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Publish Data Source

Publishes an existing .tds or .tdsx directly to Tableau Cloud or Server through the Publish Data Source REST API. The tool uploads the file in chunks, then commits it to the target project. Preparing or exporting the datasource file is a separate step; this tool does not embed connection credentials or reconnect a workbook to the published source.

The minimum site role is Explorer (Can Publish); Tableau publish and overwrite permissions apply. The MCP scope is tableau:mcp:datasource:create; publication uses tableau:datasources:create and tableau:file_uploads:create.

Arguments​

  • name: the published datasource name.
  • projectId: destination project LUID. Use List Projects to find it.
  • Exactly one of datasourceFilePath or datasourceUploadId. datasourceUploadId comes from Request Data Source Upload. datasourceFilePath is a path on the MCP server and is accepted only when the server runs over stdio and MCP_S3_BUCKET is unset.
  • overwrite: defaults to false. Set true to replace a same-name datasource in the project.

Project bounds apply before file access or upload, including on overwrite. Datasource-ID and tag bounds constrain queries/listings and do not restrict replacement of a same-name datasource within an allowed project. Tableau permissions still govern the mutation.

Local paths are accepted only when the MCP server runs over stdio, and use the server process's filesystem permissions. Don't put a stdio server behind a stdio-to-HTTP proxy: it still counts as stdio, so remote callers could read files on the server. HTTP servers must use staged S3 uploads instead. Staged uploads retain the 5 GB (5000000000 bytes) limit. Files are buffered in server memory before uploading to Tableau. See Data source publishing for the input and project bounds.

Example​

{
  "name": "Sales",
  "projectId": "cbec32db-a4a2-4308-b5f0-4fc67322f359",
  "datasourceFilePath": "/path/to/Sales.tdsx",
  "overwrite": false
}

Result​

On success, status is published, data contains the parsed datasource response, and url is the returned webpageUrl (or an empty string if Tableau omits it). Tableau validates the datasource as part of publishing; rejected publications return an error.