Canvas LMS MCP for students MCP server

Canvas MCP for students

Ask your AI what's actually left to do in Canvas.

This is a free, open source MCP server. It lets Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other AI apps read your Canvas courses, due dates, grades and announcements. It is read only. It can never submit, edit or delete anything.

Works with any school that uses Canvas. Not affiliated with Instructure.

Free forever. No sign up and no subscription. Your login details only ever go to your own school.

Quick start

1. In Canvas, go to Account > Settings, scroll to Approved Integrations and click New Access Token. Copy it.
2. Add this to your AI app's MCP config (for Claude Desktop that's claudedesktopconfig.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "canvas": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "canvas-lms-student-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://yourschool.instructure.com",
        "CANVAS_API_TOKEN": "paste-your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

1. Restart your AI app and ask something like "what's due this week?"

To check your setup first, run npx canvas-lms-student-mcp doctor with the two environment variables set.

Some schools turn off student access tokens. If you don't see the New Access Token button, your school has disabled it and this server can't connect to your account.

What you can ask

• "What's due this week?"
• "Do I have anything missing or overdue?"
• "What's my grade in each class?"
• "What did my instructors announce lately?"
• "Show me what's in the Week 3 module for Networking."

Tools

All tools are read only.

Privacy and security

• Your token stays on your computer. It is only sent to your own school's Canvas address.
• Nothing is sent to any other server by this project.
• Every tool is marked read only. Revoke the token any time in Canvas settings.

Troubleshooting

Development

npm install
npm run build
npm test

Tests run against a fake Canvas server, so they need no account or network.

Also available

• Brightspace MCP for D2L Brightspace, with a hosted version, deadline alerts and a daily digest.

License

MIT