Brightspace D2l MCP
D2L Brightspace for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. Knows what you already handed in, so it only shows what’s actually left.
Documentation
Brightspace D2L MCP Server
Connect D2L Brightspace to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Copilot.
It knows what you already handed in, so it only shows what is actually left.
One command. Sign in the way you always do. No passwords stored.
By Nick, a networking student at Fleming College
An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives AI assistants and agents read access to your Brightspace courses: due dates with real submission status, grades, assignments, rubrics, course content, announcements, discussions and class lists. It works at any school that uses D2L Brightspace, including schools with Microsoft, Duo, Okta or Shibboleth single sign-on.
Quick start
You need Node.js 20 or newer and Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp setup
That's it. Setup asks for your school, opens a browser so you can sign in, and connects every AI app it finds. Then ask your AI:
"What should I work on right now?"
New to this? The step-by-step setup guide walks through everything with pictures of each step.
What you can ask
| Try asking | |
|---|---|
| ✅ What's left | "What should I work on right now?" · "What haven't I submitted yet?" |
| 📅 Deadlines | "What's due this week?" · "Anything due tomorrow?" |
| 📊 Grades | "What are my grades?" · "Am I passing Calculus?" |
| 📢 Announcements | "Did any professor post something today?" |
| 📚 Course content | "Find the midterm review slides" · "Summarize the Lab 3 instructions" |
| 📎 Assignment files | "What does the rubric for the project ask for?" |
| 💬 Discussions | "What are people saying in the final project thread?" |
| 👥 Class list | "Who's the TA for my networking course?" |
| 🎯 Target grade | "What do I need on the final to get an 80?" · "Can I still pass?" |
| 🗓️ Calendar | "Put my deadlines in my calendar" |
| 📝 Exams | "When is my midterm?" · "What's on my schedule this week?" |
| 🔔 What's new | "Catch me up" · "Did anything get graded?" |
It knows what you've already handed in
Most tools only see due dates, so they keep telling you to do work you've finished. This one checks your actual submission for every assignment:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
submitted / graded | Done. Never suggested as a to-do. |
not_submitted / draft | Still needs doing. |
not_open_yet | The dropbox hasn't opened; shows when it will. |
closed / past_due | You can no longer submit. |
unknown | Quizzes: Brightspace doesn't show students their quiz attempts, so your AI will ask you. |
Tools
17 MCP tools for D2L Brightspace. Everything reads from Brightspace and nothing is ever changed there:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
get_todo | Prioritized to-do list across every course: what's due soon, overdue, not open yet, and already done |
get_upcoming_due_dates | Upcoming deadlines with the real submission status of each assignment |
get_my_courses | Your enrolled courses with names, codes and ids |
get_my_grades | Grade breakdown per course with points, percentages and instructor comments |
get_assignments | Assignments (dropboxes) and quizzes with due dates, status and rubrics |
get_assignment_files | Reads the instructions, handouts and rubric files attached to an assignment |
get_course_content | Course modules, lecture slides, files and links |
get_syllabus | Course syllabus and overview |
get_announcements | Recent announcements (news) from your instructors |
get_discussions | Discussion forums, topics and posts |
get_roster | Instructors and TAs with contact info, optionally the full class list |
get_classlist_emails | Email addresses for everyone in a course |
download_file | Saves a course file or submission to a folder you choose |
get_grade_outlook | Where you stand in a course and what you need on the remaining work to hit a target grade |
export_due_dates_calendar | Builds a calendar file (.ics) of your unfinished deadlines for Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and Outlook |
get_calendar_events | Exams, tests, labs, classes and other events from your course calendars |
get_whats_new | Catch-up across every course: new announcements, newly marked work, unread discussions and untried quizzes |
Built-in prompts
Apps that support MCP prompts show these as one-click shortcuts or slash commands:
what_should_i_do_now · plan_my_week · weekly_digest · grade_target · exam_prep · summarize_assignment · put_deadlines_in_my_calendar · catch_me_up · when_are_my_exams
Works at any Brightspace school
Every school signs in differently: Microsoft, ADFS, Duo, Shibboleth, Okta, Google, campus pickers, or Brightspace's own form. Instead of guessing how your school works, setup opens a normal browser window and you sign in exactly like you do every day, text codes and authenticator apps included.
After that it stays signed in quietly in the background. If your school ever asks you to sign in again, the browser window simply pops up and closes by itself when you're done.
Does my school work?
If your school uses D2L Brightspace, yes. Setup opens a normal browser window so any sign-in works, including Microsoft, Duo, Okta and Shibboleth.
| School | Status |
|---|---|
| Fleming College | Tested by the author |
| Any other D2L school | Should work. Open an issue with yours and I will add it here |
Works with your AI app or agent
Connected automatically by setup: Claude Desktop · Claude Code · Cursor · VS Code (GitHub Copilot) · Windsurf · OpenAI Codex · Gemini CLI · Cline · Roo Code · OpenCode · Zed · LM Studio · Kiro
One copy-paste away: ChatGPT (developer mode) · Continue · Goose · JetBrains AI Assistant · Warp · Amp · Msty · Jan · AnythingLLM
Agent frameworks: OpenAI Agents SDK · Claude Agent SDK · LangChain / LangGraph · Vercel AI SDK · Mastra · CrewAI · Pydantic AI · LlamaIndex
It runs over stdio for local apps and streamable HTTP (serve --http) for ChatGPT and hosted agents.
See docs/agents.md for copy-paste setup for every one of these.
Install it with your AI
Paste this into Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot or Codex and it will set everything up for you.
Install brightspace-d2l-mcp for me by following
https://github.com/AnonymousOnyx22/brightspace-d2l-mcp/blob/main/llms.txt
Commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp setup | Pick your school, sign in, connect your AI apps. On Windows the window closes by itself when done (--keep-open to stop that) |
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp login | Sign in again |
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp status | Show your school, whether you're signed in, and connected apps |
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp doctor | Check Node, your school, sign-in and connected apps, and say how to fix anything wrong |
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp logout | Delete the saved session |
When a newer version is out, commands ask whether to update first. Set BRIGHTSPACE_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 to turn that off.
| npx brightspace-d2l-mcp uninstall | Remove from all AI apps and delete all local data |
| npx brightspace-d2l-mcp serve --http | Run over HTTP for ChatGPT and HTTP-based agents |
| npx brightspace-d2l-mcp config | Print the MCP config JSON for any other app |
Setup options
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp setup --school yourschool.brightspace.com # skip the school question
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp setup --apps claude-desktop,cursor # only connect these apps
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp setup --skip-login # sign in later, on first use
npx brightspace-d2l-mcp setup --yes # accept every default
App ids: claude-desktop, claude-code, cursor, vscode, windsurf, codex, gemini-cli, cline, roo-code, opencode, zed, lm-studio, kiro.
Privacy and security
- Your password is never seen or stored. You type it into your school's own sign-in page in a real browser.
- Read-only. It can't submit, post, or change anything in Brightspace. No tool sends anything but GET requests, the API client has no write methods at all, and a test fails the build if one is ever added. See how read-only is enforced.
- Local only. Everything runs on your computer and talks only to your school's Brightspace. There's no server in between, and no analytics.
- Uses the official Brightspace API with the same access you have in your browser.
- Your session is saved in
~/.brightspace-d2l-mcp/, readable only by your user account.logoutdeletes it;uninstalldeletes everything.
Troubleshooting
"No supported browser was found"
Install Google Chrome or use Microsoft Edge (already on Windows).
Or install a private copy of Chromium with npx playwright install chromium.
My school address isn't accepted
Sign in to Brightspace in your browser, then copy the address from the address bar (any page works). If it says your site "runs Blackboard" or "Canvas", your school doesn't use Brightspace.
Brightspace doesn't show up in Claude Desktop
Fully quit Claude Desktop (tray icon → Quit, not just closing the window), then run setup again.
Claude Desktop rewrites its settings while it's open, so setup offers to restart it for you.
It keeps asking me to sign in
Some schools end sessions every few hours. When that happens a browser window opens so you can sign in again.
Run npx brightspace-d2l-mcp doctor to find out what is wrong, status for a quick look, or login to sign in right away.
If you'd rather it never opens a window on its own, add "autoLogin": false to ~/.brightspace-d2l-mcp/config.json.
I want to filter out old courses
Add course ids to ~/.brightspace-d2l-mcp/config.json:
{ "excludeCourses": [123456, 789012] }
Or keep only specific ones with "includeCourses". Ask your AI "list my courses with their ids" to find them.
FAQ
How do I connect D2L Brightspace to Claude?
Run npx brightspace-d2l-mcp setup. It connects Claude Desktop and Claude Code automatically. Then ask Claude about your courses.
Is there an AI assistant for D2L Brightspace?
Yes. This connects Brightspace to the AI app you already use (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini and others), so you can ask about deadlines, grades and course files in plain English instead of clicking through every course.
How do I use ChatGPT with Brightspace?
Run npx brightspace-d2l-mcp serve --http, expose it with a tunnel, and add the URL as a connector in ChatGPT developer mode. docs/agents.md walks through each step.
How do I connect Brightspace to Cursor, VS Code Copilot or Windsurf?
Run npx brightspace-d2l-mcp setup. It finds Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and 10 other apps and connects them for you.
Can I use this with ChatGPT, a custom agent, or the Claude Agent SDK?
Yes. Local agents and SDKs launch it with npx -y brightspace-d2l-mcp@latest, and ChatGPT or HTTP-based agents use npx brightspace-d2l-mcp serve --http. docs/agents.md has copy-paste setup for ChatGPT, the OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK, LangChain, Vercel AI SDK and more.
Does it need an API key or admin access from my school?
No. Brightspace API keys normally require an administrator. This uses your own student sign-in instead, so it sees exactly what you see in Brightspace, and nobody at your school has to set anything up.
Does it work with Duo, Microsoft Authenticator or text-message codes?
Yes. You sign in yourself in a real browser window, so any sign-in method your school uses works.
Can it tell me what I need on my final to reach a grade?
Yes. Ask "what do I need on the final to get an 80 in Calculus?" and get_grade_outlook uses the weights Brightspace reports to give your current percentage, your best and worst possible final grade, and the average you need on everything left.
Can I get my Brightspace due dates in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook?
Yes. Ask your AI to put your deadlines in your calendar. export_due_dates_calendar makes an .ics file with a link back to Brightspace and a one day reminder on each event, and only includes work you have not handed in.
Which schools does it work with?
Any school on D2L Brightspace, whether the address looks like yourschool.brightspace.com, yourschool.desire2learn.com, or a custom domain like learn.yourschool.edu.
Can it submit assignments or post for me?
No. It's read-only on purpose.
Is this made by D2L?
No. It's an independent open-source project that uses the official Brightspace API with your own sign-in. It isn't affiliated with or endorsed by D2L.
Development
git clone https://github.com/AnonymousOnyx22/brightspace-d2l-mcp.git
cd brightspace-d2l-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test
node build/index.js setup # connects your AI apps to this local build
Tools live in src/tools/, sign-in in src/auth/, and setup in src/cli/.
Issues and pull requests are welcome.
License
MIT © AnonymousOnyx22
D2L and Brightspace are trademarks of D2L Corporation. This project is not affiliated with D2L.