Canvas MCP 服务

Canvas MCP Server

Connect Claude to your Canvas LMS. Once set up, Claude can read your courses, assignments, announcements, and syllabi — and even submit assignments and manage files — directly from Claude Desktop or Claude Code.

What you need

• Node.js 18 or later — check with node --version, download from nodejs.org if needed
• A Canvas account at your institution (any school that uses Canvas LMS)
• Claude Desktop or Claude Code (VS Code extension)

Step 1 — Get your Canvas API token

1. Log in to your institution's Canvas (e.g. https://yourschool.instructure.com)
2. Click your profile picture / avatar in the top-left corner
3. Go to Settings
4. Scroll down to Approved Integrations
5. Click + New Access Token
6. Give it a name like Claude MCP and click Generate Token
7. Copy the token now — Canvas will never show it again

Your Canvas URL is the domain your school uses. If you log in at canvas.university.edu, that's your base URL.

Step 2 — Install and build

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/canvas-mcp.git
cd canvas-mcp

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

That's it. This creates dist/index.js which is the server Claude will run.

Step 3 — Connect to Claude

You need to tell Claude where the server is and give it your token. Pick the client you use:

Claude Desktop

Open (or create) this file:

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json        ← Mac
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json                            ← Windows

Add the mcpServers block. If the file already has content, merge it in:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "canvas": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/canvas-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "CANVAS_API_TOKEN": "your_token_here",
        "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://yourschool.instructure.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace:

• /absolute/path/to/canvas-mcp → the folder where you cloned this repo (e.g. /Users/yourname/canvas-mcp)
• your_token_here → the token you copied in Step 1
• https://yourschool.instructure.com → your institution's Canvas URL

Quit Claude Desktop fully and reopen it after saving.

Claude Code (VS Code)

Create or edit ~/.claude/mcp.json (global, works in all projects):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "canvas": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/canvas-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "CANVAS_API_TOKEN": "your_token_here",
        "CANVAS_BASE_URL": "https://yourschool.instructure.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

Then restart Claude Code (Cmd+Shift+P → "Claude Code: Restart").

Step 4 — Verify it works

Ask Claude:

"List my Canvas courses"

If everything is connected, Claude will call the list_courses tool and return your active courses.

What Claude can do

Troubleshooting

Claude doesn't seem to have Canvas tools

• Make sure you fully quit and reopened Claude Desktop (not just closed the window)
• Double-check the path to dist/index.js is correct and absolute
• Make sure you ran npm run build — the dist/ folder must exist

"401 Unauthorized" error

• Your token is invalid or expired — generate a new one in Canvas → Settings → Approved Integrations

"403 Forbidden" error

• Your token is valid but doesn't have access to that course or resource

"404 Not Found" error

• The course ID or assignment ID doesn't exist — use list_courses first to get valid IDs

Wrong Canvas URL

• Make sure CANVAS_BASE_URL matches your institution exactly (no trailing slash)
• Example: https://canvas.university.edu not https://canvas.university.edu/

Node.js not found

• Install Node.js 18+ from nodejs.org
• On Mac with Homebrew: brew install node

"Cannot find module" error

• Run npm install then npm run build again from the canvas-mcp directory

Security note

Your API token gives read/write access to your Canvas account. Keep it out of version control. Never paste it into a public place. The dist/ folder and any .env files are excluded from this repo by .gitignore.