Canvas Connector

A Python package for easily connecting to the Canvas LMS API.

Features

• Easy authentication with Canvas API
• Fetch courses, assignments, and grades
• Get peer information
• Track upcoming assignments
• Discussion board interactions
• Submit assignments and post comments
• Built with Polars for fast data processing

Installation

Using uv (recommended)

uv pip install git+https://github.com/byuirpytooling/canvasconnector.git

Using pip

pip install git+https://github.com/byuirpytooling/canvasconnector.git

For development (contributing)

git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/canvasconnector.git
cd canvasconnector
uv venv
uv sync

Setup

1. Get Your Canvas API Token

1. Log into Canvas
2. Go to Account → Settings
3. Scroll to "Approved Integrations"
4. Click "+ New Access Token"
5. Copy the token (you won't see it again!)

2. Create a .env file

CANVAS_API_TOKEN=your_canvas_api_token_here
CANVAS_URL=https://byui.instructure.com
TIMEZONE=America/Denver

Important: Add .env to your .gitignore to keep your token private!

Quick Start

from canvasconnector import CanvasClient, get_courses_polars
from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os

load_dotenv()

client = CanvasClient(
    api_key=os.getenv("CANVAS_API_TOKEN"),
    canvas_url=os.getenv("CANVAS_URL"),
    timezone=os.getenv("TIMEZONE")
)

courses = get_courses_polars(client, current_only=True)
print(courses)

Documentation

For detailed usage examples, see the Code Examples guide.