activator-consumption-cli

✓ Official★ 729

by microsoft · part of microsoft/skills-for-fabric

Inspect existing alerts, notifications, and automated actions in Fabric via read-only REST API calls using `az rest` CLI. **Invoke this skill** whenever the user wants to: (1) list existing alerts in a workspace, (2) inspect how an alert or notification is configured, (3) read and decode an Activator/Reflex definition (ReflexEntities.json), (4) list rules, sources, and actions behind an alert, (5) understand why an alert fires or what action it takes. **Invoke this skill before answering questio

🧩 One of 7 skills in the microsoft/skills-for-fabric package — works on its own, and pairs well with its siblings.

This is the playbook your agent receives when the skill activates — you don't need to read it to use the skill, but it's here to audit before installing.

Update Check — ONCE PER SESSION (mandatory) The first time this skill is used in a session, run the check-updates skill before proceeding.

GitHub Copilot CLI / VS Code: invoke the check-updates skill (e.g., /fabric-skills:check-updates).

Claude Code / Cowork / Cursor / Windsurf / Codex: read the local package.json version, then compare it against the remote version via git fetch origin main --quiet && git show origin/main:package.json (or the GitHub API). If the remote version is newer, show the changelog and update instructions.

Skip if the check was already performed earlier in this session.

CRITICAL NOTES

To find the workspace details (including its ID) from workspace name: list all workspaces and, then, use JMESPath filtering

To find the item details (including its ID) from workspace ID, item type, and item name: list all items of that type in that workspace and, then, use JMESPath filtering

activator-consumption-cli — Read-Only Activator Exploration via CLI

Task	Reference	Notes
Finding Workspaces and Items in Fabric	COMMON-CLI.md § Finding Workspaces and Items in Fabric	Mandatory — READ link first [needed for workspace/item ID resolution]
Fabric Topology & Key Concepts	COMMON-CORE.md § Fabric Topology & Key Concepts
Authentication & Token Acquisition	COMMON-CORE.md § Authentication & Token Acquisition	Wrong audience = 401
Core Control-Plane REST APIs	COMMON-CORE.md § Core Control-Plane REST APIs
Long-Running Operations (LRO)	COMMON-CORE.md § Long-Running Operations (LRO)	`getDefinition` may return 202
Rate Limiting & Throttling	COMMON-CORE.md § Rate Limiting & Throttling
Fabric Item Definitions	ITEM-DEFINITIONS-CORE.md § Definition Envelope	Base64 payload structure
Authentication Recipes	COMMON-CLI.md § Authentication Recipes	`az login` flows
Fabric Control-Plane API via `az rest`	COMMON-CLI.md § Fabric Control-Plane API via az rest	Always pass `--resource https://api.fabric.microsoft.com`
LRO Pattern	COMMON-CLI.md § Long-Running Operations (LRO) Pattern
Pagination Pattern	COMMON-CLI.md § Pagination Pattern
Tool Stack	SKILL.md § Tool Stack
Connection	SKILL.md § Connection
Listing Activator Items	SKILL.md § Listing Activator Items
Inspecting a Single Activator	SKILL.md § Inspecting a Single Activator
Reading the Definition	SKILL.md § Reading the Definition
Exploring Rules, Sources, and Actions	SKILL.md § Exploring Rules, Sources, and Actions
Must / Prefer / Avoid	SKILL.md § Must / Prefer / Avoid
Examples	SKILL.md § Examples

Tool Stack

Tool	Purpose	Install
az cli	Fabric REST API calls for reading Activator items and definitions	`winget install Microsoft.AzureCLI`
jq	JSON processing, Base64 decoding, definition inspection	`winget install jqlang.jq`

Connection

Use the shared authentication guidance in COMMON-CLI.md § Authentication Recipes. Resolve workspace and item IDs per COMMON-CLI.md § Finding Workspaces and Items in Fabric. Examples below assume WS_ID and REFLEX_ID are already resolved.

Listing Activator Items

List All Activators in a Workspace

az rest --method GET \
  --url "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/workspaces/${WS_ID}/reflexes" \
  --resource "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com" \
  | jq '.value[] | {id, displayName, description}'

Required scopes: Workspace.Read.All or Workspace.ReadWrite.All

Paginated Listing

For workspaces with many items, follow the continuationUri returned in each response:

NEXT_URL="https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/workspaces/${WS_ID}/reflexes"
while [ -n "$NEXT_URL" ]; do
  RESPONSE=$(az rest --method GET \
    --url "$NEXT_URL" \
    --resource "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com")
  echo "$RESPONSE" | jq '.value[] | {id, displayName, description}'
  NEXT_URL=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | jq -r '.continuationUri // empty')
done

Filter by Folder

az rest --method GET \
  --url "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/workspaces/${WS_ID}/reflexes?recursive=true&rootFolderId=${FOLDER_ID}" \
  --resource "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com" \
  | jq '.value[] | {id, displayName}'

Inspecting a Single Activator

az rest --method GET \
  --url "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/workspaces/${WS_ID}/reflexes/${REFLEX_ID}" \
  --resource "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com" \
  | jq '{id, displayName, description, type, workspaceId}'

Reading the Definition

getDefinition is a POST (not GET), requires ReadWrite scopes (Reflex.ReadWrite.All or Item.ReadWrite.All) even for read-only inspection, and may return 202 LRO. Use the fabric_lro helper from COMMON-CLI.md § Long-Running Operations (LRO) Pattern so 202 responses can be polled via the Location header before decoding.

Decode the Full Definition

DEFINITION=$(fabric_lro POST \
  "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/workspaces/${WS_ID}/reflexes/${REFLEX_ID}/getDefinition" \
  '{}')

echo "$DEFINITION" \
  | jq '.definition.parts[] | select(.path=="ReflexEntities.json") | .payload' -r \
  | base64 -d | jq .

Save Definition to File

DEFINITION=$(fabric_lro POST \
  "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/workspaces/${WS_ID}/reflexes/${REFLEX_ID}/getDefinition" \
  '{}')

echo "$DEFINITION" \
  | jq '.definition.parts[] | select(.path=="ReflexEntities.json") | .payload' -r \
  | base64 -d | jq . > reflex-entities.json

Exploring Rules, Sources, and Actions

Once you have the decoded ReflexEntities.json, use jq to extract specific components.

List All Entity Types

cat reflex-entities.json | jq '[.[] | .type] | sort | group_by(.) | map({type: .[0], count: length})'

List Data Sources

cat reflex-entities.json | jq '.[] | select(.type | endswith("Source-v1")) | {name: .payload.name, type: .type, id: .uniqueIdentifier}'

List Rules

cat reflex-entities.json | jq '.[] | select(.type == "timeSeriesView-v1" and .payload.definition.type == "Rule") | {name: .payload.name, id: .uniqueIdentifier, shouldRun: .payload.definition.settings.shouldRun}'

List Objects and Their Attributes

# Objects
cat reflex-entities.json | jq '.[] | select(.type == "timeSeriesView-v1" and .payload.definition.type == "Object") | {name: .payload.name, id: .uniqueIdentifier}'

# Attributes for a specific object
OBJECT_ID="<object-guid>"
cat reflex-entities.json | jq --arg oid "$OBJECT_ID" '.[] | select(.type == "timeSeriesView-v1" and .payload.definition.type == "Attribute" and .payload.parentObject.targetUniqueIdentifier == $oid) | {name: .payload.name, id: .uniqueIdentifier}'

Inspect a Rule's Condition

RULE_ID="<rule-guid>"
cat reflex-entities.json \
  | jq --arg rid "$RULE_ID" '.[] | select(.uniqueIdentifier == $rid) | .payload.definition.instance' -r \
  | jq '.steps[] | {step: .name, rows: [.rows[] | .kind]}'

List Actions (Fabric Item Actions)

cat reflex-entities.json | jq '.[] | select(.type == "fabricItemAction-v1") | {name: .payload.name, itemType: .payload.fabricItem.itemType, itemId: .payload.fabricItem.itemId}'

Summary View

Get a high-level overview of an Activator's configuration:

cat reflex-entities.json | jq '{
  containers: [.[] | select(.type == "container-v1") | .payload.name],
  sources: [.[] | select(.type | endswith("Source-v1")) | {name: .payload.name, type: .type}],
  objects: [.[] | select(.type == "timeSeriesView-v1" and .payload.definition.type == "Object") | .payload.name],
  rules: [.[] | select(.type == "timeSeriesView-v1" and .payload.definition.type == "Rule") | {name: .payload.name, active: .payload.definition.settings.shouldRun}],
  actions: [.[] | select(.type == "fabricItemAction-v1") | {name: .payload.name, type: .payload.fabricItem.itemType}]
}'

Must / Prefer / Avoid

MUST DO

Always use --resource https://api.fabric.microsoft.com with az rest
Always send --body '{}' for getDefinition — it is a POST and omitting the body can cause 411 errors
Handle LRO responses — getDefinition may return 202; poll the Location header
Base64-decode the ReflexEntities.json payload before inspection — it is Base64-encoded in the API response
JSON-parse the definition.instance field in rule entities — it is a JSON-encoded string, not a nested object

PREFER

Summary view first — give users a high-level overview before diving into individual entities
Save to file when the definition is large — decode once and explore with jq locally
Discover IDs dynamically via workspace and item listing + JMESPath filtering
Paginated listing for workspaces with many Activator items

AVOID

Hardcoded workspace or item IDs — always resolve dynamically
Using GET for getDefinition — it is a POST endpoint; GET will return 405
Attempting to read definitions of items with encrypted sensitivity labels — it will be blocked
Modifying data — this is a read-only skill; use activator-authoring-cli for write operations

Examples

List All Activators and Show Their Rules

# Step 1: List activators
az rest --method GET \
  --url "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/workspaces/${WS_ID}/reflexes" \
  --resource "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com" \
  | jq '.value[] | {id, displayName}'

# Step 2: For a specific activator, get and decode its definition
az rest --method POST \
  --url "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/workspaces/${WS_ID}/reflexes/${REFLEX_ID}/getDefinition" \
  --resource "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com" \
  --headers "Content-Type=application/json" \
  --body '{}' \
  | jq '.definition.parts[] | select(.path=="ReflexEntities.json") | .payload' -r \
  | base64 -d \
  | jq '.[] | select(.type == "timeSeriesView-v1" and .payload.definition.type == "Rule") | {name: .payload.name, active: .payload.definition.settings.shouldRun}'

Inspect a Specific Rule's Full Configuration

# Decode definition and extract rule details
az rest --method POST \
  --url "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/workspaces/${WS_ID}/reflexes/${REFLEX_ID}/getDefinition" \
  --resource "https://api.fabric.microsoft.com" \
  --headers "Content-Type=application/json" \
  --body '{}' \
  | jq '.definition.parts[] | select(.path=="ReflexEntities.json") | .payload' -r \
  | base64 -d \
  | jq '.[] | select(.payload.name == "Too hot for medicine") | .payload.definition.instance' -r \
  | jq '.steps[] | {step: .name, details: .rows}'

Querying Activation History

Activation history (when rules fired) is not available via the public REST API. It is accessible via the Activator MCP server using the get_activations_for_rule tool.

Prerequisites

Use the shared authentication guidance in COMMON-CLI.md § Authentication Recipes before connecting to the Activator MCP endpoint.

pip install mcp httpx azure-identity aiohttp

Workflow

List rules using the public API (getDefinition → decode → filter for Rule entities) to get the rule's uniqueIdentifier
Connect to the Activator MCP server and call get_activations_for_rule with the rule ID

MCP Server Connection

The Activator MCP endpoint is at:

https://api.fabric.microsoft.com/v1/mcp/workspaces/{workspaceId}/reflexes/{activatorId}

Use the shared Fabric API authentication guidance from COMMON-CORE.md § Authentication & Token Acquisition. MCP clients should rely on standard Azure identity flows and must not hardcode tokens.

Calling `get_activations_for_rule`

Connect using the MCP streamable_http_client, then call the tool:

from mcp import ClientSession
from mcp.client.streamable_http import streamable_http_client

# After connecting and initializing the session:
result = await session.call_tool(
    "get_activations_for_rule",
    {
        "getActivationsParams": {
            "workspaceId": "<workspace-id>",
            "artifactId": "<activator-id>",
            "ruleId": "<rule-uniqueIdentifier>",
        }
    },
)

The response contains totalCount and an activations array with details of each time the rule fired.

Available MCP Tools

Tool	Purpose
`list_rules`	List rules in an Activator (alternative to public API decode)
`get_activations_for_rule`	Get activation history for a specific rule

Agent Integration Notes

This skill uses the Fabric Items API (/reflexes) for listing and getDefinition for inspection
No additional data-plane protocols are needed for item/rule inspection — all use az rest with the Fabric API audience
getDefinition requires ReadWrite scopes even for read-only access — this is a known API requirement
Activation history requires the MCP server connection (not available via public REST API)
For creating or modifying Activator items and rules, use the activator-authoring-cli skill