canvasmcp

FastMCP server that exposes Canvas LMS tools over MCP.

Setup

uv sync

Auth

The installed CLI command is canvas.

Auth is Chrome-only:

• The CLI reads Canvas cookies from Chrome via browser_cookie3.
• If CANVAS_BASE_URL is set, that domain is used.
• If CANVAS_BASE_URL is unset, the CLI tries to auto-detect a single Canvas domain from Chrome cookies.
• Chrome cookies are read fresh on every request, so session and CSRF rotation are picked up automatically.

Note: macOS will prompt for Keychain access on first run. Click "Allow" or "Always Allow".

Base URL

CANVAS_BASE_URL=https://school.instructure.com

If omitted, the CLI attempts to infer the Canvas domain from Chrome cookies. Set it explicitly if you have multiple Canvas domains in Chrome.

CLI

List your courses:

uv run canvas courses

Inspect one course:

uv run canvas course overview 12345
uv run canvas course context 12345

Work with assignments and discussions:

uv run canvas assignments list 12345 --bucket upcoming
uv run canvas discussion show 12345 67890

Use the raw tool escape hatch when needed:

uv run canvas tool list
uv run canvas tool run list_courses --args '{"limit":10}'

Check current auth status:

uv run canvas auth-status

Install

Install the CLI as a tool:

uv tool install .

That installs the canvas command.

Reinstall after local changes:

uv tool install . --reinstall

MCP Client Setup

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "canvasmcp": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/canvasmcp/scripts/start_mcp_server.sh"
    }
  }
}

Run As An HTTP Server

FastMCP v3 recommends HTTP transport for networked MCP servers. This project now supports that directly from the existing entrypoint:

uv run canvas-mcp --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

By default, FastMCP serves the MCP endpoint at http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp.

You can also use the helper script:

./scripts/start_mcp_server.sh --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

stdio remains the default transport for desktop MCP clients. sse is still available for legacy clients:

uv run canvas-mcp --transport sse --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

Tools

Tool	Description
get_today()	Today's date in ISO format
list_courses(favorites_only, search, limit)	List courses
resolve_course(query, favorites_only, limit)	Fuzzy-match a course by name
get_course_overview(course_id)	Course-level metadata and teacher info
get_course_syllabus(course_id, ...)	Syllabus metadata and optional syllabus body
list_course_assignments(course_id, ...)	List assignments
get_assignment_details(course_id, assignment_id, ...)	Full assignment details
list_course_pages(course_id, ...)	List course pages
list_course_tabs(course_id, ...)	List left-sidebar course navigation tabs
get_course_tab(course_id, tab_id, ...)	Get one tab and resolve/fetch its target
canvas_get_page(course_id, url_or_id, ...)	Get a specific wiki page (pages URLs only)
list_discussion_topics(course_id, ...)	List discussions with exact-title/search filters
get_discussion_entries(course_id, topic_id, ...)	Get discussion thread entries and replies
list_course_files(course_id, ...)	List files
download_course_file(course_id, file_id, ...)	Download a file to local temp storage
list_course_folders(course_id, limit)	List folders
list_assignment_groups(course_id, ...)	List grading groups and optional assignments
list_course_submissions(course_id, ...)	List submissions for a student
get_course_grade_summary(course_id, ...)	Grade summary + assignment-group breakdown
list_modules(course_id, ...)	List modules with optional items
list_announcements(course_ids, ...)	List announcements
list_calendar_events(course_ids, ...)	List calendar events
list_course_people(course_id, ...)	List users in a course
resolve_canvas_url(url, fetch_details)	Parse Canvas URL and optionally fetch details
get_course_context_snapshot(course_id, ...)	Aggregated course context for quick orientation

Navigation tabs

Use course tabs when you need the left-sidebar entries (Home, Syllabus, People, external tools, etc.) instead of only wiki pages:

• list_course_tabs(course_id) to enumerate available tabs and their URLs.
• get_course_tab(course_id, tab_id, include_target=true) to fetch one tab and resolve its destination.

canvas_get_page does not fetch assignment submission preview routes. Use resolve_canvas_url for routing those URLs to the right tool.

For list_course_submissions with student_id other than self, your Canvas account must have permission to read other students' submissions in that course.