canvas-cli

A powerful command-line interface for Canvas LMS, built with Go.

Documentation · Installation · Commands

---

Features

• Secure Authentication - OAuth 2.0 with PKCE, system keyring integration
• Multi-Instance - Manage multiple Canvas instances from one CLI
• Smart Rate Limiting - Adaptive throttling based on API quotas
• Multiple Outputs - Table, JSON, YAML, and CSV formats
• Interactive Mode - REPL shell with command history and completion
• 265 Commands - Full coverage of Canvas LMS resources
• MCP Server - Use as an AI agent tool via Model Context Protocol
• AI Agent Skill - Bundled skill for Claude Code, Cursor, and other agents (canvas skills install)
• Signed Releases - cosign-signed checksums, SBOMs, and a distroless Docker image

Installation

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew tap jjuanrivvera/canvas-cli
brew install canvas-cli

Go Install

Requires Go 1.25+ (or Go 1.24+ with automatic toolchain download).

go install github.com/jjuanrivvera/canvas-cli/cmd/canvas@latest

Docker

docker run --rm ghcr.io/jjuanrivvera/canvas-cli:latest version

Images are published to GHCR for every release (:latest, :v1, and exact versions). Pass credentials via environment variables:

docker run --rm -e CANVAS_URL -e CANVAS_TOKEN ghcr.io/jjuanrivvera/canvas-cli:latest courses list

Binary Download

Download from GitHub Releases. Release checksums are signed with cosign (keyless) and archives ship with SBOMs — verification instructions are in the .goreleaser.yaml signs section.

Quick Start

# Authenticate with your Canvas instance
canvas auth login https://your-school.instructure.com

# List your courses
canvas courses list

# Get assignments for a course
canvas assignments list --course-id <course-id>

# Start interactive mode (alias: canvas shell)
canvas repl

Command Overview