Environment Variables¶

Canvas CLI can be configured using environment variables.

Available Variables¶

Variable	Description	Default
`CANVAS_URL`	Canvas instance URL (env auth mode)	From config
`CANVAS_TOKEN`	API access token	From config/keyring
`CANVAS_REQUESTS_PER_SEC`	Request rate limit for env auth mode	`5.0`
`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_URL=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_URL=https://canvas.example.com
export CANVAS_TOKEN=your-api-token
export CANVAS_OUTPUT=json

Variable Details¶

CANVAS_URL¶

The Canvas LMS instance URL.

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

Priority

When both CANVAS_URL and CANVAS_TOKEN are set, CLI commands use env authentication directly. In that mode, --instance and default_instance are not used.

CANVAS_TOKEN¶

Canvas API access token. Generate from Canvas Account Settings.

export CANVAS_TOKEN=7~AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz123456789

CANVAS_REQUESTS_PER_SEC¶

Request rate limit used when env auth mode is active.

export CANVAS_REQUESTS_PER_SEC=10.0

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):

If both CANVAS_URL and CANVAS_TOKEN are set, env auth mode is used
Otherwise, command-line flags (--instance, --output, etc.)
Otherwise, configuration file (~/.canvas-cli/config.yaml)
Built-in defaults

MCP clients

This same precedence applies to MCP tool calls, because MCP executes the same command logic. Each MCP client runs its own server process and therefore may have different environment variables.

Example Configurations¶

Development Environment¶

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

CI/CD Pipeline¶

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

Multi-Instance Setup¶

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

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

Troubleshooting¶

Variable Not Working¶

Verify the variable is set:
```
echo $CANVAS_URL
```
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
```