How to extract data sources and field-level information from Qlik Sense using APIs?

[QlickDev332]

Hi All,

I am trying to extract data source information (DB tables / files / QVDs) and field-level metadata from a Qlik Sense app programmatically using APIs.

I have explored:

• QRS API

• Engine API

• Cloud REST APIs

But I’m not clear on:

1. Which API exposes physical sources (tables, files, QVD paths)

2. How to get fields used in sheets/objects

3. Whether load script parsing is the only way to get accurate lineage

Is there any supported API approach to get this information, or is parsing the load script the recommended solution?

Any guidance or examples would be really helpful.
Thanks in advance.

[marksouzacosta]

Hi @QlickDev332,

You are mixing up a lot of things. First, QRS and Engine APIs are from Qlik Sense on-prem.
Qlik Cloud has its own APIs and for what you are looking for, the Qlik Cloud REST API is the one: https://qlik.dev/apis/rest/

Question 1
What you call "physical source" is called Data sets in Qlik Cloud. The full API to handle those are here:
https://qlik.dev/apis/rest/data-sets/

This is one example of returning a data set fields using Postman

Question 2
This will be quite complex to do by yourself. There are very advanced tools available that will help you with this, such as QSDA Pro: https://easyqlik.com/

Question 3
For lineage, you have Qlik Cloud Lineage feature:  https://help.qlik.com/en-US/cloud-services/Subsystems/Hub/Content/Sense_Hub/Catalog/lineage.htm

There are also Qlik Cloud REST API endpoints available to programmatically access the lineage, but I never really played with them: https://qlik.dev/apis/rest/lineage-graphs/

Final notes

If you only need to know the end result of which tables and fields are loaded in a Qlik Cloud Applications, you can use this endpoint: https://qlik.dev/apis/rest/apps/#get-api-v1-apps-appId-data-metadata 

If you need to parse Load Scripts, I recommend using an LLM such as Claude or ChatGPT. You could submit the Load Script to those LLM's and they will provide you a very precise lineage based on the Load Script.

Finally, Qlik Automate is a tool in Qlik Cloud that works at no-code level with multiple APIs - such as Qlik Cloud REST API. You can do multiple things there without knowing how to program with REST APIs. Is a very powerful Qlik Cloud feature.

You can find multiple Qlik & API related content in the Data Voyagers YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@datavoyagers

Regards,

Mark Costa