MCP Canvas Lms

🚀 Canvas MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for interacting with the Canvas API. This server allows you to manage courses, assignments, enrollments, and grades.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js: Version 18 or higher
• Canvas API Token: Obtained from your Canvas account
• Canvas Domain Name: Typically canvas.instructure.com

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/canvas-mcp-server.git
cd canvas-mcp-server

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Configure environment variables Copy the example environment file:

cp .env.example .env

Edit the .env file and replace the placeholders with your actual Canvas API token and domain name. Build the project:

npm run build

4. Run the server

npm start

The server will start and listen for MCP requests via standard input/output.

Connect to Claude Desktop

1. Update Claude configuration Add the MCP server configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json:

  "canvas-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "canvas-mcp-server"]
    },

2. Restart Claude Desktop Completely quit Claude Desktop. Start Claude Desktop again. Find and connect to your Canvas MCP server in the 🔌 menu.

✨ Features

• Available Tools (More student - oriented features coming soon)
  • canvas_create_course: Create a new course in Canvas.
  • canvas_update_course: Update an existing course.
  • canvas_create_assignment: Create a new assignment in a Canvas course.
  • canvas_update_assignment: Update an existing assignment.
  • canvas_submit_grade: Submit grades for student assignments.
  • canvas_enroll_user: Enroll a user in a course.

Error Handling

Tools indicate issues by returning an error message containing isError: true. Ensure that all required environment variables are set to avoid runtime errors.

Troubleshooting

• Build Errors
  • Check the TypeScript version: npx tsc --version
  • Clean and rebuild: rm -rf build/ && npm run build
• Runtime Errors
  • Check the logs for detailed error messages.
  • Ensure that environment variables are set correctly.
• Type Errors
  • Use TypeScript's type checking to validate types: npx tsc --noEmit

Contribution

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request to report any improvements or bug fixes.

📄 License

This project is released under the MIT License.

Additional Notes

• Type Safety: The types.ts file ensures that all interactions with the Canvas API are type - safe, reducing runtime errors and improving code maintainability.
• Error Handling: The server gracefully handles errors by returning meaningful messages and setting the isError flag, allowing clients (e.g., Claude Desktop) to understand and respond accordingly.
• Environment Variables: Use environment variables to manage sensitive information (such as API tokens) for enhanced security and flexibility across different environments.
• Modularity: Separating concerns into different files (e.g., types.ts, client.ts, index.ts) makes the codebase easier to navigate and maintain.

Feel free to adjust file paths and configurations according to the specific needs of the project. If you have any other questions, please let us know!