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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/ynbh/canvasmcp/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Chrome profiles let one Chrome installation hold separate browsing sessions for different accounts. If you have more than one Chrome profile and more than one of them is signed into a Canvas site, Canvas MCP needs to know which profile to read cookies from.

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Listing available profiles

To see every Chrome profile Canvas MCP can find, along with the Canvas domains each profile has sessions for: 
canvas settings profiles
The output is JSON. Each entry includes the profile name, its path, any detected Canvas domains, and whether auth is currently verified for that profile.

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Selecting a profile

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Interactive selection

Run the command without arguments to choose interactively: 
canvas settings choose-profile
Canvas MCP prints a numbered list of profiles and prompts you to enter a number. The selection is saved to ~/.config/canvasmcp/settings.json and used for all future runs.
Interactive selection requires a terminal (TTY). In headless or scripted environments, pass the profile name as an argument instead.

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Select by domain or name

Pass a Canvas domain or Chrome profile name to select without a prompt: 
canvas settings choose-profile "terpmail.umd.edu"
Canvas MCP looks up the profile whose name or directory matches the argument, saves it, and prints the saved selection as JSON.

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Viewing current settings

canvas settings show
This shows the saved profile selection alongside a live auth status check.

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Resetting to defaults

canvas settings clear
This removes any saved profile selection. After clearing, Canvas MCP falls back to auto-detection (or uses environment variables if they are set).

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Environment variable overrides

You can override the saved profile at any time using environment variables. These take precedence over anything saved with canvas settings choose-profile.
VariableDescription
CANVAS_CHROME_PROFILEChrome profile name (e.g. "terpmail.umd.edu" or "Default"). Canvas MCP matches this against the profile’s display name or directory name.
CANVAS_CHROME_PROFILE_PATHAbsolute path to a Chrome profile directory. Use this when the name is ambiguous or when pointing to a non-standard Chrome installation.
export CANVAS_CHROME_PROFILE="terpmail.umd.edu"
canvas auth-status

export CANVAS_CHROME_PROFILE_PATH="/home/user/.config/google-chrome/Profile 3"
canvas auth-status
If both CANVAS_CHROME_PROFILE and CANVAS_CHROME_PROFILE_PATH are set, CANVAS_CHROME_PROFILE_PATH takes precedence because it is an exact directory reference.

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Settings persistence

MethodPersists across runs?Can be overridden?
canvas settings choose-profileYes, saved to settings.jsonYes, by env vars
CANVAS_CHROME_PROFILE env varNo, session only—
CANVAS_CHROME_PROFILE_PATH env varNo, session only—
Environment variables always win over saved settings. If neither is set, the saved settings file is used. If that is also empty, Canvas MCP uses the default Chrome profile.

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