Canvas LMS MCP Server

A minimal Canvas LMS MCP (Machine Conversation Protocol) server for easy access to education data through your Canvas LMS instance. This server provides a bridge between AI systems (like Cursor) and Canvas Learning Management System.

Features

Courses: List enrolled courses, get course details, syllabus, modules, and module items
Assignments: List and get assignments with optional submission status
Pages: Get course pages by URL slug
Submissions: List your own submissions with grades and feedback
Announcements: List announcements across multiple courses
Discussions: List topics and view full discussion threads
Calendar: List calendar events with date filtering
Planner: List planner items (assignments, announcements, etc.)
Enrollments: Get enrollment data with grades
Quizzes: List and get quizzes (classic quizzes only)
Files: List and get files
Navigation: Get course tabs, assignment groups, and favorite courses

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install Canvas LMS Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @ahnopologetic/canvas-lms-mcp --client claude

Prerequisites

Python 3.13+
Canvas LMS API token
uv package manager (recommended)

Installation Methods

Option 1: Install with uvx (Recommended)

The easiest way to install and run canvas-lms-mcp is using uvx:

uvx canvas-lms-mcp

This will run the server in an isolated environment without installing it permanently.

To install the tool permanently:

uv tool install canvas-lms-mcp

Option 2: Install from Source

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/canvas-lms-mcp.git
cd canvas-lms-mcp

Install with uv:

# Install uv if you don't have it yet
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Create a virtual environment and install dependencies
uv venv
uv pip install -e .

Alternatively, use traditional methods:

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

Configuration

Set the following environment variables:

export CANVAS_API_TOKEN="your_canvas_api_token"
export CANVAS_BASE_URL="https://your-institution.instructure.com"  # Default: https://canvas.instructure.com

You can get your Canvas API token from your Canvas account settings.

Running the Server

Start the server with uv:

uv run src/canvas_lms_mcp/main.py

If installed with uvx tool:

canvas-lms-mcp

By default, the server runs on http://localhost:8000. You can use the FastMCP interface at http://localhost:8000/docs to interact with the API.

Available Tools

The server provides 22 tools for interacting with Canvas LMS:

Courses

`list_courses`

List courses that the user is actively enrolled in.

Parameters:

page (optional, default=1): Page number (1-indexed)
items_per_page (optional, default=10): Number of items per page

`get_course`

Get a single course by ID.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
include (optional): List of additional data to include

`get_course_syllabus`

Get a course's syllabus body as HTML.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID

`get_course_modules`

Get modules for a course.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
include (optional): List of additional data to include
per_page (optional, default=100): Number of items per page

`get_module_items`

Get items for a specific module.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
module_id (required): Module ID

Assignments

`list_assignments`

List assignments for a course.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
bucket (required): Filter by "past", "overdue", "undated", "ungraded", "unsubmitted", "upcoming", or "future"
order_by (required): Order by "due_at", "position", or "name"
include (optional): List of additional data to include (e.g., ["submission"] to see grade status)
page (optional, default=1): Page number (1-indexed)
items_per_page (optional, default=10): Number of items per page

`get_assignment`

Get a single assignment by ID.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
assignment_id (required): Assignment ID

`list_assignment_groups`

List assignment groups for a course (shows grade weighting/categories).

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID

Submissions

`list_submissions`

List the current user's submissions for a course, including grades and feedback.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
include (optional): List of additional data (e.g., ["assignment", "submission_comments"])
page (optional, default=1): Page number (1-indexed)
items_per_page (optional, default=10): Number of items per page

Announcements

`list_announcements`

List announcements for one or more courses.

Parameters:

course_ids (required): List of course IDs
page (optional, default=1): Page number (1-indexed)
items_per_page (optional, default=10): Number of items per page

Discussions

`list_discussions`

List discussion topics for a course.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
page (optional, default=1): Page number (1-indexed)
items_per_page (optional, default=10): Number of items per page

`get_discussion_view`

Get the full view of a discussion topic including all replies.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
discussion_id (required): Discussion topic ID

Calendar

`list_calendar_events`

List calendar events for courses.

Parameters:

context_codes (required): List of context codes (e.g., ["course_123"])
start_date (optional): Start date in ISO 8601 format
end_date (optional): End date in ISO 8601 format
page (optional, default=1): Page number (1-indexed)
items_per_page (optional, default=10): Number of items per page

Planner Items

`list_planner_items`

List planner items for the authenticated user.

Parameters:

start_date (required): Start date in ISO 8601 format
end_date (required): End date in ISO 8601 format
context_codes (optional): List of context codes (e.g., ["course_123"])
page (optional, default=1): Page number (1-indexed)
items_per_page (optional, default=10): Number of items per page

Enrollments

`get_enrollments`

Get the current user's enrollments including grades.

Quizzes

`list_quizzes`

List quizzes for a course. Note: only works with Classic Quizzes, not New Quizzes (quiz_lti).

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
include (optional): List of additional data to include
page (optional, default=1): Page number (1-indexed)
items_per_page (optional, default=10): Number of items per page

`get_quiz`

Get a single quiz by ID.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
quiz_id (required): Quiz ID

Files

`list_files`

List files for a course or folder. Note: may return 403 for student accounts depending on institution permissions.

Parameters:

course_id (optional): Course ID
folder_id (optional): Folder ID
include (optional): List of additional data to include
page (optional, default=1): Page number (1-indexed)
items_per_page (optional, default=10): Number of items per page

`get_file`

Get a file by ID. Works with known file IDs even when list_files is restricted.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID
file_id (required): File ID

Other

`get_tabs`

Get available tabs/navigation items for a course.

Parameters:

course_id (required): Course ID

`list_favorites`

List the current user's favorite courses.

Integration

This MCP server works with any client that supports the Model Context Protocol, including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and others.

The MCP configuration is the same across all clients — only the config file location differs:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "canvas": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": ["canvas-lms-mcp"],
            "env": {
                "CANVAS_API_TOKEN": "your_canvas_api_token",
                "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://your-institution.instructure.com"
            }
        }
    }
}

Replace your_canvas_api_token with your Canvas API token (found in Canvas → Account → Settings → New Access Token) and your-institution.instructure.com with your institution's Canvas URL.

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

Claude Code

Add to your project's .mcp.json or global ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "canvas": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": ["canvas-lms-mcp"],
            "env": {
                "CANVAS_API_TOKEN": "your_canvas_api_token",
                "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://your-institution.instructure.com"
            }
        }
    }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project directory. Restart Cursor after saving.

Windsurf

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json. Restart Windsurf after saving.

Usage Examples

Once connected, you can ask your AI assistant about your Canvas data:

"What assignments do I have due next week?"
"Show me the syllabus for my Biology course"
"What announcements were posted today?"
"What are my grades so far?"
"What's on my schedule for tomorrow?"
"Show me the discussion posts for my English class"

Development

For detailed development instructions, please see the DEVELOPMENT.md file.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Canvas LMS

Canvas LMS MCP Server

Features

Installation

Installing via Smithery

Prerequisites

Installation Methods

Option 1: Install with uvx (Recommended)

Option 2: Install from Source

Configuration

Running the Server

Available Tools

Courses

list_courses

get_course

get_course_syllabus

get_course_modules

get_module_items

Assignments

list_assignments

get_assignment

list_assignment_groups

Pages

get_page

Submissions

list_submissions

Announcements

list_announcements

Discussions

list_discussions

get_discussion_view

Calendar

list_calendar_events

Planner Items

list_planner_items

Enrollments

get_enrollments

Quizzes

list_quizzes

get_quiz

Files

list_files

get_file

Other

get_tabs

list_favorites

Integration

Claude Desktop

Claude Code

Cursor

Windsurf

Usage Examples

Development

License

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Tmux

`list_courses`

`get_course`

`get_course_syllabus`

`get_course_modules`

`get_module_items`

`list_assignments`

`get_assignment`

`list_assignment_groups`

`get_page`

`list_submissions`

`list_announcements`

`list_discussions`

`get_discussion_view`

`list_calendar_events`

`list_planner_items`

`get_enrollments`

`list_quizzes`

`get_quiz`

`list_files`

`get_file`

`get_tabs`

`list_favorites`