canvas-lms-mcp
Canvas LMS MCP Server is a minimal server that facilitates the integration of AI systems with the Canvas Learning Management System. It provides access to educational data, supporting tools to list and retrieve courses, assignments, quizzes, and more. It enhances the user experience by integrating with AI-powered IDEs like Cursor.
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
- List planner items (assignments, quizzes, etc.)
- Get and list assignments
- Get and list quizzes
- Get and list courses
- Get course syllabus
- Get course modules
- List files
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 the following 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 IDinclude
(optional): List of additional data to include
get_course_syllabus
Get a course's syllabus.
Parameters:
course_id
(required): Course ID
get_course_modules
Get modules for a course.
Parameters:
course_id
(required): Course IDinclude
(optional): List of additional data to include
Assignments
list_assignments
List assignments for a course.
Parameters:
course_id
(required): Course IDbucket
(required): Filter assignments by ("past", "overdue", "undated", "ungraded", "unsubmitted", "upcoming", "future")order_by
(required): Field to order assignments by ("due_at", "position", "name")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 IDassignment_id
(required): Assignment ID
Quizzes
list_quizzes
List quizzes for a course.
Parameters:
course_id
(required): Course IDinclude
(optional): List of additional data to includepage
(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 IDquiz_id
(required): Quiz ID
Files
list_files
List files for a course or folder.
Parameters:
course_id
(optional): Course IDfolder_id
(optional): Folder IDinclude
(optional): List of additional data to includepage
(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 formatend_date
(required): End date in ISO 8601 formatcontext_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
Integration with Cursor
Cursor is an AI-powered IDE that can interact with the Canvas LMS MCP server to provide education data directly within your development environment.
Setting Up Cursor Integration
-
Install the Cursor IDE from https://cursor.sh/
-
Create a
.cursor/mcp.json
file in your project directory with the following content:{ "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 actual Canvas API tokenyour-institution.instructure.com
with your Canvas institution URL
-
Restart Cursor for the changes to take effect.
Cursor Time Integration (Optional)
You can also integrate a time server for timezone-related queries by adding a "time" server to your mcp.json:
"time": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-server-time",
"--local-timezone=America/New_York"
]
}
This allows you to use time-related functions with your Canvas data.
Usage Examples
Once connected, you can ask Cursor AI about your Canvas data:
- "What assignments do I have due next week?"
- "Show me the syllabus for my Biology course"
- "List all my upcoming quizzes"
- "What's on my schedule for tomorrow?"
Example conversation:
YOU: What assignments do I have due soon?
CURSOR: I'll check your upcoming assignments.
Based on your Canvas data, here are your upcoming assignments:
- "Final Project" for CS101 due on December 10, 2023
- "Lab Report #5" for BIOL200 due on December 7, 2023
- "Research Paper" for ENGL301 due on December 15, 2023
Development
For detailed development instructions, please see the file.
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the file for details.