Canvas Connector Live

Dr. Olivia is connected to your school's Canvas account. When you ask about a course, an assignment, a module, a grade, or a wiki page, she queries Canvas in real time using your own permissions — she sees exactly what you can see, nothing more.

A question about your own course is a request, so she answers it. Ask "are there any modules?" and she looks them up and lists them. She won't offer to look and then wait for you to ask again. A follow-up about something she found earlier in the conversation sends her back to Canvas, so the answer is always current.

Screenshot: canvas-tools.png — example chat where Dr. Olivia drilled into a Canvas module to answer.

What Dr. Olivia Can Do With Canvas

Tool	What it does
Course list	Your active enrollments. She now has this in hand from the moment your session starts, so naming a course — "how am I doing in Physio II?" — goes straight to the answer instead of her looking up which course you meant first.
Course modules & assignments	For a specific course, lists every module, and every assignment with its due date and points.
Course module items	Drills into one module to list every item: pages, assignments, quizzes, files, external URLs.
Course page	Reads the full content of a Canvas wiki page, so Dr. Olivia can quote and reason about it. If the page is empty she says so. If it is locked for you, for example because it hasn't opened yet, she tells you the reason Canvas gives.
Syllabus, home page & page list New	The course syllabus, the course home page, and a list of every page in the course. Use it for policies, office hours, textbooks, or "what pages does this course have?"
Grades	Your overall course grade and each assignment's score, plus whether anything is late or missing.

Things You Can Ask

"What's due in Pharmacology this week?"
"What's on the home page for Physio II?"
"How am I doing in Biochemistry? Am I missing anything?"
"Open the ‘Renal Physiology Overview’ module and walk me through the readings."
"What does the wiki page on diabetic nephropathy in Internal Med say about screening?"
"List my upcoming assignments across all my courses."

Course materials vs. Canvas Dr. Olivia has two different sources for course content:

Canvas API — live queries for current assignments, due dates, module structure, and wiki pages. Always up-to-date.
Course Materials — a pre-indexed library of lecture slides, video captions, and textbook excerpts. Best for "what did the lecturer say about X?" style questions.

She picks the right one automatically based on your question. You don't have to think about it.

How It Works (Behind the Scenes)

You sign in with Canvas (see Signing In). Canvas issues a secure access token that lets Dr. Olivia read your courses, modules, pages, assignments, and grades — nothing else.
The token stays server-side — it never reaches the browser. It renews itself in the background, so a long study session stays connected without signing in again.
When Dr. Olivia decides a Canvas lookup is needed, she uses your token to read Canvas exactly the way the Canvas web app would.
The response is folded back into her reasoning and you get an answer that cites the actual content.

Permissions & Privacy

Dr. Olivia sees only what you see in Canvas. If you can't access a course, neither can she.
She does not write to Canvas — no submitting assignments, no posting in discussions, no editing pages. Read-only.
Her access is limited to courses, modules, pages, assignments, and your own grades and submission scores. She cannot see private messages, other students' grades, or your Canvas profile settings.
You can revoke her access at any time from your Canvas account > Settings > Approved Integrations.

When Canvas Lookups Don't Work

Symptom	What it usually means
"I couldn't find that in Canvas."	The exact name didn't match. Try the course code or instructor name. Canvas search is literal.
"I don't have access to that course."	Your enrollment may have ended (past semester) or you're not in the course. Check Canvas directly.
"My Canvas connection has expired — please sign in again."	Your connection normally renews itself, so this means it could not. Usually you removed the tutor under Canvas > Settings > Approved Integrations, or your school reset its Canvas connection. Sign out and back in to reconnect.
"That page is locked for you."	Canvas is holding the page back. Usually it hasn't opened yet, or an earlier module needs finishing first. Dr. Olivia passes on the reason Canvas gives. Check the module in Canvas.

Demo / Act-As mode When an admin is impersonating a student via Act-As, Canvas calls run with the impersonated student's enrollments — not the admin's. This is intentional so the experience matches what the student would see.