Table of Contents

Migrating from the TE2 Command Line

  • 2026-09-04
  • Peer Grønnerup
Applies to:
  • ❌ Tabular Editor 2
  • ❌ Tabular Editor 3
  • ✔ Tabular Editor CLI
Important

The Tabular Editor CLI is in Limited Public Preview. It is offered for evaluation with a Tabular Editor account; no license is required during preview. Commands, flags, and outputs may change before general availability. The preview build stops functioning after 2026-10-31. We recommend against using the CLI in production CI/CD pipelines during preview.

Teams with existing build pipelines that invoke TabularEditor.exe with TE2-style flags (-S, -A, -D, -O, -C, etc.) can adopt the new CLI incrementally. The Tabular Editor CLI accepts both command shapes: the new subcommand-based form (te deploy, te bpa run, …) and the legacy TE2 flag syntax, via a built-in compatibility layer.

For the legacy TE2 Windows command-line reference, see Command Line (Tabular Editor 2).

How TE2 compatibility works

TE2 compatibility mode is activated in any of three ways:

  1. Binary name. Rename te to te2 (or symlink it) and the CLI runs in TE2-exact mode. This is the drop-in replacement path: swap TabularEditor.exe for te2 in your existing pipeline and the same arguments work.
  2. Environment variable. Set TE_COMPAT=te2 before invoking te to force TE2 mode.
  3. Auto-detection. If the first argument isn't a te subcommand (deploy, validate, …) and at least one recognized TE2 flag appears somewhere in the argument list, the CLI auto-routes to TE2 mode. This means most existing TE2 invocations work without any changes.
# All three are equivalent - each runs in TE2 mode
./te2 Model.bim -S fix.csx -D "localhost\tabular" MyDB -O
TE_COMPAT=te2 te Model.bim -S fix.csx -D "localhost\tabular" MyDB -O
te Model.bim -S fix.csx -D "localhost\tabular" MyDB -O
Note

TE2 mode runs the same Load → Scripts → Schema Check → Save → BPA → Deploy → TRX pipeline as TabularEditor.exe, including context-sensitive flag behavior (e.g., -S after -D means -SHARED, not -SCRIPT).

The migrate command

Use te util migrate as a live reference for how TE2 flags map to the new CLI. It prints a colorized table of every known TE2 flag, its status (supported, renamed, planned), and the equivalent te command.

te util migrate                   # Full flag mapping table
te util migrate -A                # Look up a single flag
te util migrate --output-format json     # Machine-readable mapping

Refer to the output of the te util migrate command for the current mapping that reflects the CLI version you have installed.

Flag mapping (curated subset)

A non-exhaustive summary of the most commonly used flags. Run te util migrate for the full list.

TE2 flag New CLI equivalent Notes
file (positional) --model <path> (global option) Always the global --model option; no command takes the model as a positional argument. Or set an active model once with te connect <path>.
server, database te connect <server> <database> or global -s <server> -d <database> -s/-d always identify the model source; deploy destinations use --target-server / --target-database.
-L / -LOCAL te connect --local Windows only.
-S / -SCRIPT te script --file <file.csx> or --inline "code" A bare .csx path also works (te script fix.csx). Supports multiple scripts (--file a.csx --file b.csx), inline code, and stdin (--inline -); files and inline code run in the order given.
-A / -ANALYZE te bpa run --rules <file-or-url> Supports --fail-on, --fix, multiple rule files.
-AX / -ANALYZEX te bpa run --rules <file> (without --model-rules) Excluding model-embedded rules is the new default.
-B / -BIM te save-as --model <model> -o <file.bim> --serialization bim
-F / -FOLDER te save-as --model <model> -o <dir> --serialization database.json After -D, TE2's -F means -FULL - see --deploy-full.
-TMDL te save-as --model <model> -o <dir> --serialization tmdl --serialization can be omitted - the format is inferred from the output path.
-D / -DEPLOY te deploy --model <model> --target-server <server> --target-database <database> --execute Separate command with named options. Without --execute, te deploy is a dry run that prints the TMSL it would send.
-O / -OVERWRITE (default) or --create-only to opt out Overwrite is the default in the new CLI.
-C / -CONNECTIONS te deploy --deploy-connections
-P / -PARTITIONS te deploy --deploy-partitions
-Y / -SKIPPOLICY te deploy --deploy-partitions --skip-refresh-policy Requires --deploy-partitions.
-SHARED te deploy --deploy-shared-expressions After -D, TE2's -S means -SHARED.
-R / -ROLES te deploy --deploy-roles
-M / -MEMBERS te deploy --deploy-role-members
-FULL (after -D) te deploy --deploy-full Equivalent to overwrite + connections + partitions + shared + roles + role-members.
-X / -XMLA <file> te deploy ... > <file> (omit --execute) Script emission is the default: without --execute, deploy connects read-only and prints the TMSL to stdout - redirect it to a file.
-V / -VSTS --ci vsts on validate, bpa run, deploy Emits ##vso[...] annotations to stderr.
-G / -GITHUB --ci github Emits ::error:: / ::warning:: annotations.
-T / -TRX <file> --trx <file> on validate, bpa run, test run VSTEST .trx file for Azure DevOps test publishing.
-W / -WARN (default) Warnings always reported in deploy results.
-E / -ERR (default) Deploy returns non-zero exit on DAX errors.
-SC / -SCHEMACHECK Not yet implemented. TE2 schema check connects to actual data sources. Different from te validate (DAX semantic validation, no data source connection).
-L / -LOGIN <user> <pass> (after -D) te auth login -u <id> -p <secret> -t <tenant> Use service principal or env-based credentials. The login is cached, so subsequent commands acquire tokens silently - see Authentication and Connections.

Migration playbook

The recommended path from a TE2-based pipeline to the new CLI:

  1. Drop-in replacement. Replace TabularEditor.exe with te (or te2) in your existing pipeline. Verify the pipeline still runs - TE2 compatibility handles most invocations unchanged.
  2. Replace flags incrementally. Convert one flag group at a time:
    • Start with -A / -AX → te bpa run to pick up richer BPA output (--fail-on, --fix, --trx).
    • Then -D → te deploy for fine-grained deploy control.
    • Finally -V / -G → --ci vsts / --ci github.
  3. Switch to non-interactive CI flags. Add --non-interactive to every te command (and --ci <vsts|github> on validate, bpa run, deploy, and test run), pass --execute --force on deploy/refresh steps that must act, and remove any start /wait wrappers - the new CLI is a regular console binary and doesn't need them.
  4. Adopt service principal auth. Replace -D -L <user> <pass> with te auth login -u ... -p ... -t ... or an environment-credential pipeline step. See Authentication and Connections.

Important differences

  • BPA gate on deploy. te deploy now runs BPA as a pre-flight gate by default. Use --skip-bpa to preserve the old behavior, or --fix-bpa to auto-fix violations before deploy. See Custom Configuration.
  • Dry run by default. te deploy and te refresh print the exact TMSL they would send and change nothing; pass --execute to act. --execute asks for confirmation at a terminal (with n as the safe default); CI pipelines must pass --execute --force.
  • Structured output. Every command supports --output-format json for machine-readable output - see Automation and Scripting.
  • No start /wait needed. The new CLI is a regular console binary; invoke it directly in shell scripts, PowerShell, and CI tasks.
  • Cross-platform. The CLI runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Local SSAS and Power BI Desktop connections remain Windows-only.