semantic-link

What it is and what it does

Semantic link is a Microsoft-authored package that bridges Python data science workflows with Power BI and Microsoft Fabric. It enables notebooks running in Fabric to query Power BI datasets, augment data with Power BI measures, and propagate semantic metadata (domain knowledge about data structure and meaning) back into analysis pipelines. The package is split into modular sub-packages—a core semantic-link-sempy plus optional function libraries for geospatial, holiday, weather, phone number, and validation operations—so you can install only what you need.

The package is tightly coupled to Microsoft Fabric infrastructure and cannot run outside Fabric notebooks or Spark jobs. It requires Python 3.10 or later and is actively maintained, with recent releases adding comprehensive admin APIs for managing workspaces, capacities, domains, and tenant settings. The license is proprietary and terms must be accepted at install time.

Use it for:

• Query Power BI datasets directly from a Fabric notebook and augment them with computed measures without leaving Python.
• Preserve and propagate semantic metadata (column meanings, relationships, business rules) across data science workflows to reduce errors and speed analysis.
• Manage Fabric and Power BI tenant resources (workspaces, capacities, domains, users) programmatically from a notebook using the admin API.
• Enrich datasets with domain-specific functions (holidays, geospatial operations, phone validation) while maintaining semantic context.
• Integrate established data science tools and notebooks with Power BI and Fabric without manual data export or ETL steps.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Connects Python notebooks to Power BI datasets and Microsoft Fabric workspaces, enabling data augmentation with Power BI measures and semantic propagation for data analysis.

Yes, if you work within Microsoft Fabric and need to connect Python notebooks to Power BI datasets or manage Fabric resources programmatically. The low install friction, active maintenance, and zero known vulnerabilities support adoption. However, the proprietary license and hard requirement to run only in Fabric (not locally) mean this is a specialized tool for Fabric users only—not a general-purpose library. Verify the proprietary license terms before production use.

Install

semantic-link on PyPI

pip install semantic-link

uv add semantic-link

poetry add semantic-link

Installing semantic-link

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. Active maintenance with a release 24 days ago. Requires Python 3.10 or later and runs only within Microsoft Fabric notebooks or Spark jobs—not a general-purpose library.

License in practice

Licensed as proprietary and confidential with unclear treatment. Users must agree to Microsoft's Terms of Service upon download and installation. Verify licensing terms before use in production environments.

Quickstart

# In a Microsoft Fabric notebook:
%pip install -U semantic-link

import semantic_link_sempy as sempy
# Connect to Power BI and retrieve data with semantic context

Requires Microsoft Fabric subscription and must run within a Fabric notebook or Spark job; not usable in local Python environments or outside Fabric.

Verify before relying

• Specific capabilities of each of the 6 runtime dependencies (geopandas, holidays, meteostat, phonenumbers, validators functions) and whether all are required or optional.
• Whether the 75 admin API functions mentioned in the changelog are fully exposed in version 0.14.2 or represent a partial rollout.
• Performance characteristics and data volume limits when augmenting large Power BI datasets with semantic functions.

Package facts

Evidence: semantic_link-0.14.2-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More Database packages