Tableau Connector | OpenMetadata Integration Guide

In this section, we provide guides and references to use the Tableau connector.

Supported Authentication Types:

Basic Auth — Username and password authentication
Access Token Auth — Personal access token name and secret for token-based authentication

Configure and schedule Tableau metadata workflows from the OpenMetadata UI:

Requirements
Entity Mapping
Metadata Ingestion
Enable Security
Troubleshooting

Requirements

To ingest Tableau metadata, minimum Site Role: Viewer is required for the Tableau user. To create lineage between Tableau dashboards and any database service via the queries provided from Tableau Metadata API, enable the Tableau Metadata API for your Tableau server. For more information, see Get Started with the Metadata API.

If using a default site on Tableau Server, leave the Site URL and Site Name fields blank in the ingestion configuration.
Ensure that the Metadata API is enabled for the user performing the ingestion. If it is not enabled, ingestion may fail. Follow the official Tableau documentation to enable the Metadata API.
The minimum required role to retrieve owners is Site Admin Explorer.

As of OpenMetadata versions 1.7.4 and 1.7.5, the siteUrl field has been removed from the Tableau connector configuration. This change was intentional, as confirmed in the release commit.
To connect to a non-default Tableau site, use the siteName field instead. The Tableau Python SDK does not require siteUrl for authentication.
Ensure the siteName field is correctly populated (do not use *) to enable successful metadata ingestion for multi-site Tableau environments.

Source Tables and Lineage

Lineage depends on Tableau exposing the source tables behind each data model.

Table lineage requires the ingestion account to have the View capability on the external assets in Tableau Catalog, granted directly or derived. For any asset it cannot view, Tableau returns the source table with its table and database names removed, keeping only internal identifiers, and reports no error. Those tables are skipped without a message, so no lineage is created between them and the data models that use them. Assets the account can view are unaffected, and dashboards, charts and data models are still ingested either way.

Grant the ingestion account View on the affected external assets in Tableau Catalog, or use an account that already holds it. A Viewer or Explorer site role alone is not enough for OpenMetadata to build table lineage. For the steps, see Manage Permissions for External Assets in the Tableau documentation.

Entity Mapping

The Tableau connector maps Tableau assets to OpenMetadata entities as follows:

Tableau Asset	OpenMetadata Entity	Description
Workbooks	Dashboard	Tableau workbooks are mapped to OpenMetadata Dashboard entities.
Views (worksheets, dashboard views, stories — all sheet types)	Chart	All Tableau views are mapped to OpenMetadata Chart entities, regardless of their sheet type.
Data Sources (embedded and published)	Data Models	Tableau data sources are mapped to OpenMetadata Data Model entities.
Projects	Project field	The Tableau project name is stored in the project field of the Dashboard.

Example Structure

Tableau Structure:

Project: Sales Team
└── Workbook: Sales Analysis
    ├── Dashboard: Revenue Overview (sheetType="dashboard")
    ├── Worksheet: Monthly Sales (sheetType="worksheet")
    └── Story: Sales Story (sheetType="story")

OpenMetadata Structure:

Dashboard: "Sales Analysis" (Project: "Sales Team")
├── Chart: "Revenue Overview"
├── Chart: "Monthly Sales"
└── Chart: "Sales Story"

This mapping ensures that:

Tableau workbooks appear as OpenMetadata dashboards.
All views (worksheets, dashboard views, stories) appear as charts under that dashboard.
Tableau project names are preserved in the project field.
URLs point directly to the specific views.

Metadata Ingestion

To ingest metadata from Tableau, you need to create a service connection. The service connects Tableau with OpenMetadata. Once you create a service, OpenMetadata automatically starts ingesting metadata.

Step 1: Add New Service

Navigate to Settings > Services.
Click Add New Service.

Step 2: Select a Service and Connector

From the service type dropdown, select Dashboard Services, then click the Tableau connector tile.

Step 3: Add Service Name and Description

Enter a unique, descriptive Service Name. OpenMetadata identifies services by their service name. Enter a name that distinguishes this deployment from other Tableau services you are ingesting metadata from.
Optional: Enter a Description for the service.

Note: The service name cannot be changed after it is set.

Step 4: Configure Connection Options

Specify your source credentials and verify the connection.

Enter Connection Details

Enter the connection details for Tableau. The right-hand panel in the UI displays inline help for each field.

Host and Port: URL or IP address of your installation of Tableau Server.
Authentication Types:
1. Basic Authentication
- Username: The name of the user whose credentials will be used to sign in.
- Password: The password of the user.
1. Access Token Authentication
- Personal Access Token: The personal access token name. For more information, see Personal Access Tokens.
- Personal Access Token Secret: The personal access token value. For more information, see Personal Access Tokens.
API Version: Tableau API version. If not provided, the version will be used from the Tableau server automatically. For a list of Tableau Server versions and their corresponding REST API and REST API schema versions, see REST API Versions.
Site Name: This corresponds to the contentUrl attribute in the Tableau REST API. The site_name is the portion of the URL that follows the /site/ in the URL.
Pagination Limit: The pagination limit will be used while querying the Tableau Graphql endpoint to get the data source information.
Proxy URL: Optional proxy URL for the Tableau server. If not provided, the hostPort will be used. This is used to generate the dashboard and chart URLs.

Site Name

The Site Name field behaves differently depending on whether you’re connecting to Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server.

1. Service Connection for Tableau Cloud

If you’re connecting to a cloud Tableau instance, add the Site Name with your site name.

2. Service Connection for a Default Tableau Site

For a default Tableau site, the Site Name field should be kept empty.

3. Service Connection for a Non-Default Tableau Site

For a non-default Tableau site, the Site Name field is required.

Configure Service Connection - Non-default Site

If https://xxx.tableau.com/#/site/MarketingTeam/home represents the homepage url for your Tableau site, the MarketingTeam from the url should be entered in the Site Name field.

Authentication Type

Tableau supports two authentication methods for the connector.

1. Basic Authentication

Basic authentication requires the username and password of the user signing in.

Configure Service Connection - Basic Auth

2. Access Token Authentication

Access token authentication requires the personal access token name and the personal access token value. For more information, see Personal Access Tokens.

Configure Service Connection - Access Token Auth

Test Connection

Once the credentials have been added, click on Test Connection and Save the changes.

Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options

In the What to Ingest step, use filter patterns to control which assets OpenMetadata ingests from your dashboard service. Filter patterns use regular expressions applied to asset names.

How Filter Patterns Work

Include: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. OpenMetadata ingests only assets whose names match at least one expression. Leave blank to include all assets.
Exclude: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. OpenMetadata skips any asset whose name matches an expression. Leave blank to exclude nothing.

Rules match asset names using one of five expressions:

contains: matches any name containing the value. For example, sales matches my_sales_data and sales_2024.
starts with: matches names beginning with the value. For example, prod_ matches prod_db and prod_schema.
ends with: matches names ending with the value. For example, _raw matches events_raw and logs_raw.
is exactly: matches the exact name only. For example, analytics matches only analytics.
matches regex: matches names using a regular expression. For example, ^prod_.*_v\d+$ matches prod_events_v1.

When both Include and Exclude are set, Exclude takes priority.

Leave all filter patterns empty to ingest all dashboards, charts, and data models available in the source.

Filter Options The Dashboard, Chart, and Data Model sections each include the following filter options:

Dashboard: Controls which dashboards OpenMetadata ingests from the source.
Chart: Controls which charts within the ingested dashboards are included.
Data Model: Controls which data models are included in metadata ingestion.

Each section provides the following controls:

Scan Mode: You can choose between the following scan modes:
- Scan all: Ingests every asset of that type the connector can access. This is the default.
- Only specific: Enables include rules so only assets matching at least one rule are ingested.
Always exclude: Add permanent exclusion rules (shown in red). Assets matching these rules are never ingested, regardless of include rules.
Preview: Shows a real-time summary of what will be in scope based on your current rules.
Include rules (available only in Only specific mode): Click + Add to define a rule. Added rules appear as chips; an asset is included if it matches any rule.

Step 6: Create & Deploy

Click Create & Deploy to deploy the agent and start the first metadata ingestion run. OpenMetadata saves the service configuration and immediately begins pulling metadata from the source. To monitor ingestion progress or view the service you just added, go to Settings > Services and select your service.

Configure Metadata Agent and Schedule Ingestion

The Metadata Agent extracts dashboards, charts, data models, and other structural metadata from your source and keeps your OpenMetadata catalog in sync. It powers discovery, lineage, and governance across your data assets. When you click Create & Deploy, OpenMetadata automatically deploys a Metadata Agent for this service and triggers the first ingestion run. View its status and run history from the Agents tab on the service detail page. To configure the additional Metadata Agent and schedule ingestion, follow these steps:

Navigate to Settings > Services and select the service type.
Click the service you have added.
Select the Agents tab and click Add Agent > Metadata. For some services, the dropdown is not available and clicking Add Agent takes you directly to the agent configuration page.

On the Configure Ingestion page, do the following and click Next.

Name this Ingestion: Enter a unique recognizable name for this ingestion pipeline.

Agent Setup: Configure ingestion parameters. The following fields are available:

Field	Default	Description
Db Service Prefixes	—	List of database service name prefixes used to resolve lineage between dashboards and database assets. Accepted formats: `DBService`, `DBService.Database`, `DBService.Database.Schema`, `DBService.Database.Schema.Table`.
Query Parser Type	Auto	Select the SQL parser used for lineage extraction from dashboard queries. Auto selects the best available parser automatically. SqlGlot is a high-performance parser with excellent dialect support; falls back to SqlParse on failure. SqlFluff is a comprehensive parser with strong dialect support; falls back to SqlParse on failure.
Mark Deleted Dashboards	On	Soft-delete dashboards in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated lineage is also deleted.
Mark Deleted Data Models	On	Soft-delete data models in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated lineage is also deleted.
Mark Deleted Charts	On	Soft-delete charts in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source.
Include Data Models	On	Ingest data model metadata.
Include Draft Dashboards	On	Ingest dashboards that are in draft state.
Include Usage	On	Collect and ingest usage statistics for dashboards.

Filter Patterns: Apply include or exclude rules to scope which dashboards, charts, data models, and projects this agent ingests. These follow the same filter options described in Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options.

Scope & Behaviour: Control what metadata to include and how to handle deletions. Toggle each option on or off based on your needs:

Toggle	Default	Description
Enable Debug Log	Off	Sets the ingestion log level to DEBUG. Useful for troubleshooting.
Include Current Owners	Off	When enabled, replaces the current owner with a new owner from the source if the current owner is null. Recommended to keep enabled during the first metadata ingestion to capture owner information.
Include Tags	On	Ingest tags from the source.
Override Metadata	Off	When on, source values overwrite existing descriptions, tags, owners, and display names in OpenMetadata. When off, OpenMetadata only updates fields that have no existing value.
Override Lineage	Off	When on, existing lineage is replaced with newly extracted lineage on each run.

On the Schedule Interval page, set when the agent runs:
- Schedule: Choose a preset interval (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly) or enter a custom cron expression.
- On-Demand: No automatic schedule; trigger the agent manually when needed.
Click Add to deploy the agent.

Lineage

Lineage in OpenMetadata shows you which database tables power each dashboard. When lineage is set up, you can trace any dashboard back to the exact source tables in your database. There is no separate lineage agent or lineage pipeline—lineage is collected as part of the same metadata ingestion workflow. Configuring the Db Service Prefixes field (covered below) is optional but recommended — it restricts table matching to specific database services. If left blank, OpenMetadata attempts to match source tables across all ingested database services.

How to Set Up Lineage

Go to Settings > Services > Dashboards.
Click the dashboard service you’ve added.
Go to the Agents tab, then select Add Agent > Add Metadata Agent. If a metadata agent already exists, select the three-dot context menu (⋮) next to it and select Edit.
In the Configure Ingestion step, scroll down to the Lineage Information section.
Optionally enter one or more database service names in the Db Service Prefixes field to restrict table matching to specific services. If left blank, OpenMetadata searches across all ingested database services.

The Db Service Prefixes field helps OpenMetadata locate the source tables and draw the lineage path from table to dashboard. Examples of valid entries:

What you enter	What it matches
`SnowflakeProd`	All tables in the Snowflake service named `SnowflakeProd`
`SnowflakeProd.sales_db`	Tables in the `sales_db` database within `SnowflakeProd`
`SnowflakeProd.sales_db.public`	Tables in the `public` schema within `sales_db`

If your dashboards pull data from multiple database services, add each service as a separate entry in the Db Service Prefixes field.

Tableau Metadata API requirement

Make sure the Tableau Metadata API is enabled on your Tableau server. OpenMetadata uses this API to find out which database tables each dashboard is built on. Without it, lineage will not be collected.

To enable the Tableau Metadata API, see Enable the Tableau Metadata API for Tableau Server.

Securing Tableau Connection with SSL in OpenMetadata

To establish secure connections between OpenMetadata and Tableau, navigate to the Advanced Config section. Here, you can provide the CA certificate used for SSL validation by specifying the caCertificate. Alternatively, if both client and server require mutual authentication, you’ll need to use all three parameters: ssl_key, ssl_cert, and caCertificate. In this case, ssl_cert is used for the client’s SSL certificate, ssl_key for the private key associated with the SSL certificate, and caCertificate for the CA certificate to validate the server’s certificate.

Usage Workflow

Learn more about how to configure the Usage Workflow to ingest Query information from the UI.

Connectors

Connector

Ingestion

Tableau Connector | OpenMetadata Integration Guide