MoodlIA Sync MCP (deprecated)

Deprecated. This coordinator is replaced by the moodlia-sync CLI and receives no further updates. Its approval boundary did not protect against agents with shell access, which can run the same CLI; moodlia-sync keeps the approval model by consuming an approval of the exact plan digest atomically on every apply and resume.

MCP tool	moodlia-sync command
sync_list_profiles, sync_discover_capabilities	capabilities --profile <name>
sync_plan_course	plan --source-profile ... --plan-file plan.json
external approval + sync_apply_plan	approve plan.json --yes, then apply plan.json --plan-digest <d> --allow-write
sync_get_plan, sync_get_conflicts, sync_resolve_conflict	`conflicts plan.json [--resolve source-wins
sync_get_job, sync_get_history, sync_cancel_job	status, history, cancel
sync_resume_job, sync_verify_course	resume ... --approve --yes, verify --plan-id <id>

Existing state databases open unchanged in moodlia-sync.

moodlia-sync-mcp is an MCP coordinator for one-way course-content synchronization between Moodle sites. Each endpoint may use Moodle Core web services, the MoodlIA plugin, or both. Provider selection is capability-based and is frozen into every approved action.

It requires Node.js 22.13 or later because its durable state store uses the built-in SQLite API without experimental process flags.

The coordinator does not send Moodle tokens or binary files through MCP tool arguments or results. Profiles reference environment variables, and an allowlist restricts profile pairs, course IDs, and effects.

Status

The current preview synchronizes verified course metadata, hidden target-course creation, sections, groups and grouping membership, portable Pages/Labels/URLs, file resources and folders, Books with chapter files, selected assignment definitions and grading forms, Workshop forms, supported question banks and Quiz slots, portable Lesson pages, Database fields, Feedback items, course-completion criteria, and selected gradebook configuration. The coordinator uses the same engine and adaptive adapters as the CLI, so provider selection and advanced action semantics are identical. Existing unsupported authoring changes and unsafe transformations are reported before writing. It does not use Moodle backup files.

Related MCP server: MoodlIA MCP Server

Configuration

Create .moodle-profiles.json:

{
  "schema_version": 1,
  "profiles": {
    "source": {
      "url": "https://source.example.edu",
      "backend": "auto",
      "credentials": {
        "core": { "token_env": "SOURCE_CORE_TOKEN" },
        "moodlia": { "token_env": "SOURCE_MOODLIA_TOKEN" }
      }
    },
    "target": {
      "url": "https://target.example.edu",
      "backend": "auto",
      "credentials": {
        "core": { "token_env": "TARGET_CORE_TOKEN" },
        "moodlia": { "token_env": "TARGET_MOODLIA_TOKEN" }
      }
    }
  }
}

Create .moodle-sync-policy.json:

{
  "schema_version": 1,
  "allowed_profiles": ["source", "target"],
  "allowed_pairs": [
    {
      "source": "source",
      "target": "target",
      "source_courses": [42],
      "target_courses": [81],
      "target_categories": [7],
      "effects": ["content.read", "content.write"]
    }
  ]
}

Set MOODLIA_SYNC_CONFIG, MOODLIA_SYNC_POLICY, and optionally MOODLIA_SYNC_STATE. Start the stdio server with npx moodlia-sync-mcp.

For Streamable HTTP, set a random MOODLIA_SYNC_BEARER_TOKEN of at least 32 bytes and run npx moodlia-sync-mcp-http. It binds to 127.0.0.1:3333 by default. Put a TLS-authenticated reverse proxy in front of it for remote clients, set MOODLIA_SYNC_ALLOWED_HOSTS, and never expose the plain HTTP listener directly. The bearer token authenticates the client to the coordinator; Moodle tokens remain separate downstream credentials.

Approval boundary

sync_plan_course is read-only. sync_apply_plan accepts only a plan that was approved outside MCP and stored in the same SQLite state database:

moodlia course sync `
  --approve-plan ".moodle-sync\plans\PLAN_ID.json" `
  --state ".moodle-sync\coordinator.sqlite" `
  --yes

Approval is bound to the complete plan digest, expires with the plan, and is consumed before execution. A model-provided boolean is never treated as human authorization.

MCP tools

• sync_list_profiles

• sync_discover_capabilities

• sync_plan_course

• sync_get_plan (bounded pagination across actions, conflicts, gaps, unchanged, and unknown entries)

• sync_apply_plan

• sync_get_job

• sync_cancel_job

• sync_resume_job

• sync_verify_course

• sync_get_conflicts

• sync_resolve_conflict

• sync_get_history

Jobs, action attempts, approvals, mappings, baselines, and leases are durable in SQLite. On restart, in-flight jobs become interrupted and must be reconciled and explicitly re-approved before resume. Timeout outcomes are marked unknown_outcome, not retried blindly.

All documentation, schemas, source identifiers, and source comments are in English.