Skip to main content
Canvas MCP is a FastMCP server and CLI that connects your Canvas LMS account to AI agents and terminal workflows. It reads your session directly from Chrome — no API tokens to manage — and exposes 26 tools covering courses, assignments, discussions, files, grades, and more.

Quickstart

Get Canvas MCP running in under five minutes

Installation

Install the CLI and MCP server on your machine

Authentication

How Chrome cookie auth works and how to configure it

MCP Server

Connect Canvas MCP to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client

CLI Reference

Full reference for every canvas CLI command and flag

Tool Reference

All 26 MCP tools with parameters and return shapes

​
What you can do

Canvas MCP gives AI agents and CLI users structured access to your Canvas LMS data:
1

Install and sync dependencies

Clone the repository and run uv sync to install everything.
2

Authenticate via Chrome

Canvas MCP reads your existing Canvas session cookies from Chrome — no API key setup required.
3

Use the CLI

Run canvas courses to list your courses, or canvas course context <id> to get a full course snapshot.
4

Connect an AI agent

Point any MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) at the canvas-mcp server to give your AI assistant live Canvas access.

​
Key capabilities

Course access

List courses, fetch syllabi, pages, tabs, modules, and people enrolled in any course.

Assignments & grades

View upcoming assignments, submission details, grading groups, and your current grade summary.

Discussions & announcements

Read discussion threads and course announcements with full reply context.

Files & folders

Browse, list, and download files and folders attached to any course.
Canvas MCP currently requires Chrome for authentication. Firefox and other browsers are not supported. See Authentication for details.

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us