OAuth
Tableau Cloud
Hosted Tableau MCP
https://mcp.tableau.com is Tableau's hosted version of Tableau MCP. Tableau Cloud users can connect
their agents to this URL without any additional configuration.
All Tableau auth modes are site scoped. If you are a multi-site user, and you have connected an MCP client to the hosted Tableau MCP server, you must disconnect, then reconnect to your target site.
Known Issues
Issue 1: First-time connection lands on the wrong site
- Problem: When a multi-site user connects to Tableau MCP for the first time, the OAuth flow may send them to the wrong site.
- Workaround: Sign out of Tableau Cloud, sign in to the target site, then trigger the Tableau MCP OAuth flow again.
Issue 2: Reconnecting does not re-trigger the OAuth flow
- Problem: After a user has already connected to the hosted Tableau MCP server, disconnecting and reconnecting may not trigger the OAuth flow again.
- Workaround: Sign out of Tableau Cloud, then trigger the Tableau MCP OAuth flow again. If the issue persists, clear your browser cookies and try again.
Issue 3: Multiple configured servers — a tool call may target the wrong server
- Problem: When more than one Tableau MCP server is configured, the AI client may send a tool call to a different server than you intended, producing unintended or erroneous behavior. The outcome varies: the call may still succeed against the wrong server and return another site's data (for example, "list datasources" silently lists a different server's datasources); a search may run against the wrong server, find nothing, and read as a false negative; or, if the targeted server is not authenticated, it may return a
401that the AI summarizes as a vague "feature not configured" message. A401is only one of several possible outcomes, not the defining one. - Workaround: Name each server distinctly, confirm which server answered before trusting results, and read the raw error. See Running Multiple Servers & Diagnosing Auth Errors.
Self-hosted Tableau MCP
Tableau Cloud customers can self-host Tableau MCP. A full guide can be found at Tableau MCP Deployment Guide for Tableau Cloud Customers.
Local Tableau MCP
Users running Tableau MCP locally can provide the following environment variables to enable OAuth:
# The Tableau Cloud pod URL your site is on e.g. https://prod-uswest-c.online.tableau.com
SERVER=https://[prod-my-pod].online.tableau.com
# Tableau's authorization server used to issue access tokens
OAUTH_ISSUER=https://sso.online.tableau.com
# Configures issued access tokens to contain the necessary Tableau API scopes
ADVERTISE_API_SCOPES=true
# Configures Tableau MCP to use the Tableau authZ server, not its embedded authZ server
# which is reserved for Tableau Server users
OAUTH_EMBEDDED_AUTHZ_SERVER=false
Tableau Server
Tableau Server must be version 2025.3 or newer.
See Enabling OAuth (Tableau Server) for full details on configuring OAuth.