Can ChatGPT or Claude tell you what is due in Canvas?

Has my school already connected Claude to Canvas?

Possibly. Anthropic added Canvas LTI support to Claude for Education in July 2025, "allowing students to use Claude directly within their Canvas courses." It is an institution setup, not something you switch on.

Claude's own setup article is written for Claude for Education administrators and Canvas administrators. It has three parts: a developer key created in Canvas Admin, the Claude app installed in Canvas, then Canvas enabled under Organization settings, Connectors in Claude for Education. A student account cannot do any of it.

To find out whether your school has done it:

1. Open a course and look at the course navigation on the left. Anthropic recommends placing Claude under Course Navigation, so a Claude link there is the clearest sign.
2. Check whether your school gives you a Claude account you sign in to with your school email.
3. Ask the IT help desk or the teaching and learning center.

Anthropic's setup page does not list which course data Claude reads through this integration, or whether it answers "what is due" across all your courses. If your school has it, ask what it can see before you rely on it for deadlines.

What are the ChatGPT features inside Canvas?

In July 2025 Instructure and OpenAI announced a partnership to put AI inside Canvas. The first tool it names is the LLM-Enabled Assignment. An instructor builds it, defines how the AI interacts with students and sets the learning goals. You then hold a conversation inside that assignment, and the conversation becomes evidence of your learning in Canvas.

That is a kind of assignment, built by your instructor, one assignment at a time. It is not an assistant that reads your deadlines across courses, and you cannot add it yourself. The press release says more tools would follow over the coming quarters, so what your school's Canvas shows today depends on what it has turned on.

Can I connect Canvas myself with an access token?

Open source Canvas servers for Claude Desktop and other assistant apps exist, built by students and developers. Most ask for two things: your Canvas address and a personal access token. Before you make one, know where it comes from, why it may be blocked, and what it lets the holder do.

Where does a Canvas access token come from?

In Canvas, open Account, then Settings. Tokens are listed under Approved Integrations, with a New Access Token button. You enter a Purpose, choose an expiration date and click Generate Token. For students the expiration date is required, and Instructure's page sets student tokens to expire after 30 days, with a warning email seven days before.

A server that runs on your computer is then added to Claude Desktop through a configuration file, claude_desktop_config.json, per Claude's help center. Claude.ai on the web and Cowork do not use that file.

Why do some schools block tokens?

An administrator can limit access tokens to administrators only, and the New Access Token button is then disabled for you. Instructure's page also says the 30-day limit on student tokens is there to protect academic integrity, so schools treat student tokens with care.

The same page states that generating an access token to insert into an application violates Canvas API policy, and that applications must use approved authentication methods instead. Read your school's acceptable use rules before you try this route.

What can someone with my token do?

Act as you, through the Canvas API. Instructure describes a token as something "that can be used to make API calls on your behalf," with access to the same Canvas resources you can access. That is why it says to treat a token with the same level of security as your password, never share it, and revoke it at once if you think it has been exposed.

A server on your own computer keeps the token there. A server someone else hosts holds a copy of it, and you are trusting whoever runs it.

How does a connector answer what is due?

A connector is a link you add to Claude or ChatGPT that lets the assistant call a service on your behalf, after you sign in to that service. The Scholarwire connector does not read Canvas itself. It reads the semester Scholarwire has already synced.

That sync comes from Scholarwire for Canvas, a browser extension that reads Canvas with the session you are already signed into. There is no second password, no developer key to paste in and no approval from your school's IT department to wait for.

Setting it up in Claude takes about two minutes on a computer:

1. In Scholarwire, open Settings, Connectors and copy the Connector link.
2. On claude.ai, go to Customize, then Connectors, and click Add custom connector.
3. Paste the connector link, leave both detected options as they are, then click Add.
4. Click Connect and sign in on the Scholarwire screen. It lists what the assistant will be able to read and write, and has a Share my grade standing checkbox, unticked unless you tick it. Click Connect.
5. In a chat, open the + button, turn Connectors on and ask: "Using Scholarwire, what is due in the next three days and what should I do tonight?"

Behind that question, the connector returns assignments, quizzes and your own deadlines for the days you asked about, soonest first, with late work in the same answer. The assistant then writes the reply. You can follow up in the same chat: ask what the syllabus says about late work, book a study block or mark something done.

In ChatGPT, adding a connector of your own goes through developer mode, which OpenAI lists for Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education accounts on the web. OpenAI's guide says to turn it on under Settings, Security and login. Then go to ChatGPT Plugins, select the plus button and create an app with the connector link. In a chat, choose Developer mode from the Plus menu and pick Scholarwire. The full list of what the connector can read is in how to use Scholarwire inside Claude and ChatGPT.

What is the quickest way with no setup at all?

Paste your deadlines in. This works with a free account of either assistant.

1. In Canvas, open Calendar from the global navigation.
2. Click Agenda at the top. The calendar becomes one date-ordered list across your courses.
3. Select the list from today to as far ahead as you care about, copy it and paste it into the chat.
4. Ask something specific: "Here is my Canvas agenda. What is due in the next seven days, soonest first, and which two assignments should I start tonight?"

Two checks before you paste. The calendar sidebar has an Undated items link: open it and copy that list too, because work with no due date never appears in Agenda. And look at the course checkboxes beside the calendar. Canvas selects only the first 10 course and group calendars by default, so a course can be missing without you noticing. The guide to seeing every Canvas assignment in one calendar covers the Agenda view and what it leaves out.

The catch is freshness. What you pasted is a snapshot. When an instructor moves a date or posts a new assignment tomorrow, the chat still has yesterday's list. The paste also loses which assignments you submitted, which Canvas marks by crossing them out. Paste a new copy each time you ask.

What can none of these do?

Each route has hard limits. Know them before you trust any answer about a deadline.

• The connector sends no reminders. It answers when you ask. Nothing arrives on your phone because a deadline is close.
• The Scholarwire connector needs Pro or the trial. Pro is $4.99 a month or $44 a year, and the 14-day trial includes it and starts when you connect Canvas. A Free account can still add the connector, but every answer is one line saying that reading your semester is part of Pro.
• Answers are only as fresh as the last sync. On Pro and the trial, Canvas syncs every 30 minutes, and also when you open Scholarwire or press Sync now. A date changed five minutes ago may not be there yet.
• Canvas sync needs the extension on a computer. Scholarwire for Canvas runs in Chrome, Edge, Brave or Arc. The install page says how to add it today.
• Some things are never returned. The connector never gives the assistant a Canvas link, a full announcement (only a short excerpt), a file or a score on one assignment. Grades come only as course-level standing, and only if you ticked Share my grade standing. A course you hid from the planner is hidden from the connector too.
• ChatGPT needs developer mode. OpenAI offers it on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education accounts on the web, and says it is intended for developers. By default, ChatGPT asks you to confirm each write, such as booking a study block, before it runs.
• The school route exists only where your school built it. You cannot turn it on as a student, and what it reads is your school's setup to describe.
• A student token expires after 30 days. After that the server stops working until you make a new one, if your school allows it at all.

Whichever route you pick, Canvas stays the record. When an answer and the Canvas assignment page disagree, trust the assignment page.