Alibaba Cloud DataWorks

Operate Alibaba Cloud DataWorks through dynamic API discovery and official SDKs (Node.js, Python, Java). Covers data development, workflow operations, data integration, data quality, metadata lineage, workspace management, and more. APIs are discovered at runtime from official docs and OpenAPI metadata — no hardcoded list.

DataWorks (dataworks-public)

Use Alibaba Cloud OpenAPI (RPC) with official SDKs or OpenAPI Explorer to manage all DataWorks resources. MCP Server is available as an alternative integration.

Workflow

1. Confirm region, project/resource identifiers, and desired action.
2. Discover available APIs and required parameters (see API discovery below).
3. Call API via SDK.
4. Verify results with describe/list/get APIs.

Troubleshooting fallback chain (follow this order)

If execution fails at any step, escalate to the next level:

1. Official help docs — read the API overview and per-API doc pages first.
2. OpenAPI metadata — fetch the raw JSON spec for exact parameter names, types, and required fields.
3. SDK API docs — check the typed SDK reference for correct method signatures and request classes.

• Java: https://aliyunsdk-pages.alicdn.com/apidocs/{PRODUCT_CODE}/{API_VERSION}/java-async-tea/8.0.3/index.html
• Node.js / Python: see references/sources.md

4. GitHub source code — read the Java SDK source for model/request class definitions: https://github.com/aliyun/alibabacloud-java-sdk/tree/master/dataworks-public-20240518 (browse src/main/java/com/aliyun/dataworks_public20240518/ for request/response models).
5. MCP Server — use the MCP Server to call APIs directly (see references/mcp_server.md).
6. Browser — use browser-use to visit the DataWorks Homepage (https://dataworks.data.aliyun.com/${ALICLOUD_REGION_ID}/#/index) and inspect the UI behavior, network requests, or page content for clues.

AccessKey priority (must follow)

1. Environment variables: ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID / ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET / ALICLOUD_REGION_ID Region policy: ALICLOUD_REGION_ID is an optional default. If unset, decide the most reasonable region for the task; if unclear, ask the user.
2. Shared config file: ~/.alibabacloud/credentials

API discovery

Constants (use these values throughout):

• PRODUCT_CODE: dataworks-public
• API_VERSION: 2024-05-18
• Use OpenAPI metadata endpoints to list APIs and get schemas (see references).

Do NOT rely on a hardcoded API list. Always discover APIs dynamically. Methods are listed in priority order — try them top-down:

Method 1: Fetch from official help docs

Run the discovery script to curl the official documentation page and extract the complete API overview:

bash

python scripts/fetch_api_overview.py

This fetches https://help.aliyun.com/zh/dataworks/developer-reference/api-{PRODUCT_CODE}-{API_VERSION}-overview, extracts the API list from window.__ICE_PAGE_PROPS__.docDetailData.storeData.data.content, and parses the HTML tables into a grouped API overview.

Method 2: Fetch from OpenAPI metadata (full spec with parameters and responses)

Fetch raw API schemas and parameter definitions:

bash

python scripts/list_openapi_meta_apis.py

This calls https://next.api.aliyun.com/meta/v1/products/{PRODUCT_CODE}/versions/{API_VERSION}/api-docs.json and outputs the full API docs JSON and a summary list.

To get the schema of a single API (replace {ApiName} with a name from the list above, e.g. ListProjects):

text

https://next.api.aliyun.com/meta/v1/products/{PRODUCT_CODE}/versions/{API_VERSION}/apis/{ApiName}/api.json

Method 3: MCP Server tools (curated subset with category and parameter-position metadata)

If the MCP Server is running, use the MCP tools/list capability, or fetch https://dataworks.data.aliyun.com/pop-mcp-tools directly for the tool catalog JSON. Includes some APIs not in Method 2 (e.g. data service, permission approval).

Calling APIs via SDK

Prefer the official Alibaba Cloud SDK. Two styles are supported:

Style 1: Generalized call (recommended, covers all APIs)

Use @alicloud/openapi-client to call any DataWorks API without importing product-specific SDK classes. This is the approach used by the MCP Server source code (src/tools/callTool.ts).

bash

npm install @alicloud/openapi-client @alicloud/openapi-util @alicloud/tea-util @alicloud/credentials

typescript

import OpenApi from "@alicloud/openapi-client";
import Util from "@alicloud/tea-util";

// 1. Create client
const config = new OpenApi.Config({
  accessKeyId: process.env.ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID,
  accessKeySecret: process.env.ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET,
  endpoint: `dataworks.${
    process.env.ALICLOUD_REGION_ID || "cn-shanghai"
  }.aliyuncs.com`,
});
const client = new OpenApi.default(config);

// 2. Build request params (RPC style)
const params = new OpenApi.Params({
  style: "RPC",
  action: "ListProjects", // API name
  version: "{API_VERSION}", // see Constants above
  protocol: "HTTPS",
  method: "POST", // GET or POST per API spec
  authType: "AK",
  pathname: "/",
  bodyType: "json",
});

// 3. Build query/body from input
const query = { PageNumber: 1, PageSize: 10 };
const request = new OpenApi.OpenApiRequest({ query });
const runtime = new Util.RuntimeOptions({});

// 4. Call
const res = await client.callApi(params, request, runtime);
console.log(res.body);

Key rules from src/tools/callTool.ts:

• style: 'RPC' when API has no path; 'ROA' when it has a path.
• method: per API spec (GET / POST / PUT / DELETE).
• Parameters with in: 'query' go to query; in: 'body' / in: 'formData' go to body.
• For GET / DELETE requests, body must be null (otherwise signature fails).
• Use bodyType: 'string' to avoid precision loss on large numbers.

Style 2: Product-specific SDK (typed, per-API methods)

bash

npm install @alicloud/dataworks-public20240518

typescript

import DataWorks from "@alicloud/dataworks-public20240518";
import * as DataWorksClasses from "@alicloud/dataworks-public20240518";
import OpenApi from "@alicloud/openapi-client";

const config = new OpenApi.Config({
  accessKeyId: process.env.ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID,
  accessKeySecret: process.env.ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET,
  endpoint: `dataworks.cn-shanghai.aliyuncs.com`,
});
const client = new DataWorks.default(config);

// Each API has a typed Request class and a method
const request = new DataWorksClasses.ListProjectsRequest({
  pageNumber: 1,
  pageSize: 10,
});
const runtime = new Util.RuntimeOptions({});
const resp = await client.listProjectsWithOptions(request, runtime);

API name → SDK method: ListProjects → client.listProjectsWithOptions(request, runtime).

Python SDK

bash

pip install alibabacloud_dataworks_public20240518

python

import os
from alibabacloud_dataworks_public20240518.client import Client
from alibabacloud_dataworks_public20240518 import models
from alibabacloud_tea_openapi.models import Config

config = Config(
    access_key_id=os.environ['ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID'],
    access_key_secret=os.environ['ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET'],
    endpoint=f"dataworks.{os.environ.get('ALICLOUD_REGION_ID', 'cn-shanghai')}.aliyuncs.com",
)
client = Client(config)
request = models.ListProjectsRequest(page_number=1, page_size=10)
resp = client.list_projects(request)
print(resp.body)

Java SDK

xml

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.aliyun</groupId>
    <artifactId>alibabacloud-dataworks_public20240518</artifactId>
    <version>8.0.3</version>
</dependency>

java

import com.aliyun.dataworks_public20240518.Client;
import com.aliyun.dataworks_public20240518.models.*;
import com.aliyun.teaopenapi.models.Config;

Config config = new Config()
    .setAccessKeyId(System.getenv("ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID"))
    .setAccessKeySecret(System.getenv("ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET"))
    .setEndpoint("dataworks." + System.getenv("ALICLOUD_REGION_ID") + ".aliyuncs.com");
Client client = new Client(config);

ListProjectsRequest request = new ListProjectsRequest()
    .setPageNumber(1L)
    .setPageSize(10L);
ListProjectsResponse resp = client.listProjects(request);
System.out.println(resp.getBody());

Java SDK API docs: https://aliyunsdk-pages.alicdn.com/apidocs/{PRODUCT_CODE}/{API_VERSION}/java-async-tea/8.0.3/index.html

MCP Server integration (last resort)

Only use MCP when SDK calls keep failing after consulting docs, metadata, and GitHub source:

bash

npm install -g alibabacloud-dataworks-mcp-server

See references/mcp_server.md for full configuration.

API categories

Category	Description	Example APIs
认证文件管理	Certificate management	Import/Get/List/DeleteCertificate
空间管理	Workspace, roles, members	*Project, *ProjectMember, *ProjectRole
数据源	Data source CRUD and connectivity test	*DataSource, *DataSourceSharedRule
计算资源	Compute resource management	*ComputeResource
资源组管理	Resource groups, routes, networks	*ResourceGroup, *Route, *Network
数据开发（新版）	Nodes, workflows, resources, functions, pipelines	*Node, *WorkflowDefinition, *Resource, *Function, *PipelineRun
数据开发（旧版）	Files, folders, business flows, deployments	*File, *Folder, *Business, *DeploymentPackage
数据集成	DI sync jobs and alarm rules	*DIJob, *DIAlarmRule
数据地图	Catalogs, databases, tables, columns, lineage, datasets, meta collections	*Catalog, *Table, *Column, *Lineage*, *Dataset*, *MetaCollection
运维中心	Alerts, tasks, task instances, workflows, workflow instances	*AlertRule, *Task, *TaskInstance*, *Workflow, *WorkflowInstance*
数据质量	Quality templates, scans, alert rules, scan runs	*DataQualityTemplate, *DataQualityScan, *DataQualityAlertRule
安全中心	Identity credentials	CreateIdentifyCredential
标签管理	Data asset tags	*DataAssetTag, TagDataAssets, UnTagDataAssets
开放平台	Async job status	GetJobStatus

Use dynamic discovery (above) to get the full list and parameter schemas. Common naming patterns:

1. Inventory/list: prefer List* / Get* / Describe* APIs.
2. Create/configure: prefer Create* / Update* / Import* APIs.
3. Remove: prefer Delete* / Remove* APIs.
4. Lifecycle: prefer Start* / Stop* / Suspend* / Resume* / Rerun* APIs.

Destructive operation policy

Before executing delete, stop, or suspend operations, always summarize the affected resources and confirm with the user.

Timestamp handling

DataWorks APIs use millisecond timestamps. Convert between human-readable dates and timestamps as needed.

Selection questions (ask when unclear)

1. Which DataWorks project (project ID or name)?
2. Which region? (common: cn-shanghai, cn-beijing, cn-hangzhou, cn-shenzhen)
3. What type of operation? (data development / operations / data quality / metadata / workspace)
4. For task operations: target node ID, workflow, or instance ID?

References

• MCP Server integration: references/mcp_server.md
• Sources: references/sources.md