Canvas LMS MCP server

Canvas MCP provides tools that allow AI agents to interact with Canvas LMS, enabling them to find relevant resources, access course materials, and retrieve information from your Canvas account.

Installation

To get started with Canvas MCP, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository and navigate to the project directory:

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

2. Install dependencies using one of these methods:

   Using uv (recommended):

   pip install uv
   uv venv
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
   uv pip install -r requirements.txt
   

   Using pip:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Configuration

Create a .env file in the root directory with the following environment variables:

CANVAS_API_KEY=your_canvas_api_key
GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key

API Keys

• Canvas API Key: Obtain this from your Canvas LMS account settings
• Gemini API Key: Get this from https://aistudio.google.com/app/apikey

Usage

To use Canvas MCP, you need to add it to your MCP configuration.

Adding to MCP Configuration

Add the following to your mcp.json or claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
      "canvas": {
          "command": "uv",
          "args": [
              "--directory",
              "/Users/aryank/Developer/canvas-mcp",
              "run",
              "canvas.py"
          ]
      }
  }
}

Note: Be sure to update the directory path to match where you cloned the repository.

Available Features

With Canvas MCP, you can:

• Find relevant resources using natural language queries
• Get course information
• Access module content
• Retrieve module items
• Get file URLs

Upcoming Features

• Calendar events access
• Assignment retrieval
• Course analysis
• Module analysis
• Resource analysis

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.