) — where Visual Studio Code (VS Code) meets Power BI development! In tonight’s livestream, Mathias Thierbach will be ready to answer any of your TMDL questions, and walk us through the freshly‑released, generally available TMDL Visual Studio Code Extension.

This extension brings major upgrades for semantic‑modeling workflows: DAX and Power Query semantic‑highlighting, smart autocomplete, real‑time diagnostics, code navigation, quick fixes / refactoring, formatting — and localised hover descriptions to match your VS Code language settings.

Whether you’re curious about saving your model as a project file (PBIP), working with TMDL scripts, or just exploring the code‑first side of Power BI, this is your chance to ask, learn — and get hands‑on with the new extension. Hope to see you there!
— Sue