Canvas API MCP
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Canvas MCP server for Canvas LMS: 16 curated student tools for assignments, grades, deadlines and files, plus a gateway reaching all 1,116 Canvas API endpoints.
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- johannsenlum
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- Productivity
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Setup
Install Canvas API MCP in your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and others).
Repository: https://github.com/johannsenlum/canvas-api-mcp
Follow the installation instructions in the repository README, then restart your MCP client.
Never miss an assignment deadline again.
Ask your AI what's due and it reads the answer straight from Canvas:
real deadlines, real submission status, no copying anything across.
An MCP server for Canvas LMS. 16 curated tools for everyday student work, plus a gateway that reaches every endpoint your Canvas instance exposes.
📖 Documentation:mcp.johannsenlum.com/canvas-lms·install guide·tool reference·skills·compliance
Personal-use software.Canvas's API Policy requires OAuth for applications used by multiple people, and Canvas OAuth cannot be implemented safely by locally installed software (no PKCE, andclient_secretcannot be shipped in a package). Use this with your own token on your own account. SeeCompliance.
Real prompts, and which tool answers them.
You:What's due this week?Claude:(callswhats_due): You have 3 things due: Problem Set 4 (Thu, CS3230), a discussion reply (Fri, IS4302), and the Milestone 2 report (Sun, EE2211).
You:How am I doing in my databases course, and what's on the syllabus for week 6?Claude:(callsmy_grades, thenget_syllabus, thencourse_contentfor the week 6 module): You're at 87% overall. Week 6 covers normalization and has a reading plus a lab file due Friday.
You:Summarize the PDF lecture notes for lecture 8 and pull up my submission for the essay so I can see the feedback.Claude:(callslist_files+read_filefor the PDF, thenmy_submissionfor the essay): ...
You:Reply to the "Project teams" discussion and say I'm free after 3pm for the group meeting.Claude:(callspost_discussion_reply✏️): Posted to the thread.
You:Has Canvas ever given me quiz statistics broken down by question, across the whole semester?Claude:(callssearch_canvas_apito find the right endpoint, thencanvas_requestto call it): ...
The last example is the point of the gateway tools: if an endpoint exists on your Canvas instance,search_canvas_apican find it andcanvas_requestcan call it, even though only 16 tools are hand-curated.
A Canvas personal access token. Your institution must allow students to create them: checkCanvas → Account → Settings → Approved Integrationsfor a"+ New access token"button. Full walkthrough with screenshots:mcp.johannsenlum.com/canvas-lms/install.
Note that the token expires.Since Instructure's October 2025 security update, accounts holding only student roles must set an expiry no more than 120 days out, and institutions often cap it lower (NUS allows 90). Write the date down: an expired token makes every tool return401at once, which looks like a broken install rather than a credential that simply ran out.
canvas-api-mcpis published on PyPI. Run it with:
Install from source (contributors / unreleasedmain).Not part of the normal install path above, only needed if you want the latest unreleased code instead of the published PyPI release:
uvx --from git+https://github.com/JohannsenLum/canvas-api-mcp canvas-api-mcp
git clone https://github.com/JohannsenLum/canvas-api-mcp cd canvas-api-mcp uv sync
One-click deeplinks exist for Cursor, VS Code, and LM Studio only. No other client has a documented install-link format. These prefill the config below but still needCANVAS_BASE_URLandCANVAS_TOKENfilled in afterward.
Your token stays on your machine, in your own config file. It is never transmitted anywhere except directly to your Canvas instance.
{ "mcpServers": { "canvas": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["canvas-api-mcp"], "env": { "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://canvas.yourschool.edu", "CANVAS_TOKEN": "your-token-here" } } } }
macOS:~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.jsonWindows:%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
No one-click install exists for Claude Desktop (it installs.mcpbbundles, not deeplinks). Copy this JSON in viaSettings → Developer → Edit Config:
{ "mcpServers": { "canvas": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["canvas-api-mcp"], "env": { "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://canvas.yourschool.edu", "CANVAS_TOKEN": "your-token-here" } } } }
Fallback for the button above, or if you'd rather paste it directly:
{ "mcpServers": { "canvas": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["canvas-api-mcp"], "env": { "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://canvas.yourschool.edu", "CANVAS_TOKEN": "your-token-here" } } } }
Fallback for the button above, or if you'd rather paste it directly. Note VS Code uses aserverskey, notmcpServers:
{ "servers": { "canvas": { "type": "stdio", "command": "uvx", "args": ["canvas-api-mcp"], "env": { "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://canvas.yourschool.edu", "CANVAS_TOKEN": "your-token-here" } } } }
Fallback for the button above, or if you'd rather paste it directly:
{ "mcpServers": { "canvas": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["canvas-api-mcp"], "env": { "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://canvas.yourschool.edu", "CANVAS_TOKEN": "your-token-here" } } } }
No deeplink exists for Zed. Add this undercontext_serversin your Zed settings:
{ "context_servers": { "canvas": { "source": "custom", "command": "uvx", "args": ["canvas-api-mcp"], "env": { "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://canvas.yourschool.edu", "CANVAS_TOKEN": "your-token-here" } } } }
No deeplink exists for Windsurf. It only resolves servers from its own registry, so this has to be pasted in manually viaWindsurf Settings → MCP Servers → Edit raw config:
{ "mcpServers": { "canvas": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["canvas-api-mcp"], "env": { "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://canvas.yourschool.edu", "CANVAS_TOKEN": "your-token-here" } } } }
✏️ writes to Canvas. That's 3 write tools total:submit_assignment,post_discussion_reply, andcanvas_requestwhen called with a non-GET method (GET calls throughcanvas_requestare read-only).
search_canvas_api+canvas_requestreach all ~1,116 endpoints your instance exposes. What they may do is decided by Canvas from your token's permissions: a teacher token unlocks educator endpoints with no change to this server.
canvas://me,canvas://courses,canvas://api/catalog.
If your client supports theskillsconvention:
npx skills add JohannsenLum/canvas-api-mcp
Works with any Canvas instance: setCANVAS_BASE_URL. The catalog of ~1,116 endpoints ships inside the package atcanvas_api_mcp/data/catalog.json. To match your deployment's exact feature set, regenerate it:
python scripts/build_catalog.py https://canvas.yourschool.edu -o data/catalog.json
- Academic integrity.submit_assignmentcan submit anything, including AI-generated work. Submitting work that is not your own breaches the academic integrity rules of essentially every institution, and Canvas's API Policy explicitly prohibits use that violates them. That is on you.
- Rate limiting.The client throttles against Canvas's published quota. Do not remove it: overloading the API is prohibited.
- Course material.read_filefetches materials for your own study. Do not redistribute them.
- Your token is password-equivalent.It can read your grades and submit work as you. Set an expiry. Never commit it.
- Personal-use scope.Phase 1 targets a single student using their own token. There are no curated educator tools; Canvas's OAuth flow has no PKCE, so this locally-installed server cannot implement the multi-user OAuth that Canvas's API Policy requires for anything broader. Do not repackage this as a multi-tenant service.
uv sync uv run pytest -v # Live tests against your real account (read-only) CANVAS_LIVE_TESTS=1 uv run pytest tests/test_live.py -v
Environment variables:CANVAS_BASE_URL,CANVAS_TOKEN, optionalCANVAS_MAX_PAGES(default 10) andCANVAS_TIMEOUT(seconds, default 30). Seeenv.template.
Issues and pull requests are welcome: seeCONTRIBUTING.mdfor setup, the architectural rules worth knowing before you change anything, and the bar for adding a new curated tool.
Found a security problem?Do not open a public issue.SeeSECURITY.mdfor private reporting, particularly important here, since this project handles password-equivalent Canvas tokens.
Use it, change it, redistribute it, build something commercial on it: the only condition is that you keep the copyright notice and licence text. It comes with no warranty of any kind.
Contributions are accepted under the same licence.
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