[SIP-238] Extension APIs for exporting chart and dashboard data (Google Sheets export) #46015

[SIP] Proposal for extension APIs to export chart and dashboard data

Note: This is an approved feature as a part of the UTSC 2026 Fall batch - Slack Work Item

Status: in progress. The core changes are open as #45991 (backend) and #46014 (frontend). The first extension built on them, chart export to Google Sheets, is in review at orion222/superset-google-sheets. Dashboard export is next.

Motivation

Business users often want the numbers behind a chart or dashboard in a spreadsheet, to annotate, model or share them. Today that takes an Export to .CSV or Excel download followed by a manual upload to Google Drive.

The sqllab-gsheets extension already sends SQL Lab results straight to a new Google Sheet. Bringing the same workflow to charts and dashboards is blocked by two gaps in the extension framework:

1. Backend: superset_core can run raw SQL (Database.execute, feat: SQL execution API for Superset #36529), but it can't run a chart's query context or walk a dashboard's charts. That logic exists only inside Superset: ChartDataCommand behind /api/v1/chart/data, and the per-chart loop of the dashboard Excel export. Extensions must not import Superset internals.
2. Frontend:
   • Extensions can contribute menu items only to SQL Lab panels, so they can't add an action to a chart's or dashboard's Download menu.
   • Even if they could, the click would carry no context, so the extension wouldn't know which query or filters to export.
   • Extensions also have no way to show Superset's toasts.

This SIP proposes small, general extension APIs that close both gaps. Nothing in Superset becomes Google-specific; Google Sheets is simply the first consumer.

Proposed Change

Backend: superset_core.exports (#45991)

A new package in superset-core. Its types and stubs are replaced with Superset's implementations at startup (core_api_injection.py), the same mechanism queries and tasks use, so Celery workers get them too.

The dashboard Excel export is refactored onto the same per-chart helper, so both exports share one path for query resolution, filtering and access checks. Its output doesn't change.

Frontend: download-menu locations and a toasts API (#46014)

• Eight menu locations, one per download menu that offers "Export to Excel":
  • Explore's Export All Data (plus a pivoted entry);
  • the standalone/embedded download control;
  • the dashboard chart Download menu (plus a pivoted entry);
  • Drill to Detail;
  • Drill By;
  • the dashboard header Download menu.
• Context on click:
  • Chart locations pass { getPayload, chartName, canDownload }. getPayload() builds, at click time, the query context the CSV export would post.
  • The dashboard location passes { dashboardId, dashboardTitle, activeDataMask, canDownload }.
• Unchanged without extensions: with no extension installed, every menu looks exactly as it does today.
• Toasts: a toasts namespace in @apache-superset/core (addSuccessToast, addDangerToast, …, plus removeToast), backed by Superset's existing toast store, with an optional link button.

First consumer: Google Sheets export (orion222/superset-google-sheets)

An evolution of sqllab-gsheets:

• "Export to Google Sheets" in every chart download menu, using the same rows as Export to .CSV, typed cells and one tab per query.
• Files are created in a Shared Drive and shared with the user.
• It also tightens the SQL Lab export's permission check: can_export_data() instead of read.
• Dashboard export, one spreadsheet with a tab per chart run as a background task, is the next phase.

New or Changed Public Interfaces

• Python (apache-superset-core):
  • new package superset_core.exports: the functions above, plus the frozen dataclasses ChartQueryResult, ChartResult, AppliedFilter, DashboardExportInfo, and the enums GenericDataType and SkipReason;
  • IDs are integers, matching the existing superset_core DAOs and the dashboard export endpoint.
• TypeScript (@apache-superset/core):
  • new toasts namespace;
  • new menu location types ChartDownloadLocation and DashboardDownloadLocation, and the context types ChartDownloadContext and DashboardDownloadContext.
• No REST endpoint, model or permission changes in Superset. No path returns data a user couldn't already get from /api/v1/chart/data.
• Docs: extensions/exports.md, extension-points/download-menus.md and extensions/toasts.md.

New dependencies

None in Superset. The Google Sheets extension depends on google-api-python-client and google-auth (Apache-2.0, maintained by Google), installed only with the extension.

Migration Plan and Compatibility

• No database migrations or URL changes.
• The changes are additive. Existing menus, exports and extensions keep working unchanged.
• The Excel dashboard export produces identical workbooks before and after the refactor.

Rejected Alternatives

• Google Sheets support built into Superset: an integration with one vendor; the extension framework is the intended place for it.
• An extension calling Superset internals directly: fragile across releases, and against the extension model.
• An extension calling /api/v1/chart/data over HTTP from its backend: wouldn't run as the requesting user inside background tasks, and duplicates request handling.
• A per-surface API instead of shared menu locations: seven menus would each need their own extension hook. One location scheme and one hook cover them all.
• Push status updates over websocket for long exports: they need the optional superset-websocket sidecar. Polling the existing task status API is enough for now.