Custom "Download Raw Data" button for dashboards/charts using the underlying dataset

[Mathews-Gigi]

hi everyone,

I'm working on an internal application using Apache Superset 4.0.2.

We have a business requirement where managers/ Power Users need to download the underlying raw data behind a chart, not just the aggregated chart results.

What i have tried :

• Enabled ALLOW_FULL_CSV_EXPORT = True
• Restarted Superset
• Full CSV export is now available

However, Full CSV only exports the chart result , not the underlying dataset rows. and only applicable in plain table chart

new requirement is like this

Eg : Dashboard with Service Area Cost Chart (pivot or can be a plain table)
with [Raw Download Data]

The download should:

• Export the underlying dataset rows (not aggregated results, raw data is expected)
• Respect all dashboard/native filters (If possible : not in current requirement )
• Respect Jinja templating (filter_values(), url_param(), current_user_id(), etc.)
• Respect Row Level Security
• Allow us to control which columns are included (for example hide ProjectId, UserId ) (not in requirement , good to have )

Questions:

1. Has anyone implemented something similar?
2. Is there an existing plugin or extension for this?
3. If you've implemented this, what architecture did you use?

Any guidance or examples would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi @Mathews-Gigi! I'm Dosu and I'm helping the Apache Superset team.

Superset doesn't have a built-in "Download Raw Data" button for dashboards, and there's no existing plugin for this — it remains an open feature request [1]. However, you can build a custom solution using existing APIs. Here's how:

APIs that return raw (non-aggregated) dataset rows:

1. POST /api/v1/datasource/samples — This is the primary endpoint for fetching raw dataset rows. You pass datasource_type and datasource_id as query parameters and can include filters, granularity, time_range, and extras in the request body. When filters are provided, the backend constructs a DRILL_DETAIL query with SQL WHERE clauses, giving you filtered raw rows [2] [3]. Results are paginated up to SAMPLES_ROW_LIMIT (default 1,000) per page [4].

2. POST /api/v1/chart/data — The unified chart query API. You can build a QueryContext that selects only the columns you want (omitting metrics/aggregations) to get raw rows [5].

Filter / RLS / Jinja support:

Both endpoints respect Row Level Security — RLS clauses are fetched via security_manager.get_rls_filters() and can themselves contain Jinja expressions [6]. RLS context is included in cache keys to prevent cross-user data leakage . Jinja functions like filter_values(), url_param(), and current_user_id() are all available during dataset SQL rendering [7]. Dashboard native filters are passed through extraFormData in the query context and converted to SQL predicates automatically [8].

Existing UI feature — Drill to Detail:

Superset already has a Drill to Detail feature that shows raw rows behind an aggregated chart value in a modal. Under the hood it calls the /datasource/samples endpoint [9]. However, the modal only displays paginated results — it has no built-in download/export button [10].

Suggested architecture for a custom "Download Raw Data" button:

• Add a custom button or menu item to the dashboard/chart header (similar to how ALLOW_FULL_CSV_EXPORT adds menu items, gated by the can_csv permission) [11].
• On click, call /api/v1/datasource/samples (or /api/v1/chart/data with no aggregations) with the current dashboard/native filter state and any URL params.
• Handle pagination server-side to collect all rows, then stream or assemble into a CSV/Excel file.
• To control which columns appear, specify the desired columns in the query context or strip them from the response before generating the file.
• Respect SQL_MAX_ROW / TABLE_VIZ_MAX_ROW_SERVER config limits to avoid exhausting server resources [11].

This does require custom frontend and possibly backend work since no off-the-shelf plugin exists for this use case yet.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[Mathews-Gigi]

@dosu okey , i will check on that

[dosubot[bot]]

Sounds good, @Mathews-Gigi! Feel free to follow up here if you run into any questions while exploring those APIs or building the custom download button. Happy to help further.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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