assign_peer_review

Manually assign a peer review by specifying a reviewer student and reviewee student for a Canvas assignment to facilitate structured feedback.

Instructions

Manually assign a peer review to a student for a specific assignment.

    Args:
        course_identifier: The Canvas course code (e.g., badm_554_120251_246794) or ID
        assignment_id: The Canvas assignment ID
        reviewer_id: The Canvas user ID of the student who will do the review
        reviewee_id: The Canvas user ID of the student whose submission will be reviewed

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`course_identifier`	Yes
`assignment_id`	Yes
`reviewer_id`	Yes
`reviewee_id`	Yes

Implementation Reference

src/canvas_mcp/tools/assignments.py:92-166 (handler)

The core handler function for the 'assign_peer_review' MCP tool. Decorated with @mcp.tool() for automatic registration and schema generation. Implements logic to assign peer reviews in Canvas by ensuring reviewee submission exists (creating placeholder if needed) and posting to Canvas peer_reviews API endpoint.

@mcp.tool()
async def assign_peer_review(course_identifier: str, assignment_id: str, reviewer_id: str, reviewee_id: str) -> str:
    """Manually assign a peer review to a student for a specific assignment.

    Args:
        course_identifier: The Canvas course code (e.g., badm_554_120251_246794) or ID
        assignment_id: The Canvas assignment ID
        reviewer_id: The Canvas user ID of the student who will do the review
        reviewee_id: The Canvas user ID of the student whose submission will be reviewed
    """
    course_id = await get_course_id(course_identifier)

    # First, we need to get the submission ID for the reviewee
    submissions = await make_canvas_request(
        "get",
        f"/courses/{course_id}/assignments/{assignment_id}/submissions",
        params={"per_page": 100}
    )

    if "error" in submissions:
        return f"Error fetching submissions: {submissions['error']}"

    # Find the submission for the reviewee
    reviewee_submission = None
    for submission in submissions:
        if str(submission.get("user_id")) == str(reviewee_id):
            reviewee_submission = submission
            break

    # If no submission exists, we need to create a placeholder submission
    if not reviewee_submission:
        # Create a placeholder submission for the reviewee
        placeholder_data = {
            "submission": {
                "user_id": reviewee_id,
                "submission_type": "online_text_entry",
                "body": "Placeholder submission for peer review"
            }
        }

        reviewee_submission = await make_canvas_request(
            "post",
            f"/courses/{course_id}/assignments/{assignment_id}/submissions",
            data=placeholder_data
        )

        if "error" in reviewee_submission:
            return f"Error creating placeholder submission: {reviewee_submission['error']}"

    # Now assign the peer review using the submission ID
    submission_id = reviewee_submission.get("id")

    # Data for the peer review assignment
    data = {
        "user_id": reviewer_id  # The user who will do the review
    }

    # Make the API request to create the peer review
    response = await make_canvas_request(
        "post",
        f"/courses/{course_id}/assignments/{assignment_id}/submissions/{submission_id}/peer_reviews",
        data=data
    )

    if "error" in response:
        return f"Error assigning peer review: {response['error']}"

    # Try to get the course code for display
    course_display = await get_course_code(course_id) or course_identifier

    return f"Successfully assigned peer review in course {course_display}:\n" + \
           f"Assignment ID: {assignment_id}\n" + \
           f"Reviewer ID: {reviewer_id}\n" + \
           f"Reviewee ID: {reviewee_id}\n" + \
           f"Submission ID: {submission_id}"

src/canvas_mcp/server.py:48-48 (registration)
Top-level registration of assignment tools (including 'assign_peer_review') by calling register_assignment_tools(mcp) in the main server setup.
```
register_assignment_tools(mcp)
```

Canvas MCP Server