Brightspace

io.github.RohanMuppav3.10.2Updated Oct 3, 2026

D2L Brightspace MCP server: grades, due dates, assignments, announcements and files. Any school.

VerifiedSTDIODesktop onlyKnowledge & MemoryProductivity & Workflow

Overview

AI-generated overview

Lets an assistant read a student's D2L Brightspace courses: grades, due dates, assignments, announcements, files, and discussions.

What it does
Connects an AI assistant to a school's D2L Brightspace account so it can answer questions about courses. It covers grades, due dates, assignments and rubrics, quizzes, announcements, course content and files, people, discussions, lecture videos, and the calendar. It also offers ready-made prompts such as a weekly briefing, grade audit, study planner, and course summary. The README states it only reads courses and never submits, edits, or deletes anything.
When to use it
Useful for students who want to ask what is due, how their grades look, or what was announced, and for instructors or TAs who need submission and feedback views. Worth adding if your school uses D2L Brightspace and you want course information available inside your AI app.
Requirements
Runs locally as an npm package (brightspace-mcp-server) over stdio, so Node.js 20 or newer is needed. Setup asks for your school's Brightspace address, username, password, and two-factor method; the password is stored in the OS credential store. Optional settings include D2L_BASE_URL, D2L_SESSION_DIR, D2L_HEADLESS, D2L_INCLUDE_COURSES, D2L_EXCLUDE_COURSES, and D2L_SESSION_COOKIE or D2L_ACCESS_TOKEN. Desktop only.
Before you install
Setup collects your school username and password and stores them in the native credential store; D2L_SESSION_COOKIE and D2L_ACCESS_TOKEN are alternative credentials. D2L_REMEMBER_MFA=true skips the second factor on later sign-ins and is not for shared computers. The server reads course data, including instructor views of student submissions, and sends it to your AI app. It checks the npm registry for updates unless D2L_NO_UPDATE_CHECK is set.

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open Brightspace in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
  2. Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Desktop only via STDIO. STDIO servers start a local process, so they need the SourceWeft desktop host.

Other MCP clients

Follow the launch instructions in the repository.

README

Brightspace MCP Server

[npm version] [npm downloads] [CI] [License: MIT] [Node >= 20]

By Rohan Muppa, ECE @ Purdue

Lets your AI see your Brightspace classes, so you can just ask:

"What's due this week?" · "Am I passing all my classes?" · "Summarize today's announcements" · "Turn my lecture slides into flashcards"

Works with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT Desktop, Windsurf, and any other app that supports MCP (the standard way to plug tools into an AI). It only reads your courses — it never submits, edits, or deletes anything.

[Architecture diagram]

Get started in 3 steps

  1. Install Node.js (version 20 or newer) if you don't have it. Download, run the installer, done.

  2. Open a terminal and run the setup:

    bash
    npx -y brightspace-mcp-server@latest setup

    It asks for your school's Brightspace address, your username and password, and how you normally do two-factor sign-in (phone approval, authenticator code, or a browser window). Your password goes into your computer's own password store (Keychain on Mac, Credential Manager on Windows), never into a file. At the end it connects itself to Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, or Claude Code if you have them.

    On a Mac: when Keychain asks whether node may use the saved Brightspace password, choose Always Allow, not just Allow. That lets later sign-ins (the auth command and questions from your AI app) read it without asking again.

  3. Restart your AI app and ask it something — the first question signs you in. If your phone asks you to approve a sign-in, approve it and ask again.

At one of these schools, add the flag and skip typing the address: --purdue, --suny, --western, --tudelft, --cuny, --leiden, --mcgill, --ngeeann, --javeriana.

Rather have the AI install it for you? Paste this into Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, or Codex:

Install brightspace-mcp-server for me by followinghttps://github.com/RohanMuppa/brightspace-mcp-server/blob/main/LLMs.md(use --purdue at Purdue, --suny at SUNY, --tudelft at TU Delft, --cuny at CUNY, --leiden at Leiden, --mcgill at McGill, --ngeeann at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, or --javeriana at Javeriana Cali).

Using a different AI app? Add the command npx -y brightspace-mcp-server@latest to its MCP settings (on Windows: cmd /c npx -y brightspace-mcp-server@latest). Exact steps for each app: docs/troubleshooting.md.

Does my school work?

If your school uses D2L Brightspace, yes. These have automatic sign-in built in:

SchoolSign-inFlag
PurdueMicrosoft (phone approval, authenticator code, or browser)--purdue
SUNYShared site with a campus picker--suny
Western UniversityMicrosoft--western
TU DelftNetID (no two-factor)--tudelft
CUNYCUNY Login, authenticator code each time--cuny
Leiden UniversitySURFconext → Microsoft--leiden
McGill UniversityMicrosoft Entra--mcgill
Javeriana CaliOneGate (password + authenticator code)--javeriana
Ngee Ann PolytechnicMicrosoft Entra--ngeeann
Any other D2L schoolPaste your Brightspace address; if the login page isn't recognized, a browser window opens so you can sign in by handnone

School-specific quirks: docs/sign-in.md.

Things to ask

AboutTry
Grades"Am I passing all my classes?" · "Compare my grades across courses"
Due dates"What's due in the next 48 hours?" · "Build me a study schedule for the week"
Assignments and rubrics"What does the lab 4 spec actually ask for?" · "Why did I lose points on the analysis criterion?"
Quizzes and exams"Which quizzes close this week?" · "Is there a midterm in the gradebook that isn't on my assignments list?"
Announcements"Did any professor post something important today?" · "Read the file attached to today's announcement"
Course content"Find the midterm review slides" · "Download every PDF from Module 5" · "Search this course for office hours" · or just read a file inline instead of saving it
People"Who are the TAs for ECE 264?" · "Who is in my project group?"
Discussions"Summarize the latest posts in the final project thread"
Lecture videos"What did the professor say about pinch-off in Tuesday's recording?" (Kaltura and YouTube)
Calendar"When is my midterm?" · "Is lab cancelled on Thursday?"
For instructors and TAs"Which students haven't submitted Lab 4 yet?" · "What feedback did I leave on this student's homework?" · "Download that student's submitted PDF" (students see a clear "instructor access required" note)

Prompts

Apps with a prompt picker (like Claude Desktop) also offer four ready-made prompts, so you can start from one click instead of typing a question:

PromptArgumentsWhat it asks for
weekly_briefing—A 7-day rollup of what's due, what's new, and what changed in your grades, across every course
grade_auditcourseId (optional)Analyzes grades for one course, or all of them, and flags missing or low-scoring items
study_plannerdaysAhead (optional, default 7)Plans study time from upcoming due dates and calendar events
course_summarycourseId (required)Syllabus, content outline, assignments, and grades for one course

Settings you might want

All optional, set in your AI app's MCP env config or your shell. The full list is in LLMs.md.

SettingWhat it does
D2L_REMEMBER_MFA=trueTick Microsoft's "Don't ask again" box so later sign-ins skip the second factor (off by default; not for shared computers)
D2L_HEADLESS=falseShow the browser window during sign-in, for MFA methods that need a click
D2L_DUO_PASSCODE=1On Duo, type a passcode instead of waiting for a push
D2L_SESSION_COOKIE / D2L_ACCESS_TOKENSkip the browser entirely with a pasted cookie or token (how)
D2L_INCLUDE_COURSES / D2L_EXCLUDE_COURSESLimit which courses the AI sees, by course id
D2L_ACTIVE_ONLY=falseInclude courses whose enrollment has ended
D2L_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1Turn off the new-version notice

When it asks you to sign in

There's no separate login — asking a question signs you in, and it stays signed in on its own most days. When your school wants two-factor again, the number to approve shows up right in the answer; approve it on your phone and ask again. If your AI client shows tool progress messages, the number appears while the question is still running instead, and approving within 45 seconds (less if sign-in was slow to reach two-factor) finishes the original answer without asking again. If it ever gets stuck, run this in a terminal:

bash
npx -y brightspace-mcp-server@latest auth

On a Mac, sign-in first reads your saved password from Keychain. If you picked a one-time Allow at the Keychain prompt, a later sign-in from your AI app or another terminal can fail or hang waiting for an approval nobody sees; pick Always Allow instead. That permission only lets the local Brightspace server read its own saved sign-in password, nothing else in your Keychain.

How often you're asked is up to your school, not this tool. Everything else about sign-in — Duo, authenticator codes, visible-browser mode, and running without a browser at all (Docker, WSL, hardware keys) — is in docs/sign-in.md.

Something not working?

  • Run npx -y brightspace-mcp-server@latest doctor first — it checks your Node version, saved setup, credential store, Brightspace connectivity, saved sign-in, and installed version, and tells you exactly what to fix.
  • Authentication failed: The native credential store is locked or unavailable. Your password store is locked or hasn't let this server read the saved password. Unlock it (on a Mac, log in or unlock Keychain Access), then run npx -y brightspace-mcp-server@latest auth again, or setup if that still fails, and choose Always Allow when Keychain asks.
  • It works in the terminal but not in the app: the app starts it separately and may not see your password store yet — see docs/troubleshooting.md.
  • Which version do I have? Ask your AI "which version of the Brightspace server am I running?"
  • Still stuck? Open an issue and paste what the terminal printed.

For developers

Tool reference, response fields, and environment variables: LLMs.md. What's safe to build against: STABILITY.md. Licensed under the MIT License.

Source: README.md at commit 21aa129

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Version history

1
  1. v3.10.2LatestOct 3, 2026