
Canvas
- 14 installs
- 226k repo stars
- Updated August 5, 2026
- nousresearch/hermes-agent
Helps with ai & agent building tasks.
About
canvas is a Claude Code skill for ai & agent building. It helps solo builders move faster with AI-assisted development.
- canvas
- AI & Agent Building
- AI-coding skill
Canvas by the numbers
- 14 all-time installs (skills.sh)
- Ranked #11,275 of 16,546 AI & Agent Building skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
- Data as of Aug 5, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
npx skills add https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent --skill canvasAdd your badge
Show developers this skill is listed on Skillselion. Paste this into your README.
| Installs | 14 |
|---|---|
| repo stars | ★ 226k |
| Last updated | August 5, 2026 |
| Repository | nousresearch/hermes-agent ↗ |
What it does
Helps with ai & agent building tasks.
Files
Canvas LMS — Course & Assignment Access
Read-only access to Canvas LMS for listing courses and assignments.
Scripts
scripts/canvas_api.py— Python CLI for Canvas API calls
Setup
1. Log in to your Canvas instance in a browser 2. Go to Account → Settings (click your profile icon, then Settings) 3. Scroll to Approved Integrations and click + New Access Token 4. Name the token (e.g., "Hermes Agent"), set an optional expiry, and click Generate Token 5. Copy the token and add to ${HERMES_HOME:-~/.hermes}/.env:
CANVAS_API_TOKEN=your_token_here
CANVAS_BASE_URL=https://yourschool.instructure.comThe base URL is whatever appears in your browser when you're logged into Canvas (no trailing slash).
Usage
CANVAS="python $HERMES_HOME/skills/productivity/canvas/scripts/canvas_api.py"
# List all active courses
$CANVAS list_courses --enrollment-state active
# List all courses (any state)
$CANVAS list_courses
# List assignments for a specific course
$CANVAS list_assignments 12345
# List assignments ordered by due date
$CANVAS list_assignments 12345 --order-by due_atOutput Format
list_courses returns:
[{"id": 12345, "name": "Intro to CS", "course_code": "CS101", "workflow_state": "available", "start_at": "...", "end_at": "..."}]list_assignments returns:
[{"id": 67890, "name": "Homework 1", "due_at": "2025-02-15T23:59:00Z", "points_possible": 100, "submission_types": ["online_upload"], "html_url": "...", "description": "...", "course_id": 12345}]Note: Assignment descriptions are truncated to 500 characters. The html_url field links to the full assignment page in Canvas.
API Reference (curl)
# List courses
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_API_TOKEN" \
"$CANVAS_BASE_URL/api/v1/courses?enrollment_state=active&per_page=10"
# List assignments for a course
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANVAS_API_TOKEN" \
"$CANVAS_BASE_URL/api/v1/courses/COURSE_ID/assignments?per_page=10&order_by=due_at"Canvas uses Link headers for pagination. The Python script handles pagination automatically.
Rules
- This skill is read-only — it only fetches data, never modifies courses or assignments
- On first use, verify auth by running
$CANVAS list_courses— if it fails with 401, guide the user through setup - Canvas rate-limits to ~700 requests per 10 minutes; check
X-Rate-Limit-Remainingheader if hitting limits
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| 401 Unauthorized | Token invalid or expired — regenerate in Canvas Settings |
| 403 Forbidden | Token lacks permission for this course |
| Empty course list | Try --enrollment-state active or omit the flag to see all states |
| Wrong institution | Verify CANVAS_BASE_URL matches the URL in your browser |
| Timeout errors | Check network connectivity to your Canvas instance |
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Canvas LMS API CLI for Hermes Agent.
A thin CLI wrapper around the Canvas REST API.
Authenticates using a personal access token from environment variables.
Usage:
python canvas_api.py list_courses [--per-page N] [--enrollment-state STATE]
python canvas_api.py list_assignments COURSE_ID [--per-page N] [--order-by FIELD]
"""
import argparse
import json
import os
import sys
import requests
CANVAS_API_TOKEN = os.environ.get("CANVAS_API_TOKEN", "")
CANVAS_BASE_URL = os.environ.get("CANVAS_BASE_URL", "").rstrip("/")
def _check_config():
"""Validate required environment variables are set."""
missing = []
if not CANVAS_API_TOKEN:
missing.append("CANVAS_API_TOKEN")
if not CANVAS_BASE_URL:
missing.append("CANVAS_BASE_URL")
if missing:
hermes_env = os.path.join(
os.environ.get("HERMES_HOME", os.path.expanduser("~/.hermes")), ".env"
)
print(
f"Missing required environment variables: {', '.join(missing)}\n"
f"Set them in {hermes_env} or export them in your shell.\n"
"See the canvas skill SKILL.md for setup instructions.",
file=sys.stderr,
)
sys.exit(1)
def _headers():
return {"Authorization": f"Bearer {CANVAS_API_TOKEN}"}
def _paginated_get(url, params=None, max_items=200):
"""Fetch all pages up to max_items, following Canvas Link headers."""
results = []
while url and len(results) < max_items:
resp = requests.get(url, headers=_headers(), params=params, timeout=30)
resp.raise_for_status()
results.extend(resp.json())
params = None # params are included in the Link URL for subsequent pages
url = None
link = resp.headers.get("Link", "")
for part in link.split(","):
if 'rel="next"' in part:
url = part.split(";")[0].strip().strip("<>")
return results[:max_items]
# =========================================================================
# Commands
# =========================================================================
def list_courses(args):
"""List enrolled courses."""
_check_config()
url = f"{CANVAS_BASE_URL}/api/v1/courses"
params = {"per_page": args.per_page}
if args.enrollment_state:
params["enrollment_state"] = args.enrollment_state
try:
courses = _paginated_get(url, params)
except requests.HTTPError as e:
print(f"API error: {e.response.status_code} {e.response.text}", file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(1)
output = [
{
"id": c["id"],
"name": c.get("name", ""),
"course_code": c.get("course_code", ""),
"enrollment_term_id": c.get("enrollment_term_id"),
"start_at": c.get("start_at"),
"end_at": c.get("end_at"),
"workflow_state": c.get("workflow_state", ""),
}
for c in courses
]
print(json.dumps(output, indent=2))
def list_assignments(args):
"""List assignments for a course."""
_check_config()
url = f"{CANVAS_BASE_URL}/api/v1/courses/{args.course_id}/assignments"
params = {"per_page": args.per_page}
if args.order_by:
params["order_by"] = args.order_by
try:
assignments = _paginated_get(url, params)
except requests.HTTPError as e:
print(f"API error: {e.response.status_code} {e.response.text}", file=sys.stderr)
sys.exit(1)
output = [
{
"id": a["id"],
"name": a.get("name", ""),
"description": (a.get("description") or "")[:500],
"due_at": a.get("due_at"),
"points_possible": a.get("points_possible"),
"submission_types": a.get("submission_types", []),
"html_url": a.get("html_url", ""),
"course_id": a.get("course_id"),
}
for a in assignments
]
print(json.dumps(output, indent=2))
# =========================================================================
# CLI parser
# =========================================================================
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
description="Canvas LMS API CLI for Hermes Agent"
)
sub = parser.add_subparsers(dest="command", required=True)
# --- list_courses ---
p = sub.add_parser("list_courses", help="List enrolled courses")
p.add_argument("--per-page", type=int, default=50, help="Results per page (default 50)")
p.add_argument(
"--enrollment-state",
default="",
help="Filter by enrollment state (active, invited_or_pending, completed)",
)
p.set_defaults(func=list_courses)
# --- list_assignments ---
p = sub.add_parser("list_assignments", help="List assignments for a course")
p.add_argument("course_id", help="Canvas course ID")
p.add_argument("--per-page", type=int, default=50, help="Results per page (default 50)")
p.add_argument(
"--order-by",
default="",
help="Order by field (due_at, name, position)",
)
p.set_defaults(func=list_assignments)
args = parser.parse_args()
args.func(args)
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()