148 tools spanning courses, grading, quizzes, discussions, and admin workflows — with a one-click Claude Desktop install and FERPA-grade student-data pseudonymization built into the server, not bolted on after.
Not just an API wrapper — a server designed around what happens when the data on the other side belongs to actual, identifiable kids.
Toggle on and student names, emails, and IDs never reach the model — replaced with stable pseudonyms per course, persisted to disk, audit-logged on reverse lookup.
Unique to this serverServe students ~46 tools, teachers ~104, admins ~116 — from the same server, same token model. Canvas still enforces real permissions underneath.
A signed .mcpb bundle for Claude Desktop. No terminal, no Node install, no config file. Paste a token, done.
Reusable Canvas workflows — at-risk student surfacing, gradebook audit trails, outcome tracking — installable into 40+ AI clients.
view_course_structure renders a collapsible module tree in MCP Apps-capable hosts, and degrades cleanly to JSON everywhere else.
stdio for local clients, streamable HTTP for hosted deployments, Docker compose, or import the factory function straight into your own Node app.
| canvas-lms-mcp | vishalsachdev/canvas-mcp | DMontgomery40/mcp-canvas-lms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language | TypeScript | Python | TypeScript |
| Tool count | 148 | 80+ | 54 |
| One-click Claude Desktop install | Yes | — | — |
| FERPA pseudonymization mode | Yes | — | — |
| Role-based tool filtering | Yes | — | — |
| License | MIT | MIT | MIT |
Account → Settings → Approved Integrations → New Access Token. Copy it — you won't see it twice.
Detects Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Codex, Continue, and Claude Code — writes config for every client you pick.
"What's the average grade on the midterm exam?" is a valid opening line.