---

name: canvas-lms description: Access Canvas LMS (Instructure) for course data, assignments, grades, and submissions. Use when checking due dates, viewing grades, listing courses, or fetching course materials from Canvas.

Canvas LMS Skill

Access Canvas LMS data via the REST API.

Setup

1. Generate an API token in Canvas: Account → Settings → New Access Token
2. Store token in environment or .env file:

   export CANVAS_TOKEN="your_token_here"
   export CANVAS_URL="https://your-school.instructure.com"  # or canvas.yourschool.edu
   

Authentication

Include token in all requests:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/..."

Common Endpoints

Courses & Profile

# User profile
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/users/self/profile"

# Active courses
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/courses?enrollment_state=active&per_page=50"

# Dashboard cards (quick overview)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/dashboard/dashboard_cards"

Assignments & Due Dates

# To-do items (upcoming work)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/users/self/todo"

# Upcoming events
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/users/self/upcoming_events"

# Missing/overdue submissions
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/users/self/missing_submissions"

# Course assignments
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/courses/{course_id}/assignments?per_page=50"

# Assignment details
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/courses/{course_id}/assignments/{id}"

# Submission status
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/courses/{course_id}/assignments/{id}/submissions/self"

Grades

# Enrollments with scores
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/users/self/enrollments?include[]=current_grading_period_scores&per_page=50"

Extract grade: .grades.current_score

Course Content

# Announcements
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/announcements?context_codes[]=course_{course_id}&per_page=20"

# Modules
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/courses/{course_id}/modules?include[]=items&per_page=50"

# Files
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/courses/{course_id}/files?per_page=50"

# Discussion topics
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/courses/{course_id}/discussion_topics?per_page=50"

# Inbox
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_TOKEN" "$CANVAS_URL/api/v1/conversations?per_page=20"

Response Handling

• List endpoints return arrays
• Pagination: check Link header for rel="next"
• Dates are ISO 8601 (UTC)
• Use --max-time 30 for slow endpoints

Parse with jq:

curl -s ... | jq '.[] | {name: .name, due: .due_at}'

Or Python if jq unavailable:

curl -s ... | python3 -c "import sys,json; data=json.load(sys.stdin); print(json.dumps(data, indent=2))"

Tips

• Course IDs appear in todo/assignment responses
• File download URLs are in the url field of file objects
• Always include per_page=50 to get more results (default is often 10)