Environment Variables¶

Canvas CLI can be configured using environment variables.

Available Variables¶

Variable	Description	Default
`CANVAS_INSTANCE`	Canvas instance URL	From config
`CANVAS_TOKEN`	API access token	From config/keyring
`CANVAS_OUTPUT`	Default output format	`table`
`CANVAS_NO_CACHE`	Disable response caching	`false`

Usage¶

Temporary Override¶

Set for a single command:

CANVAS_OUTPUT=json canvas courses list

Session Override¶

Set for the current shell session:

export CANVAS_INSTANCE=https://canvas.example.com
export CANVAS_TOKEN=your-api-token
canvas courses list

Permanent Configuration¶

Add to your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.):

# Canvas CLI configuration
export CANVAS_INSTANCE=https://canvas.example.com
export CANVAS_TOKEN=your-api-token
export CANVAS_OUTPUT=json

Variable Details¶

CANVAS_INSTANCE¶

The Canvas LMS instance URL.

export CANVAS_INSTANCE=https://canvas.instructure.com

Priority

Command-line --instance flag takes precedence over environment variable.

CANVAS_TOKEN¶

Canvas API access token. Generate from Canvas Account Settings.

export CANVAS_TOKEN=7~AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz123456789

Security

Avoid setting tokens in shared environments. Consider using the config file or keyring instead.

CANVAS_OUTPUT¶

Default output format for commands.

Value	Description
`table`	Human-readable table (default)
`json`	JSON format
`yaml`	YAML format
`csv`	CSV format

export CANVAS_OUTPUT=json

CANVAS_NO_CACHE¶

Disable API response caching.

export CANVAS_NO_CACHE=true

When to Disable

Disable caching when you need real-time data or are debugging.

Precedence Order¶

Configuration is applied in this order (highest precedence first):

Command-line flags (--instance, --output, etc.)
Environment variables
Configuration file (~/.canvas-cli/config.yaml)
Built-in defaults

Example Configurations¶

Development Environment¶

# Use sandbox instance
export CANVAS_INSTANCE=https://canvas-sandbox.example.com
export CANVAS_TOKEN=sandbox-token
export CANVAS_NO_CACHE=true

CI/CD Pipeline¶

# GitHub Actions example
env:
  CANVAS_INSTANCE: ${{ secrets.CANVAS_URL }}
  CANVAS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CANVAS_TOKEN }}
  CANVAS_OUTPUT: json

Multi-Instance Setup¶

# Function to switch instances
canvas-prod() {
  export CANVAS_INSTANCE=https://canvas.example.com
  export CANVAS_TOKEN=$CANVAS_PROD_TOKEN
}

canvas-sandbox() {
  export CANVAS_INSTANCE=https://canvas-sandbox.example.com
  export CANVAS_TOKEN=$CANVAS_SANDBOX_TOKEN
}

Troubleshooting¶

Variable Not Working¶

Verify the variable is set:
```
echo $CANVAS_INSTANCE
```
Check for typos in variable names
Ensure you've sourced your profile:
```
source ~/.bashrc
```

Token Security¶

If your token is exposed:

Immediately regenerate it in Canvas Account Settings
Update your configuration
Consider using the config file with restrictive permissions:
```
chmod 600 ~/.canvas-cli/config.yaml
```