LABSCO SUMMARY

Course work that lived across a dozen Canvas tabs happens in one thread.

The reads cover what a student checks each morning — what is due, what it was graded — and the writes cover what an instructor does about it, from creating the assignment to returning the grade with a comment. Account-level tools sit in the same server, so enrolling a user, creating one, or generating an institutional report does not need a second integration. canvas_health_check is there to answer whether the token and domain are reaching Canvas at all before you debug anything else.

What it is

A Canvas LMS client of 54 tools spanning the roles Canvas itself separates — the student's reads, the instructor's writes, and account administration.

What you get

Courses listed, opened, created and updated, down to syllabus body, enrolment date restrictions and assignment-group weighting
Assignments created with points possible, due date, submission types and allowed extensions, then updated and published
Submissions fetched per student, work submitted, and a grade posted with a comment attached
The student-side view in its own tools: upcoming due dates, course grades, all grades for the current user, dashboard and dashboard cards
Modules, the items inside them, and marking an item complete
Discussion topics and announcements read, and a message posted into a topic
Quizzes listed and created with a quiz type and time limit, attempts started, and rubrics read for a course
Conversations started with named recipients, notifications listed, and the user profile read and updated
Account administration: sub-accounts, account users, user creation, enrolment, available reports and report generation

Requirements

A Canvas account with an API token in CANVAS_API_TOKEN and your institution's Canvas host in CANVAS_DOMAIN, plus npx on your PATH. Grading and account tools act as whatever role that token already holds in Canvas.

Setup effort

One command plus a key — npm install -g canvas-mcp-server, then supply credentials

See installation options

USE CASES

01

Catching up on what is due this week

Upcoming due dates come back across every course at once, with the grades that say which of them still matter, instead of opening each course card in turn.

canvas_get_upcoming_assignmentscanvas_list_coursescanvas_get_user_grades

02

Setting an assignment and grading what comes back

Create the assignment with its points, due date and accepted submission types, then read a student's submission and post the grade with the comment attached to it.

canvas_create_assignmentcanvas_get_submissioncanvas_submit_grade

03

Building out a course shell before term starts

Create the course with its syllabus and dates, add the quiz with its time limit, and check the modules and syllabus as they will appear to the students rather than in the editor.

canvas_create_coursecanvas_create_quizcanvas_list_modulescanvas_get_syllabus

04

Answering a question in the class discussion

Find the topic, read the thread it belongs to, and post the reply — with announcements checked in the same pass so the same answer is not already up there.

canvas_list_discussion_topicscanvas_get_discussion_topiccanvas_post_to_discussioncanvas_list_announcements

05

Getting a late-joining student into a course

Create the user in the account, enrol them into the course with the role and enrolment state they should have, and open the conversation that tells them what they missed.

canvas_create_usercanvas_enroll_usercanvas_create_conversation

06

Pulling institutional numbers out of Canvas

Query the account's courses and users with search and sort rather than exporting everything, see which reports the account offers, and start the one you need.

canvas_list_account_coursescanvas_list_account_userscanvas_get_account_reportscanvas_create_account_report

54 tools

Counted once with only startup setup. Other versions, modes or optional credentials may expose a different list.

`canvas_create_account_report`

Generate a report for an account

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

What to know first

Tools you get

54 tools when we connected.

Requires

npx on PATH
CANVAS_API_TOKEN in your environment

CONTEXT COST

Moderate Standing cost

Rated by the size of the 54 tool definitions that ride along on every turn, not by how many there are

INSTALLATION

Connect your client

Server setup

TERMINAL

npm install -g canvas-mcp-server

MCP Clients

Claude Desktop

CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "canvas-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "canvas-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "CANVAS_API_TOKEN": "<YOUR_CANVAS_API_TOKEN>",
        "CANVAS_DOMAIN": "<YOUR_SCHOOL>.instructure.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Other routes

Self-host — Docker HTTP

SELF-HOST — DOCKER HTTP · TERMINAL

docker run -d \
  --name canvas-mcp \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -e CANVAS_API_TOKEN="<YOUR_CANVAS_API_TOKEN>" \
  -e CANVAS_DOMAIN="school.instructure.com" \
  -e MCP_TRANSPORT="streamable-http" \
  -e MCP_HTTP_HOST="0.0.0.0" \
  -e MCP_HTTP_PORT="3000" \
  -e MCP_HTTP_PATH="/mcp" \
  ghcr.io/dmontgomery40/mcp-canvas-lms:latest

This starts the server over streamable HTTP rather than stdio. school.instructure.com is a sample; yours is your own Canvas host. Then point a client that connects to remote MCP servers at http://localhost:3000/mcp (the port and MCP_HTTP_PATH set above).

Canvas LMS MCP Server by DMontgomery40

Course work that lived across a dozen Canvas tabs happens in one thread.

What it is

What you get

Requirements

Setup effort

Catching up on what is due this week

Setting an assignment and grading what comes back

Building out a course shell before term starts

Answering a question in the class discussion

Getting a late-joining student into a course

Pulling institutional numbers out of Canvas

54 tools

canvas_create_account_report

canvas_create_assignment

canvas_create_conversation

canvas_create_course

canvas_create_quiz

canvas_create_user

canvas_enroll_user

canvas_get_account

canvas_get_account_reports

canvas_get_assignment

canvas_get_conversation

canvas_get_course

canvas_get_course_grades

canvas_get_dashboard

canvas_get_dashboard_cards

canvas_get_discussion_topic

canvas_get_file

canvas_get_module

canvas_get_module_item

canvas_get_page

canvas_get_quiz

canvas_get_rubric

canvas_get_submission

canvas_get_syllabus

canvas_get_upcoming_assignments

canvas_get_user_grades

canvas_get_user_profile

canvas_health_check

canvas_list_account_courses

canvas_list_account_users

canvas_list_announcements

canvas_list_assignment_groups

canvas_list_assignments

canvas_list_calendar_events

canvas_list_conversations

canvas_list_courses

canvas_list_discussion_topics

canvas_list_files

canvas_list_folders

canvas_list_module_items

canvas_list_modules

canvas_list_notifications

canvas_list_pages

canvas_list_quizzes

canvas_list_rubrics

canvas_list_sub_accounts

canvas_mark_module_item_complete

canvas_post_to_discussion

canvas_start_quiz_attempt

canvas_submit_assignment

canvas_submit_grade

canvas_update_assignment

canvas_update_course

canvas_update_user_profile

What to know first

Tools you get

Requires

Moderate Standing cost

Connect your client

Server setup

MCP Clients

Claude Desktop

Other routes

Self-host — Docker HTTP

Same category

Canvas

Canvas MCP

`canvas_create_account_report`

`canvas_create_assignment`

`canvas_create_conversation`

`canvas_create_course`

`canvas_create_quiz`

`canvas_create_user`

`canvas_enroll_user`

`canvas_get_account`

`canvas_get_account_reports`

`canvas_get_assignment`

`canvas_get_conversation`

`canvas_get_course`

`canvas_get_course_grades`

`canvas_get_dashboard`

`canvas_get_dashboard_cards`

`canvas_get_discussion_topic`

`canvas_get_file`

`canvas_get_module`

`canvas_get_module_item`

`canvas_get_page`

`canvas_get_quiz`

`canvas_get_rubric`

`canvas_get_submission`

`canvas_get_syllabus`

`canvas_get_upcoming_assignments`

`canvas_get_user_grades`

`canvas_get_user_profile`

`canvas_health_check`

`canvas_list_account_courses`

`canvas_list_account_users`

`canvas_list_announcements`

`canvas_list_assignment_groups`

`canvas_list_assignments`

`canvas_list_calendar_events`

`canvas_list_conversations`

`canvas_list_courses`

`canvas_list_discussion_topics`

`canvas_list_files`

`canvas_list_folders`

`canvas_list_module_items`

`canvas_list_modules`

`canvas_list_notifications`

`canvas_list_pages`

`canvas_list_quizzes`

`canvas_list_rubrics`

`canvas_list_sub_accounts`

`canvas_mark_module_item_complete`

`canvas_post_to_discussion`

`canvas_start_quiz_attempt`

`canvas_submit_assignment`

`canvas_submit_grade`

`canvas_update_assignment`

`canvas_update_course`

`canvas_update_user_profile`