How to Authenticate


There are two primary ways you can use the Tableau Metadata API:

To access and use the Metadata API in one of the two ways described above, it’s important to know if your Tableau Cloud site or Tableau Server is licensed with Data Management.

In this section

Authenticate through Sign In method

The Metadata API requires that you send an authentication token with each query sent. The token lets Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server verify your identity and makes sure that you’re signed in. To get a token, you can call the Sign In method, in one of three ways, using the Tableau REST API versions 3.6 or later.

Sign in using a personal access token (PAT)

Refer to Make a Sign In Request with a Personal Access Token in the Tableau REST API Help for more information.

Sign in using a JSON web token (JWT)

Starting in Tableau Cloud October 2023 / Server 2023.3, the Metadata API respects credentials tokens that were obtained via a JSON web token (JWT) and Tableau connected apps.

Set scope (scp) in the JWT to “tableau:content:read”. The permissions of the user in the JWT determine query results.

Refer to Make a Sign In Request with a JWT in the Tableau REST API Help for more information on using a JWT to create a credentials token that you can use with the Metadata API.

Sign in using username and password

Refer to Make a Sign In Request with Username and Password in the Tableau REST API Help for more information.

For more information about token expiration, changing the token timeout value, and more, see Using the Authentication Token In Subsequent Calls topic in the Tableau REST API Help.