Resonant photo-excitation provides a direct tool for investigating electronic transitions in atoms and ions. By combining EBITs and ultrabrilliant x-ray sources this kind of spectroscopy became also available for highly charged ions. Here we present the PolarX-EBIT, a compact permanent magnet EBIT* built by the Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics and University Jena specifically for operation at synchrotron radiation light source facilities. It employs a novel off-axis electron gun, allowing the photon beam to pass through the trap and be made available for downstream setups. Additionally, it features fast-switching power supplies for charge breeding and background reduction schemes, a time-of-flight ion extraction beamline and large area SDD detectors. Multiple successful experiments have been performed in the soft and hard x-ray regimes at the light sources BESSY II and PETRA III, measuring transition energies, oscillator strengths, natural line widths, photoionization and population balance**. Furthermore, narrow lines of He-like ions have also been used as a diagnostic tool for the spectral performance of the photon beamlines.