Canvas MCP for Poke

Custom MCP server that uses the Canvas LMS API to surface grades, deadlines, assignments, announcements, and calendar context inside Poke, the AI assistant I use day to day for managing my email, to‑do list, and academic schedule by text.

Overview

• Authentication: Canvas Personal Access Token outbound, API key (Bearer or x-api-key) inbound from Poke
• Data access: read‑only on a Canvas student account
• Transport: Streamable HTTP, served by FastMCP at /mcp

What I can ask Poke

• "What are my upcoming deadlines?"
• "What are my current grades?" (new, see get_grades_overview below)
• "What announcements were posted recently?"
• "What does my upcoming week look like?"
• "What does my academic day today look like?"
• "Did any of my assignments get graded recently?"

Setup

Canvas access token

1. Log in to Canvas
2. Account → Settings
3. Scroll to Approved Integrations
4. + New Access Token and copy the token (it is only shown once)

Local run

git clone https://github.com/temujinkz/poke-canvas-mcp
cd poke-canvas-mcp

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

cp .env.example .env
# Fill in CANVAS_BASE_URL, CANVAS_ACCESS_TOKEN, POKE_API_KEY (use 32+ random chars)

python src/server.py
# In a second terminal:
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Server runs at http://localhost:8000/mcp. Connect using the Streamable HTTP transport.

Environment variables

CANVAS_BASE_URL=https://your_school.instructure.com
CANVAS_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_canvas_token
POKE_API_KEY=your_strong_api_key

Deploying

render.yaml is included for one‑click Render deploy:

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a new Web Service on Render and connect the fork
3. Set CANVAS_BASE_URL, CANVAS_ACCESS_TOKEN, POKE_API_KEY in the env
4. Deploy

Wiring it into Poke

Add the deployed MCP URL at poke.com/settings/connections, with your POKE_API_KEY so Poke can authenticate. Header form: x-api-key: <key> or Authorization: Bearer <key>.

Quick test prompts:

• "What do I need to do today on canvas?"
• "What's my current grade in [course]?"
• "Use Canvas MCP connection's get_today_summary tool"

MCP tools

| Tool | Purpose | |---|---| | get_today_summary | Daily check‑in: deadlines + announcements + new grades + overdue items in a 24–48 h window | | get_upcoming_assignments | Aggregated upcoming/overdue assignments across active dashboard courses, urgent first | | get_recent_announcements | Recent announcements, optionally with full bodies for summarization | | get_recently_graded | Newly graded items via the Canvas planner feed | | get_grades_overview | (new) Current and final grade/score per active dashboard course | | get_week_ahead | Assignments, deadlines, announcements, and calendar events for the upcoming week | | list_courses_raw | Raw Canvas course list (active enrollments) | | get_dashboard_cards | Lightweight active dashboard course list, optionally filtered by term prefix (26SS, 26FS) | | get_course_assignments | Upcoming (and optionally overdue) assignments for a single course id |

get_grades_overview (added in this fork)

Calls GET /api/v1/courses?include[]=total_scores and merges the response with the dashboard course list to return only courses the user actually has on their dashboard, in dashboard order:

[
  {
    "course_id": 12345,
    "course_name": "CSCI 100 Algorithms",
    "current_grade": "A-",
    "current_score": 91.7,
    "final_grade": null,
    "final_score": null,
    "html_url": "https://your_school.instructure.com/courses/12345/grades"
  }
]

Canvas only exposes computed_current_* / computed_final_* once the instructor has graded enough work and the course settings allow students to view total grades. When that's not yet the case, those fields come back null.

Why this exists

Keeping up with Canvas notifications, deadlines, and grade releases on top of personal email, school email, and a to‑do list is genuinely hard mid‑semester. Putting all of that behind a single Poke conversation that I can text from anywhere makes it manageable.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.