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harryx2011-boop

CanvasLMS-API

by harryx2011-boop
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Python
Remote

CanvasLMS - API

CanvasLMS - API is a local MCP server that puts your Canvas LMS account in front of an AI assistant. It runs on your machine, talks to Canvas with your own personal access token, and exposes about 100 tools covering courses, assignments, grading, discussions, modules, pages, files, messaging, peer reviews, and accessibility. Every tool returns Markdown. Every tool that changes Canvas previews its change first and only applies it once you confirm.

Quick start

  1. Get a Canvas personal access token: in Canvas go to Account > Settings > Approved Integrations > New Access Token.

  2. Clone the repository and install it.

    git clone https://github.com/harryx2011-boop/CanvasLMS-API.git
cd CanvasLMS-API
uv venv .venv
uv pip install -e .

    Without uv, use a standard virtual environment instead:

    python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate   # Windows
source .venv/bin/activate # macOS/Linux
pip install -e .

  3. Copy the example environment file and fill in your Canvas host and token.

    cp .env.example .env

  4. Verify the connection.

    canvaslms-api --test

    This prints your name, user id, and active courses. If it fails, check CANVAS_URL and CANVAS_TOKEN in .env.

Related MCP server: Canvas LMS MCP Server

Connect to Claude Code

Windows:

claude mcp add --scope user canvaslms-api -- "<absolute path>\.venv\Scripts\canvaslms-api.exe"

macOS/Linux:

claude mcp add --scope user canvaslms-api -- "<absolute path>/.venv/bin/canvaslms-api"

The server reads .env from the repository folder at startup, so no environment variables need to go in the client configuration. Use the absolute path to the executable inside .venv.

Connect to Claude Desktop

Add an entry to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "canvaslms-api": {
      "command": "<absolute path>\\.venv\\Scripts\\canvaslms-api.exe"
    }
  }
}

On macOS/Linux, use <absolute path>/.venv/bin/canvaslms-api for command.

Config file locations:

  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Restart Claude Desktop after editing the file.

Other clients

Any MCP client that supports stdio servers can launch the executable directly, the same way as Claude Code and Claude Desktop above.

For clients that only speak HTTP, run the server with the HTTP transport:

canvaslms-api --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 7100

Point the client at http://127.0.0.1:7100. The server still reads Canvas credentials from .env in the repository folder.

How it behaves

  • Course identifiers. Any course argument accepts a numeric Canvas id, a course code (ENG101), part of a course name, or sis_course_id:X. Use list_courses first if you are not sure which one you want.

  • The confirm gate. Every tool that changes Canvas takes a confirm: bool = false argument. Called without it, the tool returns a preview of what would change and makes no request that alters Canvas. Call it again with confirm=true after reviewing the preview.

  • Permissions. Every tool runs as the token owner. A student token cannot see other students' private data or use educator tools such as grading or bulk messaging; those calls return the Canvas 403 with a hint about what permission is missing.

  • Output. Every tool returns Markdown, formatted for direct display in a chat transcript.

  • Anonymization. When CANVAS_ANONYMIZE_STUDENTS=true, student names in tool output are replaced with a stable per-course pseudonym instead of their real name.

Tool reference

Write tools (marked confirm) return a preview until called again with confirm=true.

Courses & identity

Tool

Purpose

confirm

get_profile

Fetch the token owner's Canvas profile

get_enrollments

List the token owner's enrollments across courses

list_courses

List and search courses the token owner can see

get_course

Fetch details for one course

get_syllabus

Fetch a course's syllabus body

get_course_overview

Summarize a course: syllabus, modules, upcoming work

get_course_structure

Fetch a course's full modules/pages/assignments outline

get_cache_status

Show what course-resolution data is cached

clear_cache

Clear the course-resolution cache

Student

Tool

Purpose

confirm

get_upcoming_assignments

List assignments due soon across courses

get_todo

Fetch the Canvas to-do list

get_submission_status

Show submitted/missing/graded status for a course

get_grades

Fetch current grades for one or all courses

get_pending_peer_reviews

List peer reviews still owed by the token owner

get_submission

Fetch one submission's detail and feedback

submit_assignment

Submit an assignment

confirm

comment_on_submission

Add a comment to a submission

confirm

mark_module_item_done

Mark a module item complete

confirm

Assignments & grading

Tool

Purpose

confirm

list_assignments

List a course's assignments

get_assignment

Fetch one assignment's detail

list_submissions

List submissions for an assignment

get_assignment_analytics

Summarize submission and grade distribution for an assignment

get_student_analytics

Summarize one student's activity in a course

create_assignment

Create an assignment

confirm

update_assignment

Update an assignment

confirm

bulk_grade_submissions

Grade multiple submissions in one call

confirm

grade_with_rubric

Grade a submission against a rubric

confirm

Rubrics

Tool

Purpose

confirm

list_rubrics

List a course's rubrics

get_rubric

Fetch one rubric's criteria

get_rubric_assessment

Fetch a submission's rubric assessment

create_rubric

Create a rubric

confirm

create_rubric_from_csv

Create a rubric from a CSV definition

confirm

associate_rubric

Attach a rubric to an assignment

confirm

Discussions & announcements

Tool

Purpose

confirm

list_discussion_topics

List a course's discussion topics

get_discussion_topic

Fetch one discussion topic

list_discussion_entries

List top-level entries in a topic

get_discussion_entry

Fetch one discussion entry

get_discussion_thread

Fetch a full thread with replies

post_discussion_entry

Post a new entry to a topic

confirm

reply_to_discussion_entry

Reply to an existing entry

confirm

create_discussion_topic

Create a discussion topic

confirm

update_discussion_topic

Update a discussion topic

confirm

list_announcements

List a course's announcements

create_announcement

Create an announcement

confirm

delete_announcement

Delete one announcement

confirm

delete_announcements

Delete multiple announcements by id

confirm

delete_announcements_matching

Delete announcements matching a filter

confirm

Modules

Tool

Purpose

confirm

list_modules

List a course's modules

list_module_items

List items in a module

create_module

Create a module

confirm

update_module

Update a module

confirm

delete_module

Delete a module

confirm

add_module_item

Add an item to a module

confirm

update_module_item

Update a module item

confirm

delete_module_item

Delete a module item

confirm

Pages

Tool

Purpose

confirm

list_pages

List a course's pages

get_page

Fetch one page's metadata

get_page_content

Fetch one page's body

get_front_page

Fetch a course's front page

create_page

Create a page

confirm

edit_page_content

Replace a page's body

confirm

update_page_settings

Update a page's settings (title, publish state, editing rights)

confirm

bulk_update_pages

Apply the same edit across multiple pages

confirm

delete_page

Delete a page

confirm

Files

Tool

Purpose

confirm

list_files

List a course's files

read_file

Read a text file's content

download_file

Download a file to disk

upload_file

Upload a file to a course

confirm

Messaging

Tool

Purpose

confirm

list_conversations

List Canvas Inbox conversations

get_conversation

Fetch one conversation's messages

get_unread_count

Get the unread message count

mark_conversations_read

Mark conversations as read

confirm

send_conversation

Send a new message

confirm

send_bulk_messages

Send the same message to multiple recipients

confirm

Peer reviews

Tool

Purpose

confirm

list_peer_reviews

List peer review assignments for an assignment

assign_peer_review

Assign a peer review

confirm

get_peer_review_assignments

List who is reviewing whom

get_peer_review_completion_analytics

Summarize peer review completion rates

get_peer_review_followup_list

List students who still owe a peer review

get_peer_review_comments

Fetch comments left in a peer review

analyze_peer_review_quality

Score peer review feedback for depth and usefulness

identify_problematic_peer_reviews

Flag low-effort or missing peer reviews

generate_peer_review_report

Build a summary report of peer review activity

generate_peer_review_feedback_report

Build a report of feedback content across peer reviews

extract_peer_review_dataset

Export peer review data for analysis

message_peer_reviewers

Message students about their peer review assignments

confirm

send_peer_review_followups

Send reminders to students with outstanding peer reviews

confirm

People & privacy

Tool

Purpose

confirm

list_users

List a course's enrolled users

list_groups

List a course's groups

check_enrollment

Check one user's enrollment in a course

export_anonymization_map

Export the pseudonym-to-real-name mapping

confirm

get_privacy_status

Show whether anonymization is active

Accessibility

Tool

Purpose

confirm

scan_course_content_accessibility

Scan a course's pages and files for accessibility issues

fix_accessibility_issues

Apply fixes for detected accessibility issues

confirm

fetch_ufixit_report

Fetch an existing UFIXIT accessibility report

parse_ufixit_violations

Parse violations out of a UFIXIT report

format_accessibility_summary

Format an accessibility scan as a readable summary

Course copy

Tool

Purpose

confirm

create_content_migration

Start a course content migration/copy

confirm

get_content_migration_status

Check a content migration's progress

Meta

Tool

Purpose

confirm

search_tools

Search the available tools by keyword

Configuration

All configuration comes from environment variables, loaded from a .env file in the repository root.

Variable

Required

Default

Purpose

CANVAS_URL

yes

Your Canvas host, e.g. https://yourschool.instructure.com. No /api/v1 suffix.

CANVAS_TOKEN

yes

Your Canvas personal access token.

CANVAS_TIMEOUT

no

30

HTTP request timeout, in seconds.

CANVAS_CACHE_TTL

no

300

How long course-resolution results are cached, in seconds.

CANVAS_MAX_CONCURRENCY

no

5

Maximum concurrent requests to Canvas.

CANVAS_ANONYMIZE_STUDENTS

no

false

Replace student names with stable pseudonyms in tool output.

CANVAS_DOWNLOAD_DIR

no

system temp directory

Where download_file writes downloaded files.

Run canvaslms-api --config to print the resolved configuration, with the token masked.

Development

Install with dev extras:

uv pip install -e ".[dev]"

Run tests:

pytest

Lint:

ruff check .

CI runs tests and lint on every push. A Docker image is also available; its entrypoint is canvaslms-api.

Useful CLI flags during development: canvaslms-api --list-tools prints every registered tool name, canvaslms-api --config prints resolved settings, canvaslms-api --version prints the installed version.

Security notes

  • Your Canvas token stays local. It is read from .env on startup and used only to call the Canvas API you configured.

  • The token is never logged. --config and get_privacy_status mask it.

  • Write tools require an explicit confirm=true after a preview. Nothing changes in Canvas by accident.

  • download_file will not overwrite an existing file at the destination path.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

This server cannot be installed

A
license - permissive license
Not graded
quality - not tested
C
maintenance

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