Canvas Downloader

A command-line tool to download and organize all your Canvas course materials—files, syllabi, pages, modules, assignments, discussions, and announcements—into a clean local folder structure. Made in async Rust⚡.

This is a maintained fork of this project. Also shout out to this previous fork that implements downloading additional materials.

Installation

🍺 Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew tap aik2mlj/tap  # add custom tap
brew install canvas-downloader

📦 AUR (Arch Linux)

# use pre-built binary
paru -S canvas-downloader-bin
# or if you prefer, compile from source
paru -S canvas-downloader

🍦 Scoop (Windows)

scoop bucket add aik2mlj https://github.com/aik2mlj/scoop-bucket  # add custom bucket
scoop install aik2mlj/canvas-downloader

🛠️ Cargo (All platforms)

# use pre-built binary
# you need to have cargo-binstall installed first
cargo binstall canvas-downloader
# or compile from source
cargo install canvas-downloader

⬇️ Download from Releases (All platforms)

• Download the corresponding binary archive from Releases
• Decompress the archive file
• Directly run the executable from terminal, or move it to $PATH for easier access

For macOS, the following commands may be needed because the binary isn't signed with an Apple developer account. Also see Apple's official doc on this.

# Remove quarantine attribute
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine canvas-downloader

Quick Start

1. Create Configuration File

You can copy the example config into one of the config file locations (searched in order):

1. Custom path via --config option
2. canvas-downloader.toml in current directory
3. config.toml in platform-specific config directory:
   • Linux: ~/.config/canvas-downloader/config.toml
   • macOS: ~/.config/canvas-downloader/config.toml or ~/Library/Application Support/canvas-downloader/config.toml
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\canvas-downloader\config.toml

Then modify it to your Canvas instance URL and access token.

How to get your token

• Log in to Canvas → Account → Settings → New Access Token

2. Discover Your Courses

Run the tool to see which courses are available:

$ canvas-downloader
Please provide either Term ID(s) via -t or course name(s)/code(s) via -c
Term ID    | Course Code | Course Name
-----------------------------------------------------------
115        | CS1101S     | Programming Methodology
           | CS1231S     | Discrete Structures
-----------------------------------------------------------
120        | CS2040S     | Data Structures and Algorithms
           | CS2030      | Programming Methodology II
-----------------------------------------------------------
125        | CS3230      | Design and Analysis of Algorithms

3. Download Your Courses

You can download courses by term ID or by course name/code:

Download by terms (all courses in specific terms):

$ canvas-downloader -t 115 120

Download by course names and/or codes (specific courses only):

$ canvas-downloader -c CS1101S "Introduction to Data Structures"

Combine both (courses matching both criteria):

$ canvas-downloader -t 115 -c CS1101S

The tool will show you all files to be downloaded with their sizes, then ask for confirmation before proceeding. Downloads are organized by course, preserving Canvas's folder structure.

Note: Course name matching is exact match - use the exact course code (e.g., "CS1101S") or the exact course name as shown in the discovery step.

What Gets Downloaded

• Files
• Modules
• Syllabi (in HTML and JSON)
• Assignments (in HTML and JSON)
• Discussions and announcements (in HTML and JSON)
• Pages (in HTML and JSON)
• User information (in JSON)
• Panopto lecture videos (seems still buggy)

Common Workflows

Filter What You Download

Create a .canvasignore file in your current directory to skip certain files using .gitignore syntax:

# Ignore all videos
*.mp4
*.mov

# Ignore specific courses
/CS1101S/

# Ignore lecture recordings folder
lecture-recordings/

The tool automatically loads .canvasignore from the current directory if it exists. You can also specify a custom ignore file with -i:

$ canvas-downloader -t 115 -i custom-ignore.txt

See the example file for more patterns.

Keep Your Files Updated

Use -n to overwrite local files with newer versions from Canvas:

$ canvas-downloader -t 115 -n

By default, existing local files won't be overwritten even if Canvas has newer versions.

Choose Download Location

Specify a custom folder with -d:

$ canvas-downloader -t 115 -d ~/Canvas

See Debug Information

Use -v to enable verbose output for troubleshooting:

# Enable debug logging
$ canvas-downloader -t 115 -v

Without -v, only important progress messages are shown (info level).

All Options

Usage: canvas-downloader [OPTIONS]

Options:
      --config <FILE>                Path to config file (default: platform-specific config locations)
  -d, --destination-folder <FOLDER>  Download location [default: .]
  -n, --download-newer               Overwrite local files with newer Canvas versions
  -t, --term-ids <ID>...             Term IDs to download
  -c, --course-names <NAME>...       Course names or codes to download - exact match
  -i, --ignore-file <FILE>           Path to ignore patterns file [default: .canvasignore]
      --dry-run                      Preview downloads without executing
      --no-raw                       Do not save raw JSON responses
      --no-submissions               Do not download assignment submission files
  -v, --verbose                      Enable debug logging
  -h, --help                         Print help
  -V, --version                      Print version