@sqlbi/daxformatter-mcp
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that formats and validates DAX from any MCP-enabled AI client — Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, and others — using the SQLBI DAX Formatter service.
Installation guide
The server runs locally on your machine — no install step, no account, no API key, no login. It exposes a single tool, format_dax. Find your app below and follow the short steps; afterwards, just ask your assistant to "format this DAX".
Visual Studio Code
Click a badge above — VS Code opens and asks you to confirm. That's it.
Prefer the terminal?
code --add-mcp "{\"name\":\"DaxFormatter\",\"type\":\"stdio\",\"command\":\"npx\",\"args\":[\"-y\",\"@sqlbi/daxformatter-mcp\"]}"
Claude
Claude Desktop — add it through the config file:
- Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config to reveal
claude_desktop_config.json. - Inside
mcpServers, add the standardDaxFormatterentry shown in Any MCP client below. - Restart Claude Desktop, then confirm the server appears under Settings → Developer.
The format_dax tool is now available in chat. The same connector is automatically shared with Claude Code, so you set it up once for both.
Advanced: add it from the Claude Code terminal
# -s user enables it in every project; omit -s for the current project only
claude mcp add -s user DaxFormatter -- npx -y @sqlbi/daxformatter-mcp
# check it was added
claude mcp get DaxFormatter
Codex
In the Codex app:
- Open Settings → Integrations → MCP servers → Add.
- Choose the command (STDIO) type and give it a name (e.g.
DaxFormatter). - Set the command to
npx, then use Add argument to add the two arguments separately: first-y, then@sqlbi/daxformatter-mcp. - Click Save.
The format_dax tool is now available in your threads. The app and the CLI share the same settings, so this also covers the Codex CLI and IDE extension.
Advanced: add it from the Codex terminal, or edit the config file by hand
Add it from the terminal:
# add it to the user-level Codex configuration (available in every project)
codex mcp add DaxFormatter -- npx -y @sqlbi/daxformatter-mcp
# check it was added
codex mcp get DaxFormatter
codex mcp list
Both the app and the CLI write the same entry to ~/.codex/config.toml (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml), which you can also edit by hand:
[mcp_servers.DaxFormatter]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@sqlbi/daxformatter-mcp"]
To scope the server to one repository, put the same table in a project-scoped .codex/config.toml at the repo root instead. Codex loads it only for trusted projects and prompts for trust on first use.
Any MCP client
Don't see your app above? Most MCP-aware tools read a standard JSON config. Add this entry to your client's configuration file — or to a .mcp.json at the root of a project to share it with everyone working on that repo:
{
"mcpServers": {
"DaxFormatter": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@sqlbi/daxformatter-mcp"]
}
}
}
What it does
The server exposes a single tool, format_dax — just ask your assistant to format or check some DAX and it will use it:
- Formats one or more DAX expressions in a single call.
- Reports syntax errors with their line and column, so the same call both formats and validates (an expression that can't be parsed comes back unformatted, with the errors).
- Optional formatting controls: line style, spacing, and the list/decimal separators.
Privacy
Your DAX is sent to the DAX Formatter web service (daxformatter.com), where the formatting happens. If you provide server or database names, they are SHA-256 hashed before being sent — they never leave your machine in clear text.