How to Use VizQL Data Service in Your Tableau Cloud Site

Since the launch of the VizQL Data Service Developer Preview, the DataDev community has shown impressive creativity and innovation. The ability to programmatically query Tableau’s published data sources has empowered developers to simplify workflows, integrate custom applications, automate processes efficiently, and more. Thanks to your valuable feedback and the real-world use cases we’ve seen, we're excited to expand the developer preview to all Tableau Cloud customers.

Are you on-premises with Tableau Server? We haven’t forgotten about you! The developer team is hard at work building VizQL Data Service for general availability for both Tableau Cloud and on-premises Server. We encourage you to join the Developer Preview via our beta site and begin exploring the benefits of VizQL Data Service for yourself.

Your data, your site, your way

If you’ve been waiting to test the VizQL Data Service API with your own data sources in Tableau Cloud, now is the time! As part of the 2024.3 release, you can now experiment with the VizQL Data Service API using your own data within your Tableau Cloud site, while it remains in beta. This expansion moves beyond the limitations of the initial beta environment, allowing more users to explore its potential. Whether you’re ‌integrating Tableau data into customer-facing applications or automating critical workflows, this expanded access allows you to use your real, published data within your Tableau Cloud site.

The service remains in beta, and is off by default—meaning you’ll need to grant API Access permissions at the data source level to turn on programmatic queries. Let’s get more into that!

Introducing API Access permissions

Available now in Tableau Cloud as part of the 24.3 release, API Access permissions offer more control over who can query published data sources via the API.

As developers explored the capabilities of VizQL Data Service, the need for more detailed control over data access became clear. Many of you wanted the ability to manage who could programmatically query data sources for various administrative reasons. In response, we’ve introduced API Access permissions, allowing you to assign specific users or groups the ability to query data sources directly within the data source permissions dialog.

While users still need the existing “view” ability to access a data source, this new permission provides an additional layer of control. For example, an admin might want to manage consumption costs on back-end systems (e.g. Snowflake) or control load and usage on on-premises servers.

Get started easily with the Postman collection

In addition to the new permissions feature, we are making it easier to access and work with our developer tools. To help you get up and running with the VizQL Data Service API, we have created a Postman Collection. This resource is designed to simplify testing and interacting with the API, giving you a straightforward way to start querying your data programmatically. You can find this collection in our GitHub repository.

Try VizQL Data Service

With the latest updates, Tableau Cloud users can start using API Access permissions as part of the 2024.3 release. Head over to your Tableau Cloud site and start exploring how these new capabilities can enhance your workflows and give you more control over data access. And don't forget to join the VizQL Data Service Developer Preview to share your feedback!