Request Overrides

Tableau MCP supports overriding certain configuration variables on a per-request basis via an HTTP header. This allows MCP clients to adjust server behavior for individual requests without changing the server's environment variables or site settings.

Request overrides are only available when using the HTTP transport.

Enabling Request Overrides

Request overriding is disabled by default. To enable it, the Tableau MCP server must specify which variables are allowed to be overridden and their restriction type using the ALLOWED_REQUEST_OVERRIDES variable.

ALLOWED_REQUEST_OVERRIDES

A comma-separated list of allowed request overridable variables and their restriction type. This variable can be configured on a per-site basis when ALLOW_SITES_TO_CONFIGURE_REQUEST_OVERRIDES is true.

• Default: Empty string (request overriding is disabled)
• Use * to target all request overridable variables (when used, * must be specified first in comma-separated list).
• If a restriction type is not specified, the request override variable will be restricted by default.

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Examples

1. ALLOWED_REQUEST_OVERRIDES=INCLUDE_DATASOURCE_IDS,INCLUDE_WORKBOOK_IDS:unrestricted

2. ALLOWED_REQUEST_OVERRIDES=*:unrestricted,MAX_RESULT_LIMIT:restricted,MAX_RESULT_LIMITS:restricted

3. ALLOWED_REQUEST_OVERRIDES=*

Result in the following:

1. only INCLUDE_DATASOURCE_IDS (restricted) and INCLUDE_WORKBOOK_IDS (unrestricted) are allowed as request overrides.
2. all request overrides are allowed and unrestricted, except for MAX_RESULT_LIMIT and MAX_RESULT_LIMITS which are restricted.
3. all request overrides are allowed and restricted.

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ALLOW_SITES_TO_CONFIGURE_REQUEST_OVERRIDES

When true, sites can specify their own set of ALLOWED_REQUEST_OVERRIDES, see Site Settings.

• Default: false
• When false, sites can not specify their own set of ALLOWED_REQUEST_OVERRIDES.

Restriction Types

Each allowed request override variable has a restriction type that determines what values are permitted as overrides.

restricted

When a variable is restricted, request overrides can only narrow or maintain the current configuration. They cannot expand access or remove limits.

unrestricted

When a variable is unrestricted, request overrides can set any valid value, including values that expand beyond the current configuration or clear existing limits.

Providing Request Overrides

When making a tool call request, overrides can be specified using the x-tableau-mcp-config HTTP header. The header value is a string of key-value pairs separated by &.

x-tableau-mcp-config: INCLUDE_TAGS=sales,marketing&MAX_RESULT_LIMIT=50

• Each key must be a request overridable variable.
• Each key must have a value (the = sign is required). An empty value (e.g. MAX_RESULT_LIMIT=) is valid and is used to override a variable to its default value.
• Any unrecognized keys or invalid override values will cause the request to fail with an error.

Request Overridable Variables

The following variables can be overriden on a per-request basis. Each variable has different behavior depending on whether it is restricted or unrestricted.

INCLUDE_PROJECT_IDS

Overrides which project IDs constrain tool arguments and results.

Restriction Type	Behavior
restricted	If there are any current bounds set, the override value must be a subset of the current bounds. Cannot clear existing bounds.
unrestricted	Override value can be any valid set of project IDs, including values not in the current bounds. Can clear existing bounds with an empty value.

INCLUDE_DATASOURCE_IDS

Overrides which data source IDs constrain tool arguments and results.

Restriction Type	Behavior
restricted	If there are any current bounds set, the override value must be a subset of the current bounds. Cannot clear existing bounds.
unrestricted	Override value can be any valid set of data source IDs, including values not in the current bounds. Can clear existing bounds with an empty value.

INCLUDE_WORKBOOK_IDS

Overrides which workbook IDs constrain tool arguments and results.

Restriction Type	Behavior
restricted	If there are any current bounds set, the override value must be a subset of the current bounds. Cannot clear existing bounds.
unrestricted	Override value can be any valid set of workbook IDs, including values not in the current bounds. Can clear existing bounds with an empty value.

INCLUDE_VIEW_IDS

Overrides which view IDs constrain tool arguments and results.

Restriction Type	Behavior
restricted	If there are any current bounds set, the override value must be a subset of the current bounds. Cannot clear existing bounds.
unrestricted	Override value can be any valid set of view IDs, including values not in the current bounds. Can clear existing bounds with an empty value.

INCLUDE_TAGS

Overrides which tags constrain tool arguments and results.

Restriction Type	Behavior
restricted	If there are any current bounds set, the override value must be a subset of the current bounds. Cannot clear existing bounds.
unrestricted	Override value can be any valid set of tags, including values not in the current bounds. Can clear existing bounds with an empty value.

MAX_RESULT_LIMIT

Overrides the global maximum number of results for tools with a limit parameter.

Restriction Type	Behavior
restricted	Override value must be less than or equal to the current limit. Cannot clear existing limit.
unrestricted	Override value can be any positive number. Can clear existing limit with an empty value.

MAX_RESULT_LIMITS

Overrides per-tool maximum result limits.

Restriction Type	Behavior
restricted	For tools that currently have a limit, the override value must be less than or equal to the current tool-specific limit. New tools added in the override must have a limit less than or equal to the MAX_RESULT_LIMIT value (which may have its own override value).
unrestricted	Override value can set any valid per-tool limits (either a positive number, or * for unbounded results). Can clear all per-tool limits with an empty value.

DISABLE_QUERY_DATASOURCE_VALIDATION_REQUESTS

Overrides whether query validation requests are disabled.

Restriction Type	Behavior
restricted	Can only be overridden to true.
unrestricted	Can be overridden to true or false.

DISABLE_METADATA_API_REQUESTS

Overrides whether Metadata API requests are disabled.

Restriction Type	Behavior
restricted	Can only be overridden to true.
unrestricted	Can be overridden to true or false.

Override Hierarchy

Request overrides are applied on top of site overrides and environment variables in the following order of precedence (highest to lowest):

1. Request overrides (per-request, via x-tableau-mcp-config header)
2. Site overrides (per-site, via REST API, see Site Settings)
3. Environment variables (server-wide)

For example, if the environment sets MAX_RESULT_LIMIT=100, a site override sets it to 50, and a request override sets it to 25, the effective value for that request is 25.