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Run Flow

Runs a Tableau Prep flow on demand ("Run Now") through a required two-phase confirmation. The preview describes the run without enqueuing it. The confirmed call enqueues a flow run and returns immediately with an async job — the run is not finished when the tool returns. The flow executes its output steps (all of them unless outputStepIds is given), writing to its configured outputs.

To run an existing schedule now instead, use Run Flow Task. To only inspect a flow or its runs, use Get Flow / List Flow Runs.

:::warning This tool changes server state A confirmed run consumes warehouse + Tableau Prep Conductor capacity and overwrites the flow's outputs. It is not idempotent — each confirmed call enqueues another run. It is one of the content-mutating flow tools and is only registered when FLOW_TOOLS_ENABLED=true, FLOW_WRITE_TOOLS_ENABLED=true, and the flow-tools feature flag are enabled. :::

APIs called​

Required Tableau API scopes​

  • tableau:flows:run
  • tableau:flows:read (only used to verify the flow under an INCLUDE_PROJECT_IDS / INCLUDE_TAGS bounded context)
  • tableau:mcp_site_settings:read

The tableau:flows:run scope was added in Tableau Cloud December 2025 / Server 2025.3.

Requirements​

  • Requires Tableau REST API version 3.14 or later. Older Tableau Server versions use a legacy Run Flow request shape that this MCP tool does not send, so the tool refuses instead of risking silently ignored run options or unintended output steps.
  • Requires Data Management with Tableau Prep Conductor, and the site's Run Now setting must be enabled.
  • Caller-role: in addition to admins/project leaders, the flow owner and users granted Run Flow / Execute permission can run a flow. Non-permitted callers receive a clear permission error.

Required arguments​

flowId​

The id of the flow to run. Sent in both the request URI and the request body (Tableau requires both).

Confirmation​

The tool is two-phase:

  1. Preview — omit confirm or set it to false. The tool checks the requested run and bounded-context eligibility, starts no run, and returns a single-use confirmationToken.
  2. Run — set confirm: true and pass the token from the matching preview. The server verifies and consumes the token before enqueuing the run.

Present the preview to the user and get explicit approval before calling the tool with confirm: true. The token is bound to the flow id, run mode, output steps, and parameter overrides, so changing any of those values requires a new preview.

Optional arguments​

runMode​

full (default) or incremental. Incremental only works if the flow's input steps are configured for incremental refresh.

outputStepIds​

Run only these output steps (ids from Get Flow). If provided, the list must contain at least one id. Omit it to run every output step.

parameterOverrides​

Array of { parameterId, overrideValue } for flows that use parameters. Required parameters must be supplied. Use Get Flow to discover parameter ids and whether they are required.

confirm​

Set to true only after the user approves the preview. Omit it or set it to false to preview.

confirmationToken​

The single-use token returned by the matching preview. Required when confirm is true.

Bounded context (fail-closed)​

When the server is restricted to an INCLUDE_PROJECT_IDS / INCLUDE_TAGS bounded context, the tool verifies the target flow is in the allowed set (via the flow's project/tags) before enqueuing the run, and refuses otherwise.

Response​

A preview returns instructions and a single-use confirmation token. A confirmed call returns an object { job, mcp: { runStatus } }:

  • job.id — the background job id.
  • job.runFlowJobType.flowRunId — the flow run id.
  • mcp.runStatus — a reminder that the run is asynchronous.

The run is asynchronous: report it as started/queued, then poll List Flow Runs (filter flowId:eq:<id>) or Get Flow (flowRunLimit: 1) for the outcome.

Example result​

{
  "job": {
    "id": "57a8d2f6-899c-4c0f-9b25-fe0d007c5ad0",
    "mode": "Asynchronous",
    "type": "RunFlow",
    "createdAt": "2026-06-26T19:14:08Z",
    "runFlowJobType": {
      "flowRunId": "34b9f6d3-222a-2f2f-6a22-dd2f228a6ff2",
      "flow": {
        "id": "d00700fe-28a0-4ece-a7af-5543ddf38a82",
        "name": "SQLServerUserNamePassword Good"
      }
    }
  },
  "mcp": {
    "runStatus": "The flow run has been queued and is running asynchronously. Use list-flow-runs or get-flow to check its status."
  }
}