Antichaos

Data Visualisation, Tableau & Data Services

API

Tableau REST API Connector: Add Live Web Data to Your Dashboards

by Johan de Groot

With Tableau 2026.1, a major new feature has arrived. You can now bring fresh, live data from web services directly into your dashboards – no scripts, no intermediate databases, and no manual imports required.

Few steps from Connector to Dashboard

Whether you want to monitor the latest sales from your CRM, track website visits in near real-time, or display the current weather for operational planning, the REST API Connector makes it simple to integrate external data into Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud.

This feature is particularly useful for analysts who need near‑real‑time operational data (CRM updates, event logs, weather, IoT signals) without traditional ETL workflows.

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The Tableau VizQL Data Service: What It Is, What It Can Do, and When to Use It

by Johan de Groot

When people think of Tableau, they usually picture dashboards, visualizations, and drag-and-drop analytics. In this traditional setup, users explore data by interacting with dashboards: charts, filters, tooltips, etc. But what if you don’t need the visuals at all—just the data behind them, with all the same calculations, filters, and logic already applied?

VDS: Data instead of Dashboard

That’s where the VizQL Data Service (VDS) comes in.
Rather than returning charts and visuals, it taps into Tableau’s VizQL engine to give you just the data behind any published view.. Instead of clicking through a dashboard, you can get the same data directly—like a spreadsheet or text file—by sending a simple request from another app or script.

In this post, we’ll explore what the VizQL Data Service is, what you can do with it, and how it fits into the broader Tableau ecosystem. A hands-on example is coming soon in a follow-up article!

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