Canvas Lms MCP Server

[!TIP]

Want it to run locally, on just your own computer? Go to the [Local Edition →](https://github.com/Fireiscoolsolo/canvas-lms-mcp-local) (website). It has the same 242 tools, with no tunnel, no password and a one-command setup.

Canvas LMS MCP: Remote Edition

Use Canvas from your AI assistant on any device: web, desktop and mobile. Always on, password-protected, with automatic failover across several computers.

242 tools · OAuth 2.1 · Status page · Phone alerts · ngrok or Cloudflare tunnel · Multi-computer failover

Website · Quick start · Multi-device guide · Configuration · Tools · Phone alerts · Security · Changelog

[!TIP]

On Windows? Skip the terminal. The free [Canvas MCP Installer Assistant](https://fireiscoolsolo.github.io/canvas-lms-mcp-local/app/) sets this up for Claude or the ChatGPT desktop app with pictures and a check after every step, or does every step for you. [Download for Windows](https://fireiscoolsolo.github.io/canvas-lms-mcp-local/download/)

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Remote or Local?

Highlights

• Your day and week: daily_briefing, get_week_ahead, semester_snapshot, planner notes, checking items off your To Do list
• Study plans: study_plan spreads study time before each deadline; schedule_study_plan puts it on your Canvas calendar
• Grade intelligence: final_grade_scenarios, what_if_grade, grade_impact_ranking, calculate_gpa, full weighted breakdowns
• Assignments, submissions, discussions and inbox: assignment_brief in one call; submit, post and message after a preview
• Content: read lecture PDFs, Word docs and slides with read_course_file; downloads come back as links your phone can open
• Phone alerts: new grades, announcements, work due soon, new assignments, teacher comments, messages and more, by ntfy, Discord, Telegram, Slack, Teams or Pushover, instantly or as a daily digest
• Status page: see from any browser whether your server is online, who is signed in, and sign apps out
• Secure remote access: password-gated OAuth 2.1 with lockout, a login history and optional two-factor codes, over an ngrok or Cloudflare tunnel
• Multi-computer failover: run it on two or more computers, and if one sleeps, another takes over in about a minute

How it works

 Your AI app (web / desktop / mobile / CLI)

│ HTTPS + OAuth ▼ your-domain.ngrok-free.dev ──► supervisor.js ──► index.js (127.0.0.1:3939/mcp) ──► Canvas API (or a Cloudflare hostname) (keeps it alive, (242 tools, OAuth, status page, failover) phone alerts)

Quick start

[!NOTE]

Rather click than type? Download the [Canvas MCP Installer Assistant for Windows](https://fireiscoolsolo.github.io/canvas-lms-mcp-local/download/). It walks you through these steps with pictures and checks each one as you go, for both the Remote and Local editions. See screenshots.

Windows may show "Windows protected your PC" because the app isn't code-signed yet. Click More info, then Run anyway.

You need: Node.js 18+ (22+ to read PDFs), a Canvas account and a free ngrok account (or a Cloudflare account with your own domain). Prefer containers? See Docker.

1. Install

With npm (easiest):

npm install -g canvas-lms-mcp-remote

mkdir canvas-mcp cd canvas-mcp canvas-lms-mcp-remote init

That folder is your **settings folder**. It holds your `.env`, logins and logs, so run every later step from it.

Or from source: git clone https://github.com/Fireiscoolsolo/canvas-lms-mcp-server.git, then run npm install inside the folder. No git? Download the zip from the latest release instead. The repo folder is then your settings folder.

All commands

From source, use node cli.js instead.

2. Create a Canvas token

In Canvas, go to Account → Settings → Approved Integrations → + New Access Token. Canvas only shows the token once, so copy it right away.

3. Set up a tunnel

ngrok (default). On Windows:

winget install --id Ngrok.Ngrok -e

ngrok update # the winget version is often too old (ERR_NGROK_121) ngrok config add-authtoken

On a Mac, with [Homebrew](https://brew.sh):

brew install ngrok

ngrok config add-authtoken

On Linux, install it from [ngrok's download page](https://ngrok.com/download), then run the same `ngrok config add-authtoken` line.

The server finds ngrok by itself: the winget install on Windows, and on a Mac or Linux your PATH plus the folders Homebrew, snap and the usual installers use. If yours is somewhere else, put its full path in CANVAS_MCP_NGROK_PATH.

Then claim your free static domain in the ngrok dashboard, e.g. your-name.ngrok-free.dev.

Or Cloudflare Tunnel (no "Visit Site" page, your own domain)

1. Install cloudflared (downloads; on Windows winget install --id Cloudflare.cloudflared, on a Mac brew install cloudflared). The server finds it the same way as ngrok, or set CANVAS_MCP_CLOUDFLARED_PATH.
2. In the Cloudflare dashboard, open Zero Trust → Networks → Tunnels, create a tunnel and copy its token.
3. Add a public hostname to the tunnel, e.g. canvas.yourdomain.com, pointing at http://localhost:3939.
4. In .env, set CANVAS_MCP_TUNNEL=cloudflared, CANVAS_MCP_CLOUDFLARED_TOKEN= and CANVAS_MCP_PUBLIC_URL=https://canvas.yourdomain.com.

Using your own reverse proxy or Tailscale Funnel instead? Set CANVAS_MCP_TUNNEL=none and point it at port 3939.

4. Configure .env

Fill in the .env that init created. From source, copy .env.example to .env first. Generate the password and secret with:

node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('base64url'))"

5. Test it

canvas-lms-mcp-remote doctor

canvas-lms-mcp-remote

`doctor` checks your settings, token and tunnel first. Then wait until you see `active and serving at https://…`, and press Ctrl+C.

6. Run it automatically when you sign in

canvas-lms-mcp-remote install-service

On Windows this creates the CanvasSupervisor scheduled task, on Linux a systemd user service, and on macOS a launch agent. All of them restart it if it crashes and write supervisor.log in your settings folder, rotating it at 5 MB.

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