Tableau MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Tableau Cloud that provides dashboard access, data querying, and export capabilities through Cursor IDE.

Features

🔍 Discovery & Search - Find workbooks, views, and data sources
📊 Data Access - Query view data with filters as CSV or JSON
📤 Export - Export dashboards as PDF, PNG, or PowerPoint
🔄 Data Refresh - Trigger extract refreshes for data sources

Prerequisites

Node.js 18.x or later
Google Cloud Platform account with:
- Cloud Run enabled
- Secret Manager enabled
- Cloud Storage bucket for exports
Tableau Cloud/Server with:
- Personal Access Token (PAT) credentials
- API access enabled

Quick Start

1. Clone and Install

cd tableau-mcp npm install

2. Configure Environment Variables

Create a .env file (or set environment variables):

# Tableau Configuration TABLEAU_SERVER_URL=https://prod-apnortheast-a.online.tableau.com TABLEAU_SITE_ID=your-site-content-url TABLEAU_PAT_NAME=your-pat-name TABLEAU_PAT_SECRET=your-pat-secret # MCP Server MCP_API_KEY=your-secure-api-key # Google Cloud GCS_EXPORT_BUCKET=tableau-mcp-exports GCP_PROJECT_ID=your-project-id

3. Run Locally

npm start

The server starts on http://localhost:8080:

Health check: GET /health
SSE endpoint: GET /sse and POST /sse

4. Configure Cursor

Add to your .cursor/mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "tableau": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "mcp-remote", "https://tableau-mcp-400124661305.australia-southeast1.run.app/sse", "--header", "X-API-Key: <your-api-key>" ] } } }

Note: Replace <your-api-key> with your actual API key from Secret Manager (tableau-mcp-api-key).

Available Tools

Utility Tools

Tool	Description
`tableau_get_instructions`	Get guidance on using Tableau MCP tools
`tableau_search`	Search content across Tableau

Dashboard Tools

Tool	Description
`tableau_list_workbooks`	List all accessible workbooks
`tableau_get_workbook`	Get workbook details
`tableau_list_views`	List views in a workbook
`tableau_get_filters`	Get available filters for a view
`tableau_apply_filter`	Store filters for query/export

Data Tools

Tool	Description
`tableau_query_view`	Export view data as CSV/JSON
`tableau_list_datasources`	List published data sources
`tableau_refresh_datasource`	Trigger extract refresh

Export Tools

Tool	Description
`tableau_export_pdf`	Export view as PDF
`tableau_export_image`	Export view as PNG
`tableau_export_pptx`	Export view as PowerPoint

Usage Examples

Find and Export a Dashboard

1. Search for dashboards: tableau_search({ query: "sales" }) 2. List views in a workbook: tableau_list_views({ workbookId: "abc123" }) 3. Export as PDF: tableau_export_pdf({ viewId: "xyz789" })

Query Filtered Data

1. Get available filters: tableau_get_filters({ viewId: "xyz789" }) 2. Query with filters: tableau_query_view({ viewId: "xyz789", format: "json", filters: { "Region": "West" } })

Deployment

Cloud Run Deployment

Create GCS Bucket
gsutil mb -l australia-southeast1 gs://tableau-mcp-exports
Create Secrets in Secret Manager
echo -n "your-pat-name" | gcloud secrets create tableau-pat-name --data-file=- echo -n "your-pat-secret" | gcloud secrets create tableau-pat-secret --data-file=- echo -n "your-api-key" | gcloud secrets create tableau-mcp-api-key --data-file=-
Grant Service Account Permissions
# Secret Manager access gcloud secrets add-iam-policy-binding tableau-pat-secret \ --member="serviceAccount:YOUR_SA@PROJECT.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \ --role="roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor" # GCS access gsutil iam ch serviceAccount:YOUR_SA@PROJECT.iam.gserviceaccount.com:objectCreator,objectViewer \ gs://tableau-mcp-exports
Configure Cloud Build Trigger
- Source: Your GitHub repository
- Event: Push to main branch
- Configuration: cloudbuild.yaml
- Substitution variables:
  - _TABLEAU_SERVER_URL: Your Tableau Cloud URL
  - _TABLEAU_SITE_ID: Your site content URL
  - _GCS_EXPORT_BUCKET: Your export bucket name
Deploy Push to main branch to trigger automatic deployment.

Manual Deployment

gcloud run deploy tableau-mcp \ --source . \ --region australia-southeast1 \ --memory 1Gi \ --timeout 300s \ --min-instances 1 \ --allow-unauthenticated

Configuration Reference

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
`TABLEAU_SERVER_URL`	✅	Tableau Cloud/Server URL
`TABLEAU_SITE_ID`	✅	Site content URL
`TABLEAU_PAT_NAME`	✅	Personal Access Token name
`TABLEAU_PAT_SECRET`	✅	Personal Access Token secret
`MCP_API_KEY`	✅	API key for MCP authentication
`GCS_EXPORT_BUCKET`	✅	GCS bucket for exports
`GCP_PROJECT_ID`	✅	Google Cloud project ID
`PORT`	❌	Server port (default: 8080)
`TABLEAU_API_VERSION`	❌	API version (default: 3.21)

Cloud Run Settings

Setting	Value
Region	australia-southeast1
Memory	1Gi
CPU	1
Timeout	300s
Min instances	1
Max instances	10
Concurrency	80

Limitations

Filters: Cannot apply filters to live dashboard views - only at query/export time
PPTX Export: Generated from PNG images, not native Tableau export
Data Query: Maximum 100,000 rows per request
Export URLs: Valid for 1 hour only
Rate Limits: Throttled to 10 requests/second to Tableau API

Project Structure

tableau-mcp/ ├── mcp-http-server.js # Main Express HTTP server ├── mcp-handler.js # MCP protocol handler ├── mcp_tools.json # Tool definitions ├── config.js # Configuration management ├── package.json # Dependencies ├── Dockerfile # Container configuration ├── cloudbuild.yaml # CI/CD configuration ├── lib/ │ ├── tableau-client.js # Tableau REST API client │ ├── gcs-client.js # GCS upload/signing │ └── logger.js # Structured logging ├── 00-utility-tools/tools/ │ ├── get-instructions.js │ └── search.js ├── 01-dashboard-tools/tools/ │ ├── list-workbooks.js │ ├── get-workbook.js │ ├── list-views.js │ ├── get-filters.js │ └── apply-filter.js ├── 02-data-tools/tools/ │ ├── query-view-data.js │ ├── list-datasources.js │ └── refresh-datasource.js └── 03-export-tools/tools/ ├── export-pdf.js ├── export-image.js └── export-pptx.js

Troubleshooting

Authentication Errors

Verify PAT credentials are correct
Check that PAT has not expired
Ensure site ID matches the site content URL (not the site name)

Export Failures

Check GCS bucket exists and is accessible
Verify service account has objectCreator and objectViewer roles
Large exports may timeout - try smaller views or increase Cloud Run timeout

Rate Limiting

The server throttles to 10 requests/second
Batch operations may be slower due to throttling
Consider increasing throttle limit for Tableau Server (not Cloud)

License

MIT

Author

Agile Market Intelligence

Tableau MCP Server

Tableau MCP Server

Features

Prerequisites

Quick Start

1. Clone and Install

2. Configure Environment Variables

3. Run Locally

4. Configure Cursor

Available Tools

Utility Tools

Dashboard Tools

Data Tools

Export Tools

Usage Examples

Find and Export a Dashboard

Query Filtered Data

Deployment

Cloud Run Deployment

Manual Deployment

Configuration Reference

Environment Variables

Cloud Run Settings

Limitations

Project Structure

Troubleshooting

Authentication Errors

Export Failures

Rate Limiting

License

Author

Resources

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