AI-First Power BI

How to add a Sankey Diagram to Power BI without writing code

Generate a Power BI Sankey Diagram without writing TypeScript. Plain-English prompt → .pbiviz file in under 5 minutes. Source code yours forever.

Power BI's marketplace has a few Sankey Diagram options, but each comes with the same trade-off: you accept the vendor's formatting opinions, pay per-seat licensing, and have no path to customise the visual without buying a higher tier or filing a feature request. The "build it yourself" alternative — write a TypeScript custom visual using D3.js and the Power BI Visuals SDK — is technically no-code at the user level but is 30-50 hours of developer time at the build level.

There's a third path most teams haven't tried yet: AI-generated custom visuals. Describe the Sankey Diagram you want — the data shape, the styling, the formatting options — and an AI generates a working .pbiviz file you import into Power BI Desktop. The result behaves like a marketplace visual (cross-filtering, tooltips, formatting pane) and costs less than a single seat of a paid marketplace visual on a one-time basis. The TypeScript source ships with the .pbiviz, so if you ever want to extend the visual yourself, you can.

Step-by-step

1
Describe what you want in plain English
Open VizForge. Type a description of the sankey diagram — for example, the chart family, the data fields, the colour rules, the formatting options users should be able to adjust. The more specific the prompt, the closer the first generation is to what you want.
2
Review the AI's classification
VizForge's classifier reads your prompt and shows back the visual type and complexity it inferred. Confirm it picked the right thing (e.g. sankey diagram not pie chart). If not, refine the prompt before generating.
3
Generate the .pbiviz
Click Generate. The pipeline runs classify → spec → code → validator → build. Total wall-clock time is typically 1-3 minutes for fresh visuals, 3-5 for refinements. You see a polling progress bar while it runs.
4
Refine if needed
Click Refine on the result and tell the AI what to change — "use our brand colours", "make the bars wider", "add stage-to-stage conversion labels". Each refinement is a minimal diff on the previous version, not a from-scratch regeneration.
5
Download and import
Download the .pbiviz. In Power BI Desktop, click the three-dot menu in the Visualizations pane → Import a visual from a file. The sankey diagram appears in your gallery and behaves like any built-in chart.
6
Bind data and publish
Drop your fields onto the data wells. Adjust formatting in the standard Power BI formatting pane. Save the .pbix and publish to Power BI Service. The sankey diagram renders identically in the browser.

The AI alternative: Generate your first sankey diagram in under five minutes — free trial credits, no card required. Source code yours; refine as many times as you need.

Generate a sankey diagram on VizForge →

When to use a sankey diagram

Customer journey: acquisition channel → onboarding step → conversion or churn
Budget cascade: total revenue → segment → cost bucket → net margin
Energy / material flow audits (sources → intermediates → outputs)
Multi-stage qualification funnels where candidates flow between named states
Employee headcount movement (joins, exits, transfers between departments)

Frequently asked questions

Is the AI-generated .pbiviz the same quality as a marketplace visual?

Yes — it goes through the same Power BI Visuals SDK build pipeline, the same TypeScript type-checks, the same packaging. Output is a standard .pbiviz file that runs anywhere a marketplace visual runs.

What if the AI gets it wrong on the first try?

Click Refine and describe what to change. Each refinement is a small targeted diff on the working version, not a from-scratch rebuild. Most users converge in 1-3 refinements.

Do I have to pay every time I generate a visual?

Free plan: 5 credits on signup (each visual costs 1-5 credits depending on complexity). After that, credit packs are pay-as-you-go — no subscription, no per-seat licensing. Credits never expire.

Does the Sankey work in Power BI Service or only Desktop?

Both. Generate the .pbiviz, import it into Power BI Desktop, build your report, publish to Service — the visual renders in the browser exactly as it does locally.

Can a Sankey cross-filter other visuals on the page?

Yes. Every VizForge-generated Sankey includes SelectionManager integration, so clicking a node or link acts as a slicer on the rest of the page.

How many levels can the Sankey handle?

Arbitrary depth. The AI-generated visual infers levels from your source/target columns — 2 levels, 5 levels, 12 levels — and lays them out automatically.