Brightspace MCP Server

By Rohan Muppa, ECE @ Purdue

Talk to your Brightspace courses with AI. Ask about grades, due dates, announcements, and more. Works with Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor.

This is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. MCP lets AI apps like ChatGPT or Claude talk to outside tools. This server connects your AI to Brightspace so it can pull your grades, assignments, and course content on demand.

Works with any school that uses Brightspace.

<p align="center"> <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RohanMuppa/brightspace-mcp-server/main/docs/how-it-works.svg" alt="Architecture diagram" width="100%"> </p>

Try It

"Download my lecture slides and turn them into interactive flashcards" "Grab every assignment rubric and build me a visual dashboard of what I need to hit for an A"

Steps to Install

You need: Node.js 18+ (download the LTS version)

Purdue students:

npx brightspace-mcp-server setup --purdue

Everyone else:

npx brightspace-mcp-server setup

This command might take a few minutes to download, especially on Windows. Please be patient.

The wizard handles everything: credentials, MFA, and configuring your AI client. When it's done, restart Claude/Cursor and start asking questions.

That's it! You're ready to go.

Manual Configuration

The setup wizard auto-configures Claude Desktop and Cursor. For other clients, add the server manually:

💡 Tip: Already using Claude Code, Codex, or another AI coding assistant? Just paste this GitHub link and ask it to configure the Brightspace MCP for you: https://github.com/RohanMuppa/brightspace-mcp-server

Claude Code (CLI):

claude mcp add brightspace -- npx -y brightspace-mcp-server@latest

Claude Desktop (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on Mac, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows):

Mac/Linux:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightspace": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "brightspace-mcp-server@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightspace": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "brightspace-mcp-server@latest"]
    }
  }
}

ChatGPT Desktop (Settings → Tools → Add MCP tool → "Add manually"):

Mac/Linux:

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "brightspace-mcp-server@latest"]
}

Windows:

{
  "command": "cmd",
  "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "brightspace-mcp-server@latest"]
}

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json):

Mac/Linux:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightspace": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "brightspace-mcp-server@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brightspace": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "brightspace-mcp-server@latest"]
    }
  }
}

After adding, restart your AI client. You still need to run npx brightspace-mcp-server setup first to save your credentials.

Session Expired?

Sessions re-authenticate automatically. If auto-reauth fails (e.g., you missed the Duo push):

npx brightspace-mcp-server auth

What You Can Ask About

Topic	Examples
Grades	"Am I passing all my classes?" · "Compare my grades across all courses"
Assignments	"What's due in the next 48 hours?" · "Summarize every assignment I haven't turned in yet"
Announcements	"Did any professor post something important today?" · "What did my CS prof announce this week?"
Course content	"Find the midterm review slides" · "Download every PDF from Module 5"
Roster	"Who are the TAs for ECE 264?" · "Get me my instructor's email"
Discussions	"What are people saying in the final project thread?" · "Summarize the latest discussion posts"
Planning	"Build me a study schedule based on my upcoming due dates" · "Which class needs the most attention right now?"

Troubleshooting

"Not authenticated" → Run npx brightspace-mcp-server auth

AI client not responding → Quit and reopen it completely (not just close the window)

Need to redo setup → Run npx brightspace-mcp-server setup again

Config location → ~/.brightspace-mcp/config.json (you can edit this directly)

Browser launch times out (Windows) → Open Task Manager, end all Chromium/Chrome processes, and try again. If it persists, add the Playwright Chromium folder to your antivirus exclusion list.

Auth fails in WSL or Docker → Chromium dependencies may be missing. Run npx playwright install-deps chromium to install them. The server automatically adds --no-sandbox for these environments.

Headless login fails (Windows) → SSO login flows can fail in headless mode on Windows. The default is headed (a browser window opens). If you set D2L_HEADLESS=true and auth fails, switch back to headed mode.

Security

• Credentials stay on your machine at ~/.brightspace-mcp/config.json (restricted permissions)
• Session tokens are encrypted (AES-256-GCM)
• All traffic to Brightspace is HTTPS
• Nothing is sent anywhere except your school's login page

Built With

Updates

Automatic. Every time your AI client starts a session, it runs npx brightspace-mcp-server@latest which pulls the newest version from npm. No action needed.

If you ever suspect you're on an old version, run npm cache clean --force to clear the cache.

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Proudly made for Boilermakers by Rohan Muppa 🚂

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