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.
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 two ways, using the Tableau REST API versions 3.6 or later.
Refer to the personal access token section of the Tableau REST API Help for more information.
Refer to the username and password section of 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.