Command Aliases¶

Create shortcuts for frequently used commands with the alias system.

Overview¶

Aliases let you define short names for long or complex commands. Instead of typing:

canvas assignments list --course-id 12345 --output json

You can create an alias and use:

canvas hw

Creating Aliases¶

Use canvas alias set to create an alias:

canvas alias set <name> "<command>"

Examples¶

# Simple alias for listing assignments
canvas alias set hw "assignments list --course-id 12345"

# Alias for grading submissions
canvas alias set grade "submissions grade --course-id 12345 --assignment-id 67890"

# Alias for checking course users
canvas alias set students "courses users --course-id 12345 --enrollment-type student"

Using Aliases¶

Once created, use your alias as if it were a built-in command:

# Instead of: canvas assignments list --course-id 12345
canvas hw

# Aliases can also accept additional arguments
canvas hw --output json

Additional arguments are appended to the alias expansion.

Managing Aliases¶

List All Aliases¶

canvas alias list

Output:

Aliases:
  hw        → assignments list --course-id 12345
  grade     → submissions grade --course-id 12345 --assignment-id 67890
  students  → courses users --course-id 12345 --enrollment-type student

Delete an Alias¶

canvas alias delete hw

Alias Rules¶

No conflicts: Alias names cannot match built-in command names
Simple expansion: Aliases expand once (no recursive aliases)
Quoted arguments: Use quotes for multi-word values in the expansion

Example with Quotes¶

# Alias with a search term containing spaces
canvas alias set find-john 'users search --query "John Smith"'

Storage¶

Aliases are stored in your configuration file (~/.canvas-cli/config.yaml):

aliases:
  hw: "assignments list --course-id 12345"
  grade: "submissions grade --course-id 12345 --assignment-id 67890"

Tips¶

Combine with Context¶

Aliases work great with context management. Set your course context once, then use aliases that don't need --course-id:

# Set context
canvas context set course 12345

# Create alias without course-id (uses context)
canvas alias set hw "assignments list"

# Use it
canvas hw

Alias for Different Output Formats¶

canvas alias set hw-json "assignments list --output json"
canvas alias set hw-csv "assignments list --output csv"

Debugging Aliases¶

Use --dry-run to see what command an alias expands to:

canvas --dry-run hw