Tools for course navigation structure: list wiki pages, enumerate left-sidebar tabs, fetch tab destinations, and expand module items with content details.
This page covers the tools that handle course navigation structure: wiki pages, left-sidebar tabs, and modules. These tools bridge the gap between a course URL and its underlying content — use them to enumerate what exists, then retrieve specifics.
canvas_get_page is for wiki pages only. It does not support assignment submission preview routes, discussion URLs, or other Canvas resource types. For any Canvas URL that is not a wiki page, use resolve_canvas_url to route it to the correct tool automatically. Use list_course_tabs to enumerate left-sidebar navigation entries such as Home, Syllabus, People, and external tool links.
Lists wiki pages in a course. Returns metadata for each page — title, slug URL, published state, and timestamps — but not the full page body. To read body content, call canvas_get_page with the page’s url slug.
# List all pages in course 12345canvas tool run list_course_pages --args '{"course_id": "12345"}'# Search for pages about the syllabuscanvas tool run list_course_pages --args '{"course_id": "12345", "search": "syllabus"}'# List only published pagescanvas tool run list_course_pages --args '{"course_id": "12345", "published_only": true}'
Fetches the full content of a single Canvas wiki page, including its HTML body. Accepts either a URL slug (e.g. "week-3-notes") or a numeric page ID. When a full Canvas URL is passed, the tool parses it and extracts the slug automatically — but only if the URL points to a pages route.
canvas_get_page only works for canvas wiki page URLs (those containing /pages/ in the path). Passing an assignment, discussion, file, or submission URL returns an error with suggested_tool: "resolve_canvas_url". Use resolve_canvas_url for all other Canvas URL types.
When true, url_or_id is always interpreted as a numeric ID even if it looks like a slug. Use this when you have a numeric ID that matches a valid slug pattern.
# Fetch a page by URL slugcanvas tool run canvas_get_page --args '{"course_id": "12345", "url_or_id": "week-3-notes"}'# Fetch by numeric page IDcanvas tool run canvas_get_page --args '{"course_id": "12345", "url_or_id": "999", "force_as_id": true}'# Fetch using a full Canvas wiki page URLcanvas tool run canvas_get_page --args '{"course_id": "12345", "url_or_id": "https://school.instructure.com/courses/12345/pages/week-3-notes"}'
Lists the left-sidebar navigation tabs for a course. Tabs represent the primary navigation entries in Canvas: Home, Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, Pages, Files, Syllabus, Modules, People, and any external tool links (LTIs) installed in the course.
Use list_course_tabs when you need to discover what navigation entries exist for a course rather than what wiki pages exist. Tabs reflect the actual sidebar — including external tools and hidden entries — while list_course_pages only covers wiki page content.
Fetches a single navigation tab by its ID and optionally resolves the tab’s destination, returning the full content the tab points to. When include_target is true, the tool internally calls resolve_canvas_url on the tab URL and returns the result as the target field.
When true (the default), the tool resolves the tab’s destination URL and appends the result as a target object. Set to false to skip resolution and return only tab metadata.
Present when include_target is true. Contains the resolved destination from resolve_canvas_url, including resource type, IDs, and fetched details when available. null when the tab URL could not be resolved.
# Fetch the Syllabus tab and resolve its contentcanvas tool run get_course_tab --args '{"course_id": "12345", "tab_id": "syllabus"}'# Fetch a tab without resolving its destinationcanvas tool run get_course_tab --args '{"course_id": "12345", "tab_id": "syllabus", "include_target": false}'# Fetch an external LTI tabcanvas tool run get_course_tab --args '{"course_id": "12345", "tab_id": "context_external_tool_42"}'
Lists course modules. Modules are the primary organizational structure in many Canvas courses — they group pages, assignments, discussions, files, quizzes, and external URLs into ordered sequences. Optionally includes the items inside each module and their content details.
When true and include_items is also true, each item includes a content_details field with additional metadata such as due dates and point values. Has no effect when include_items is false.
# List all modules in course 12345canvas tool run list_modules --args '{"course_id": "12345"}'# List modules with their itemscanvas tool run list_modules --args '{"course_id": "12345", "include_items": true}'# List modules with items and full content details (due dates, points)canvas tool run list_modules --args '{"course_id": "12345", "include_items": true, "include_content_details": true}'# Search for modules containing "midterm"canvas tool run list_modules --args '{"course_id": "12345", "search": "midterm"}'# Limit to 5 modules, 10 items eachcanvas tool run list_modules --args '{"course_id": "12345", "include_items": true, "limit": 5, "items_limit": 10}'
When you have a Canvas URL but do not know what type of resource it points to, use resolve_canvas_url:
canvas tool run resolve_canvas_url --args '{"url": "https://school.instructure.com/courses/12345/assignments/67890"}'
The tool parses the URL, identifies the resource type, and fetches details using the appropriate tool automatically. Do not pass non-page URLs to canvas_get_page.
