Canvas MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for interacting with the Canvas LMS API. This server provides tools for managing courses, users, content, and assessments in Canvas.

Features

• Authentication: Secure authentication with Canvas API tokens
• Course Management: Get course information, list courses, update course settings
• User Management: Get user information, list course users, manage enrollments
• Content Management: Create and manage pages, modules, and module items
• Assessment Management: Create and manage assignments, grade submissions, create announcements
• Quiz Management: Create and manage quizzes, quiz questions, and grade quiz submissions

Prerequisites

• Node.js 16 or higher
• A Canvas LMS instance
• Canvas API token with appropriate permissions

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

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

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Create a .env file based on the .env.example file:

   cp .env.example .env
   

4. Edit the .env file with your Canvas API token and URL:

   CANVAS_API_TOKEN=your_canvas_api_token_here
   CANVAS_API_URL=https://your-institution.instructure.com/api/v1
   MCP_SERVER_NAME=canvas-mcp
   

5. Build the project:

   npm run build
   

Usage

Running the Server

npm start

Configuring with Claude for Desktop

To use this MCP server with Claude for Desktop, add the following to your Claude for Desktop configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "canvas-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/canvas-mcp-server/dist/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/ with the actual path to your canvas-mcp-server directory.

Configuring with Anything LLM

To use this MCP server with Anything LLM, add the following to your Anything LLM MCP configuration:

1. Navigate to Settings > MCP in your Anything LLM interface
2. Add a new MCP server with the following configuration:

{
  "name": "canvas-mcp",
  "command": "node",
  "args": [
    "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/canvas-mcp-server/dist/index.js"
  ]
}

Replace /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/ with the actual path to your canvas-mcp-server directory.

For more information, see the Anything LLM MCP documentation.

Available Tools

Course Management

• get_course: Get information about a Canvas course
• list_courses: List Canvas courses for the current user
• update_course: Update Canvas course settings
• get_course_modules: Get modules for a Canvas course
• get_course_assignments: Get assignments for a Canvas course

User Management

• get_user: Get information about a Canvas user
• get_self: Get information about the current Canvas user
• list_course_users: List users enrolled in a Canvas course
• enroll_user: Enroll a user in a Canvas course
• remove_enrollment: Remove a user enrollment from a Canvas course
• send_message: Send a message to a Canvas user

Content Management

• get_course_pages: Get pages for a Canvas course
• get_page_content: Get content of a Canvas page
• create_or_update_page: Create or update a Canvas page
• delete_page: Delete a Canvas page
• create_module: Create a new module in a Canvas course
• add_module_item: Add an item to a module in a Canvas course

Assessment Management

• create_assignment: Create a new assignment in a Canvas course
• update_assignment: Update an existing assignment in a Canvas course
• grade_submission: Grade a student submission for an assignment
• get_submissions: Get student submissions for an assignment
• create_announcement: Create a new announcement in a Canvas course

Quiz Management

• list_quizzes: List quizzes in a Canvas course
• get_quiz: Get details of a specific quiz
• create_quiz: Create a new quiz in a Canvas course
• update_quiz: Update an existing quiz in a Canvas course
• delete_quiz: Delete a quiz from a Canvas course
• get_quiz_questions: Get questions for a specific quiz
• create_quiz_question: Create a new question for a quiz
• update_quiz_question: Update an existing quiz question
• delete_quiz_question: Delete a question from a quiz
• get_quiz_submissions: Get submissions for a specific quiz
• grade_quiz_submission: Grade a quiz submission

Development

Project Structure

canvas-mcp-server/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts            # Main entry point
│   ├── auth/               # Authentication handling
│   ├── api/                # Canvas API client
│   │   └── client.ts       # API client with pagination and rate limiting
│   ├── tools/              # MCP tool implementations
│   │   ├── courses.ts      # Course-related tools
│   │   ├── users.ts        # User-related tools
│   │   ├── content.ts      # Content-related tools
│   │   ├── assessments.ts  # Assessment-related tools
│   │   └── quizzes.ts      # Quiz-related tools
│   └── utils/
│       ├── logging.ts      # Logging utilities
│       └── error.ts        # Error handling utilities
├── dist/                   # Compiled JavaScript files
├── .env                    # Environment variables
└── package.json            # Project dependencies

Running in Development Mode

npm run dev

License

MIT

Acknowledgements

• Canvas LMS API Documentation
• Model Context Protocol