With Tableau enforcing the MFA logins for Tableau Cloud, it’s important to switch to another method of authentication when you have scripts that interact with your Tableau Cloud instance.
The recommended method is creating a Personal Access Token (PAT), here’s how to do it:
Step 1 Edit your account settings
Login to Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server, click on your profile icon (top right corner) and choose My Account Settings
Step 2 Create your PAT
Scroll down to the Personal Access Token area, enter a new Token Name and click the Create Token button
Step 3 Copy the details NOW!
As the warning says – this is the ONLY time you will see the secret value, please ensure you copy it from here and paste it to a secure location BEFORE you click the Done button.
You will need both the Token Name and Secret to authenticate your session in your code.
Don’t worry, I never really name my tokens PAT_NAME
PATs are great when you need to write code that you want to automate (eg a data source that gets refreshed every day/hour/whatever), but remember on Tableau Cloud the PATs will expire and simply disappear. Please create a reminder to refresh your PATs every 4-6 months (just in case)