List Flows

Retrieves a list of Tableau Prep flows on a site.

APIs called

• Query Flows for Site

Required Tableau API scopes

When the MCP server authenticates with OAuth (connected-app JWT), this tool requests:

• tableau:flows:read
• tableau:mcp_site_settings:read

Note that flows use the dedicated tableau:flows:read scope, not the tableau:content:read scope used by workbooks, data sources, and views. See OAuth configuration for how scopes are negotiated.

Optional arguments

filter

A filter expression in the format field:operator:value. Multiple expressions are combined with a comma using a logical AND.

Supported fields and operators. This list mirrors the official Filtering and Sorting reference for the Flows endpoint. The Tableau Flows endpoint accepts a narrower filter-field set than other content endpoints — ownerEmail, ownerDomain, and tags are not supported and will be rejected by the server.

Field	Operators	Notes
createdAt	eq, gt, gte, lt, lte	ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ or date-only YYYY-MM-DD (auto-promoted to midnight)
name	eq, in	Flow name (case-sensitive — pass exact case; whitespace-sensitive)
ownerName	eq	Matches user.fullName (display name), NOT login/email. See "ownerName" below.
projectId	eq	Project UUID
projectName	eq, in	Project name (case-sensitive — pass exact case; whitespace-sensitive)
updatedAt	eq, gt, gte, lt, lte	ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ or date-only YYYY-MM-DD (auto-promoted to midnight)

Examples:

• name:eq:DailySalesCleanup
• projectId:eq:6f8a2966-e173-11e8-ae74-ffd84c19d7f3

Caller-role visibility (important for sizing the response)

The set of flows Tableau returns depends on the caller's role on the site:

• Non-admin callers — Tableau returns only flows the caller has Read (view) permission for. On shared sites this is still typically many more flows than the user owns, so an unfiltered call is rarely "just my flows".
• Server / site-admin callers — Tableau returns every flow on the site regardless of permissions; the permission filter does not apply. On large enterprise sites this can be thousands of flows, so mcp.resultInfo.truncated is much more likely to come back true on the first call.

In both cases, scope down with ownerName (matched against fullName only — not email/login/UUID), projectId (UUID), projectName, or a date-range createdAt / updatedAt filter when the user's intent is narrower than "every flow visible to me on this site".

Filter value semantics (important)

Several filter fields have non-obvious value contracts that the official spec under-specifies or contradicts. The findings below were verified live against Tableau REST 3.30. When this tool detects a likely shape-mismatch on an empty result, the response includes a structured empty-result hint so the LLM can self-correct rather than reporting a misleading zero.

ownerName — matches display name only

Matches against user.fullName (display name) only. It does not match login (user.name, often an email on federated sites) or user id. The Flows endpoint does not currently expose ownerEmail, ownerDomain, or ownerId filter fields, so ownerName is the only owner-based filter available.

ownerName:eq:Jane Doe                                   # ✅ matches by display name
ownerName:eq:jane.doe@example.com                       # ❌ silently returns 0 flows
ownerName:eq:711e59cf-d1c0-446e-be48-3673ae067f7b       # ❌ silently returns 0 flows

If the supplied value looks like a login (no whitespace), email (contains @), or user id (canonical UUID shape) and the response is empty, the tool returns a recovery hint suggesting either a Users REST API lookup or re-listing without the filter to inspect owner.fullName.

projectId — must be a UUID

Must be the project's UUID (canonical 8-4-4-4-12 hex form). Any other value (including a project name) silently returns 0 results.

projectId:eq:6f8a2966-e173-11e8-ae74-ffd84c19d7f3   # ✅ matches the named project
projectId:eq:Finance                                # ❌ silently returns 0 flows
projectId:eq:not-a-uuid                             # ❌ silently returns 0 flows

If the supplied value is not in canonical UUID shape and the response is empty, the tool returns a recovery hint suggesting projectName:eq:<name> or a Projects REST API lookup.

name, projectName — case-sensitive and whitespace-sensitive

Per the official Tableau REST API spec, values are case-sensitive — pass the exact name as it appears in Tableau (e.g. Superstore Flow, not superstore flow). Leading and trailing whitespace are also significant: Sales Cleanup (with a leading space) silently returns 0 results. Always pass the exact, trimmed name.

Some Tableau versions are observed to match leniently in practice, but don't rely on it — passing exact case and trimmed whitespace is portable across all versions.

createdAt, updatedAt — ISO 8601 with Z suffix, or date-only

Two accepted forms:

1. Full ISO 8601 with the Z UTC suffix, e.g. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z.
2. Date-only YYYY-MM-DD, e.g. 2025-01-01 — auto-promoted to midnight UTC (2025-01-01T00:00:00Z) before being sent to Tableau. Use this when the user spoke about a calendar day with no time-of-day ("flows updated before Nov 20").

Other shapes — locale-style MM/DD/YYYY (ambiguous across locales), no-timezone (2025-01-01T00:00:00), and offset-style (2025-01-01T00:00:00+00:00) — are rejected client-side. The Tableau server itself also accepts +00:00-style offsets, but the tool pins Z to keep the contract small and the validation message unambiguous.

createdAt:gt:2025-01-01T00:00:00Z       # ✅ canonical
createdAt:gt:2025-01-01                 # ✅ auto-promoted to 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z
createdAt:gt:2025-01-01T00:00:00        # ❌ tool rejects (no timezone)
createdAt:gt:2025-01-01T00:00:00+00:00  # ❌ tool rejects (offset, not Z)
createdAt:gt:01/01/2025                 # ❌ tool rejects (locale-ambiguous)

name, projectName with in: — bracket-and-comma form

Multi-value lists use the form name:in:[Foo,Bar], where commas separate the items. Items are not quoted, so a single item's value cannot itself contain a comma — every comma is read as an item separator (a Tableau filter-language limitation, not a tool one).

---

sort

A sort expression in the format field:asc or field:desc. Combinable with filter.

Example: createdAt:desc

---

pageSize

The value of the page-size argument provided to the Query Flows for Site REST API. The tool automatically performs pagination and will repeatedly call the REST API until either all flows are retrieved or the limit argument has been reached.

Example: 1000

---

limit

The maximum number of flows to return. The tool will return at most this many flows.

Example: 2000

See also: MAX_RESULT_LIMIT

Response-size guidance

This tool returns one record per flow including project, owner, tags, and parameters. On shared sites the visible flow count can easily reach hundreds, so the tool description steers the LLM toward the narrowest call that answers the user's question:

• Targeted lookups ("does flow X exist?", "who owns flow Y?") — always pass filter and a small limit (e.g. 5).
• Scoped exploration ("flows in the Finance project") — pass filter (projectId or projectName) plus a moderate limit (e.g. 25–50).
• Broad analytics ("how many flows per project?") — pass a moderate limit (e.g. 100) and paginate further only when explicitly asked.
• Only call without limit when the user explicitly requests a complete or exhaustive listing.

Site administrators can also impose a hard cap with MAX_RESULT_LIMITS=list-flows:N, which always wins over the LLM-supplied limit.

Response shape

The tool returns a JSON object:

{
  "flows": [
    /* one record per flow, see "Example result" below */
  ],
  "mcp": {
    "resultInfo": {
      "returnedCount": 12,
      "truncated": false,
      "totalAvailable": 12
    }
  }
}

The top-level flows array and mcp.resultInfo are always present. resultInfo reports whether the returned list is complete, so the answer never depends on the absence of a signal:

• returnedCount — the number of flows in flows.
• truncated — false means flows is the complete set matching the request (every flow the caller can see, subject to any filter); true means more matching flows exist on the server than were returned.
• truncationReason — present only when truncated is true:
  • "requested-limit" — the caller's own limit argument cut the result short. Call again with a higher limit (or omit it) to fetch more.
  • "admin-cap" — a site-administrator per-call cap (MAX_RESULT_LIMIT or MAX_RESULT_LIMITS=list-flows:N) cut the result short, and the caller did not request an equal-or-smaller limit itself. The limit argument cannot raise the cap, so narrow the filter until the matching set fits, or ask the administrator to raise the cap.
• totalAvailable — the total number of flows matching the request on the server (across all pages, ignoring limit). Present only when no server-side allow-list (INCLUDE_PROJECT_IDS / INCLUDE_TAGS) is configured — that count is taken before the tool's allow-list filtering, so under a bounded context it would overstate the accessible total and is therefore omitted rather than risk a misleading "N of M". When present and truncated is true, use it to report "N of M" (e.g. "showing 100 of 430").

When truncated is true, do not report returnedCount as the total. If totalAvailable is present, report "N of M" (e.g. "showing 100 of 430"); otherwise say "at least N". A truncated example:

{
  "flows": [
    /* the first 100 matching flows */
  ],
  "mcp": {
    "resultInfo": {
      "returnedCount": 100,
      "truncated": true,
      "truncationReason": "admin-cap",
      "totalAvailable": 430
    }
  }
}

:::tip For client / LLM authors mcp.resultInfo is a signal for the model, not text to show the user. Translate it into one plain sentence — "These are all 12 flows matching your request" or "Here are the first 100 of 430; more match" — and never surface the field names (or the absence of a warning) to the end user. :::

Example result

{
  "flows": [
    {
      "id": "d00700fe-28a0-4ece-a7af-5543ddf38a82",
      "name": "Sales Cleanup",
      "description": "Cleans up the daily sales feed",
      "webpageUrl": "https://10ax.online.tableau.com/#/site/mcp-test/flows/3",
      "fileType": "tflx",
      "createdAt": "2024-11-06T04:57:55Z",
      "updatedAt": "2024-11-06T21:31:00Z",
      "project": {
        "id": "6f8a2966-e173-11e8-ae74-ffd84c19d7f3",
        "name": "Default",
        "description": "The default project that was automatically created by Tableau."
      },
      "owner": {
        "id": "711e59cf-d1c0-446e-be48-3673ae067f7b",
        "name": "jane.doe@example.com",
        "fullName": "Jane Doe",
        "email": "jane.doe@example.com",
        "siteRole": "Creator"
      },
      "tags": { "tag": [{ "label": "sales" }] }
    }
  ]
}

The project and owner objects above include all fields that Tableau Server / Cloud is observed to return. The official spec only documents id (and name on project); the additional fields are captured opportunistically as optional properties and may be absent on older versions or for users without visibility into the owner's profile.