Which actions should you recommend to provide users with the ability to create and publish custom Direct Lake semantic models?

To enable users to create and publish custom Direct Lake semantic models in Fabric, enabling XMLA endpoints is crucial. By setting the "Allow XMLA Endpoints" to Enabled, you allow users to connect to the Power BI service using XMLA, which is essential for interacting with data models programmatically. This capability not only facilitates the creation of semantic models but also allows access to richer features that enhance model management, such as defining relationships, measures, and calculated columns.

While allowing users to edit data models in the Power BI service is beneficial for data manipulation after a model is created, it does not directly grant the capability to create or publish those models. Similarly, while setting the XMLA Endpoint to Read Write is important for making changes to existing models, it is not the primary action required to enable users to create new models from scratch. Finally, enabling users to create Fabric items, though important for a broader range of functionalities within the platform, does not specifically address the requirement for creating and publishing custom Direct Lake semantic models.

Therefore, enabling XMLA endpoints is the most direct and effective action in empowering users to create and publish custom semantic models in a Direct Lake environment.