How are teams managing Fabric branch-out workspaces + Workspace Identity connections?
We’ve built a Microsoft Fabric development process using Deployment Pipelines for shared semantic models and Git branch-out to give each developer their own workspace.
For Dev/Test/Prod, we’d like to use shareable cloud connections authenticated with Workspace Identity. The problem is that when a developer branches out to their own workspace, the Workspace Identity shared cloud connection doesn’t seem to work when editing the model. perhaps I'm missing a configuration or setting?
it seems like the shared cloud connection works fine for refresh, however when you edit the model. I get a warning
To avoid semantic model refresh errors while developing, we end up changing the connection to a per user OAuth/user credentials in the developer workspace.
Our current thinking is:
- Developer branch-out workspace → OAuth connection
- Shared Dev → Workspace Identity connection
- Test/Prod → Workspace Identity connections
- Rebind the semantic model to the appropriate managed connection during integration/deployment
It works, but having developers switch authentication feels like extra complexity and potentially something we shouldn’t need to manage manually.
For teams using Fabric + Git + branch-out + shared semantic models, how are you handling connections and authentication across developer workspaces?
I'm also curious about what happens or needs to change when development is done outside of the workspace in power bi desktop.
