Agent Skills: Canvas Course Information Research

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 announcements -c <id> | | "What pages are available?" | canvaslms pages list -c <id> | | "What are the deadlines?" | canvaslms calendar list -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> "module regex"
canvaslms pages view -c <id> -p "page regex"
canvaslms assignments view -c <id> -a "assignment regex"
canvaslms discussions view discussions -c <id> -t "title regex"

Note the two selector forms: pages and assignments take the item regex as an option (-p, -a), while modules takes it as a positional argument and discussions takes the kind (announcements or discussions) as a positional argument before the options. Run -h when unsure.

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 assignments or pages 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, positional module regex | | Module contents | canvaslms modules view | -c, positional module regex | | 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 announcements | -c | | Discussions | canvaslms discussions list discussions | -c | | Discussion content | canvaslms discussions view discussions | -c, -t (title regex), -n (count) | | Quizzes | canvaslms quizzes list | -c, -q | | Submissions | canvaslms submissions | -c, -a, -u | | Grades/results | canvaslms results | -c, -a | | Calendar/deadlines | canvaslms calendar list | -c, --start-time, --end-time | | 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

Name the kind of discussion as a positional argument:

BAD:  canvaslms discussions list -c 12345              # Missing kind
GOOD: canvaslms discussions list announcements -c 12345
GOOD: canvaslms discussions list discussions -c 12345

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. To push pages, rename or place assignments, or arrange module items from files in a repository, use the canvas-course-repo skill.

Testing Write Commands

When a task legitimately requires testing canvaslms write commands (outside this skill's scope), use the user's sandbox course — see the kth-data skill (§1 "Sandbox dbosk", select with -c "^Sandbox dbosk$") for the rules: anchored regex, recognizable throwaway names, verify with --no-cache, restore afterwards, never write-test fan-out paths. The same skill is where to look up KTH rooms, period dates and the user's schedule.