Guides & reference

Fabric MCP servers and Skills for Fabric

This document is the shared reference for every challenge that uses Fabric MCP servers or Skills for Fabric. Read it once during Challenge 00, then come back to specific s…

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This document is the shared reference for every challenge that uses Fabric MCP servers or Skills for Fabric. Read it once during Challenge 00, then come back to specific sections as needed.

TL;DR

  • Fabric Core MCP Server (remote) — your runtime. Lets agents do things in your tenant: list workspaces, create items, change roles, search the catalog. Audit-logged. RBAC-enforced.
  • Fabric MCP Server (local) — your toolbox. Gives agents API specs, best practices, and OneLake file/table ops without burning tenant calls.
  • Skills for Fabric — your templates. Pre-baked, opinionated workflows per workload (Spark, SQLDW, Eventhouse, Power BI, Dataflows, Eventstream, Activator, medallion, migrations).

You will use all three during the RVAS (Real Value Acceleration Solutions) program. They compose; they do not replace each other.

Fabric Core MCP Server (remote)

What it is

A remote MCP endpoint at https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/mcp/core that exposes Fabric's REST surface as typed MCP tools. You authenticate via OAuth 2.0 with Microsoft Entra ID; every call respects your Fabric RBAC and lands in the Fabric audit log under your identity.

Available tools (today)

Tool What it does
search_catalog OneLake catalog search across workspaces
list_workspaces, get_workspace, create_workspace, update_workspace, delete_workspace Workspace CRUD
list_workspace_roles, get_workspace_role, add_workspace_role, update_workspace_role, delete_workspace_role RBAC management
list_items, get_item, create_item, update_item, delete_item Item CRUD
get_item_definition, update_item_definition Item schema/definition
bulk_move_items, create_folder, list_folders, get_folder, update_folder, delete_folder, move_folder Folder organization
list_capacities Capacity discovery
get_operation_state, get_operation_result Long-running operation tracking
get_knowledge Built-in guidance / best practices per item type

Tool list will grow over time. Always run list_workspaces once after install to confirm auth, then ask the agent "what tools do you have for Fabric?" to see the current surface.

Install in VS Code

  1. Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P).
  2. MCP: Add Server → HTTP.
  3. Endpoint: https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/mcp/core
  4. Name it fabric.
  5. Complete the browser-based Entra sign-in.

Install in GitHub Copilot CLI

gh copilot mcp add fabric \
  --url https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/mcp/core \
  --transport http

(Replace with your CLI's idiomatic command if it differs — the endpoint is the same.)

Smoke test prompts

List all my Fabric workspaces.
Show the role assignments for the workspace called "pt-nlyt-sample-ndf-dev-hello1".
What lakehouses exist in "pt-nlyt-sample-ndf-dev-hello1"?
Get the definition of the item named "CustomerData" in that workspace.

If any of these return 401/403, re-run MCP: Remove Server → MCP: Add Server and re-authenticate.

Fabric MCP Server (local)

What it is

An open-source MCP server that runs as a subprocess on your machine. It does not call the tenant for documentation — everything ships with the package. It also exposes OneLake file/table operations that do hit the service.

Repository: https://github.com/microsoft/mcp/tree/main/servers/Fabric.Mcp.Server

Tool categories

API documentation & best practices (offline):

  • docs_workloads — list workload types with public APIs
  • docs_workload-api-spec — fetch OpenAPI for a specific workload
  • docs_platform-api-spec — core Fabric platform APIs
  • docs_item-definitions — JSON schemas for item definitions
  • docs_best-practices — guidance per topic (throttling, naming, etc.)
  • docs_api-examples — example request/response payloads

OneLake data operations (hits service):

  • onelake_list_workspaces, onelake_list_files
  • onelake_download_file, onelake_upload_file
  • table listing and basic SQL/KQL query helpers (varies by release)

Core Fabric operations (subset; prefer the remote Core MCP for these in production):

  • core_create-item and friends
  1. Install the Microsoft Fabric VS Code extension.
  2. Open the command palette → Fabric: Enable MCP server.
  3. The extension starts the local server and registers it with Copilot Chat.

Install via npx

npx @microsoft/fabric-mcp-server

Add the resulting command to your MCP client's config as a stdio server.

When to reach for local vs. core

You want to… Use
List or change resources in the tenant Core (remote)
Look up an API shape, schema, or best practice Local
Pull a file out of OneLake to read locally Local
Bulk-edit role assignments Core (remote)
Search the OneLake catalog Core (remote)
Scaffold a notebook from an OpenAPI sample Local

Skills for Fabric

What they are

Reusable, workload-specific skills (a.k.a. "agent skills") that teach an AI agent to author, query, operate, and govern a Fabric workload. They ship as versioned packages from the open-source repo and are invoked by name from your agent.

Repository: https://github.com/microsoft/skills-for-fabric

Skills used in this RVAS

Skill Type Used in
spark-authoring-cli Authoring Challenge 02, 05
spark-consumption-cli Consumption Challenge 05
spark-operations-cli Operations Challenge 05
sqldw-authoring-cli Authoring Challenge 02, 08
sqldw-consumption-cli Consumption Challenge 08
sqldw-operations-cli Operations Challenge 08
eventhouse-authoring-cli Authoring Challenge 07
eventhouse-consumption-cli Consumption Challenge 07
eventstream-authoring-cli Authoring Challenge 07
eventstream-consumption-cli Consumption Challenge 07
powerbi-authoring-cli Authoring Challenge 07
powerbi-consumption-cli Consumption Challenge 07
dataflows-authoring-cli Authoring Stretch
activator-authoring-cli Authoring Challenge 07
e2e-medallion-architecture Composite Challenge 05

Install

Skills are invoked through agents that support them (GitHub Copilot Chat, Copilot CLI, etc.). Install on demand from the catalog:

# Example — exact command depends on your agent host
copilot skill install eventhouse-authoring-cli
copilot skill install e2e-medallion-architecture

In VS Code with Copilot Chat, type @ and then start typing the skill name to discover and install it.

Calling a skill

Inside a chat session:

@eventhouse-authoring-cli  Create a KQL database "gov_audit" in workspace
  "dev-plt-audit" with tables "pr_events" and "fabric_activity".

The skill decides which tools (often a mix of the Core MCP + Fabric REST) to call to accomplish the request, and reports back what it did.

How MCP + Skills fit your governance plane

Mental model:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Author / reviewer                                                    │
│  • opens PR with a manifest                                          │
│  • asks the agent (via MCP) to verify tenant state matches manifest  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Agent in VS Code / Copilot CLI                                       │
│  • picks the right MCP tool or Skill                                 │
│  • reads tenant state, scaffolds items, edits YAML manifest          │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ GitHub: validate.yml runs schema + policy checks on the PR           │
│         provision.yml applies the manifest via OIDC + Fabric REST    │
│         drift.yml reconciles tenant state nightly                    │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The agent is the fast path for one-off exploration and authoring. The PRs and workflows are the governed path for any change that lands in the tenant.

Further reading