Canvas Course Information Research

Overview

The canvaslms CLI provides read-only access to Canvas LMS course data: assignments, pages, modules, discussions, announcements, grades, quizzes, and calendar events. This skill teaches a research workflow for answering user questions about their courses.

For detailed options on any subcommand, run canvaslms <subcommand> -h.

Research Workflow

Follow these steps when answering a Canvas-related question:

Step 1: Identify the Course

canvaslms courses              # List all courses
canvaslms courses "regex"      # Filter by name/code (case-insensitive regex)

Note the course ID from the output. Use it with -c <id> in subsequent commands.

Step 2: Explore Course Structure

Choose the right entry point based on the question:

Question type	Start with
"What's in this course?"	`canvaslms modules list -c <id>`
"What assignments exist?"	`canvaslms assignments list -c <id>`
"Any announcements?"	`canvaslms discussions list -c <id> -t announcement`
"What pages are available?"	`canvaslms pages list -c <id>`
"What are the deadlines?"	`canvaslms calendar -c <id>`
"How did students do?"	`canvaslms results -c <id>`

Step 3: Drill into Content

Use view subcommands to read specific items:

canvaslms modules view -c <id> -m "module regex"
canvaslms pages view -c <id> -p "page regex"
canvaslms assignments view -c <id> -a "assignment regex"
canvaslms discussions view -c <id> -d "discussion regex"

The view commands output full content (markdown for pages, HTML for assignments). The list commands output tab-delimited CSV summaries.

Step 4: Refine with Filters

Most commands accept regex filters and additional flags. Run canvaslms <subcommand> -h to discover available filters for each command.

Common refinement patterns:

Combine course + item filters: -c "DD2520" -a "lab"
Filter by module: -c <id> -m "week 3"
Filter submissions by user: canvaslms submissions -c <id> -u "username"

Step 5: Synthesize and Answer

After gathering data:

Quote relevant content directly when answering
Summarize lists into readable format (tables, bullets)
If data seems stale, suggest re-running with --no-cache
Provide the course/assignment/page names so the user can navigate in Canvas

Quick Reference

To find...	Command	Key flags
All courses	`canvaslms courses`	regex filter, `-i` for ID only
Course modules	`canvaslms modules list`	`-c`, `-m`
Module contents	`canvaslms modules view`	`-c`, `-m`
Assignments	`canvaslms assignments list`	`-c`, `-a`, `-m`
Assignment details	`canvaslms assignments view`	`-c`, `-a`
Wiki pages	`canvaslms pages list`	`-c`, `-p`, `-m`
Page content	`canvaslms pages view`	`-c`, `-p`
Announcements	`canvaslms discussions list`	`-c`, `-t announcement`
Discussions	`canvaslms discussions list`	`-c`, `-t discussion`
Discussion content	`canvaslms discussions view`	`-c`, `-d`
Quizzes	`canvaslms quizzes list`	`-c`, `-q`
Submissions	`canvaslms submissions`	`-c`, `-a`, `-u`
Grades/results	`canvaslms results`	`-c`, `-a`
Calendar/deadlines	`canvaslms calendar`	`-c`, date range flags
Users/enrollment	`canvaslms users`	`-c`, role filters
Groups	`canvaslms groups`	`-c`

Regex Filtering Patterns

Course matching is case-insensitive: "dd2520" matches "DD2520"
Use anchors for precision: "^DD2520$" for exact match
Partial match works: "crypt" matches "Applied Cryptography"
Combine flags for specificity: -c "DD2520" -m "week 3" -a "lab"

Output and Caching

list commands produce tab-delimited CSV (pipe through column -t -s$'\t' for readability)
view commands produce full content (markdown, HTML, or YAML frontmatter + content)
Results are cached; use --no-cache to force a fresh fetch
Pages view output includes YAML frontmatter with metadata

Common Pitfalls

Always identify the course first:

BAD:  canvaslms assignments list -a "lab 1"     # No course specified
GOOD: canvaslms assignments list -c 12345 -a "lab 1"

Use list before view to discover item names:

BAD:  canvaslms pages view -c 12345 -p "syllabus"   # Guessing the page name
GOOD: canvaslms pages list -c 12345                   # Discover available pages
      canvaslms pages view -c 12345 -p "Course Syllabus"  # Use actual name

Use the right content type flag for discussions:

BAD:  canvaslms discussions list -c 12345              # Missing type
GOOD: canvaslms discussions list -c 12345 -t announcement
GOOD: canvaslms discussions list -c 12345 -t discussion

Scope

This skill is read-only — it retrieves and presents course information. It does not create, modify, or delete any Canvas content. To create quiz content, use the canvas-quiz skill instead.

canvas-info