quercus-mcp

An MCP server that lets Claude read your University of Toronto Quercus courses: assignments, due dates, grades, announcements, files, and modules.

Quercus runs on Canvas LMS, so it also works with any school that uses Canvas.

Ask Claude things like:

• "What's due this week across all my courses?"

• "Summarize the latest announcements in MAT188."

• "What's my current grade in CIV100?"

• "Find the lecture slides for week 3 in my calculus course."

How it works

The server runs locally on your computer and talks to the Canvas REST API with a personal access token that you create. Your token stays on your machine. It is only ever sent to your school's Canvas server, never anywhere else.

Every tool is read-only. The server can't submit work, post, or change anything in your account.

Related MCP server: Canvas LMS MCP Server

Setup

Requirements: Node.js 18 or newer, and Claude Code or Claude Desktop.

1. Get a Quercus access token

1. Sign in to Quercus.

2. Go to Account → Settings → Approved Integrations.

3. Click + New Access Token, give it a name like "Claude", and copy the token.

Treat this token like a password. Anyone who has it can read your Quercus account.

2. Install and build

git clone https://github.com/lance-lii/quercus-mcp.git
cd quercus-mcp
npm install
npm run build

3. Connect it to Claude

Claude Code:

claude mcp add quercus -s user \
  -e QUERCUS_API_TOKEN=<your token> \
  -e QUERCUS_BASE_URL=https://q.utoronto.ca/api/v1 \
  -- node /absolute/path/to/quercus-mcp/dist/index.js

Start a new Claude Code session afterwards so it picks up the new tools. Check the connection with claude mcp get quercus.

Claude Desktop: add this to your claude_desktop_config.json and restart the app:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "quercus": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/quercus-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "QUERCUS_API_TOKEN": "<your token>",
        "QUERCUS_BASE_URL": "https://q.utoronto.ca/api/v1"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using a different Canvas school

Set QUERCUS_BASE_URL to your school's Canvas API, for example https://yourschool.instructure.com/api/v1, and create the token from that school's Canvas settings page.

Tools

Security notes

• Keep your token out of git. .env is already in .gitignore. Copy .env.example to .env if you'd rather keep your token in a file.

• If a token leaks, delete it under Approved Integrations in Quercus and create a new one.

• Check your school's policies on third-party tools before using this.

Development

npm run build   # compile TypeScript to dist/
npm start       # run the server over stdio

Source is in src/: canvas.ts handles the API client and pagination, and index.ts defines the tools.

Disclaimer

This is an independent student project. It isn't affiliated with or endorsed by the University of Toronto or Instructure.

License

MIT © 2026 Lance Li