Canvas

Canvas Sections API

The Sections API from Canvas — 6 operation(s) for sections.

GitHub OpenAPI

Operations 9

Each operation below carries the questions people ask an LLM about it and the instructions they give an agent to run it. Generated by API Evangelist overlay

GET /v1/courses/{course_id}/sections List a course's sections · List course sections #
Ask an LLM
“What sections does my Canvas course have?”
“Can I search a course's sections by name?”
Tell an agent
List the sections in course {course_id}.
Find sections in course {course_id} matching {search_term}.
POST /v1/courses/{course_id}/sections Create a section in a course · Create course section #
Ask an LLM
“How do I add a new section to a course?”
“Can I give a new section its own start and end dates and SIS id?”
Tell an agent
Create a section named {name} in course {course_id}.
Add section {name} to course {course_id} with SIS id {sis_section_id}, running {start_at} to {end_at}.
POST /v1/sections/{id}/crosslist/{new_course_id} Cross-list a section into another course · Cross-list a Section #
Ask an LLM
“How do I move a section into a different course?”
“Can I cross-list a section into a course in another department?”
Tell an agent
Cross-list section {id} into course {new_course_id}.
Move section {id} to course {new_course_id}, overriding SIS stickiness {override_sis_stickiness}.
DELETE /v1/sections/{id}/crosslist Undo cross-listing of a section · De-cross-list a Section #
Ask an LLM
“How do I send a cross-listed section back to its original course?”
“Can I reverse a section cross-list?”
Tell an agent destructive · confirm first
De-cross-list section {id}.
Return section {id} to its original course.
PUT /v1/sections/{id} Edit a section · Edit a section #
Ask an LLM
“Can I rename a section or change its dates?”
“How do I restrict enrollments to a section's own dates?”
Tell an agent
Rename section {id} to {name}.
Set section {id} to end at {end_at} and restrict enrollments to section dates {restrict_enrollments_to_section_dates}.
GET /v1/sections/{id} Get a section by its id · Get section information #
Ask an LLM
“How do I look up a section when I only know its section id?”
“Can I get a section's details including its student count?”
Tell an agent
Show section {id}.
Get section {id} details including {include}.
DELETE /v1/sections/{id} Delete a section · Delete a section #
Ask an LLM
“How do I delete a section from a course?”
“What does Canvas return after a section is deleted?”
Tell an agent destructive · confirm first
Delete section {id}.
Remove the course section {id} permanently.
GET /v1/courses/{course_id}/sections/{id} Get a section within a specific course · Get section information #
Ask an LLM
“How do I get one section's details scoped to its course?”
“Can I fetch a section via its course id and section id together?”
Tell an agent
Show section {id} in course {course_id}.
Get course {course_id} section {id} with {include}.
GET /v1/sections/{id}/users List users in a section · List section's users #
Ask an LLM
“Who is enrolled in a particular section?”
“Can I list only the students in a section and skip inactive enrollments?”
Tell an agent
List the users in section {id}.
Show {enrollment_type} users in section {id} matching {search_term}.

Documentation

📖
Documentation
https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/
📖
Authentication
https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.oauth.html
📖
APIReference
https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/
📖
RateLimits
https://artifacts.apis.io/canvas/rate-limits/canvas-rate-limits.yml

Specifications

⚙
OpenAPI
https://artifacts.apis.io/canvas/openapi/canvas-sections-api-openapi.yml

SDKs

📦
GitHubRepository
https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms

Other Resources

🔗
Pagination
https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.pagination.html
🔗
Swagger
https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/api-docs.json
🔗
OAuthScopes
https://artifacts.apis.io/canvas/scopes/canvas-scopes.yml
🔗
ErrorCatalog
https://artifacts.apis.io/canvas/errors/canvas-problem-types.yml
🔗
DataModel
https://artifacts.apis.io/canvas/data-model/canvas-data-model.yml

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OpenAPI Specification

canvas-sections-api-openapi.yml Raw ↑ 
openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: Canvas LMS REST Sections API
  version: v1
  summary: The complete Canvas LMS REST API, converted from the Swagger 1.2 documents Instructure publishes under https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/.
  description: The Canvas LMS REST API covers courses, assignments, quizzes, grades, users, enrollments, accounts, files, modules, rubrics, submissions, SIS imports, LTI, analytics and account administration.
  contact:
    name: Instructure Canvas
    url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/
  license:
    name: AGPL-3.0
    url: https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms/blob/master/LICENSE
servers:
- url: https://canvas.instructure.com/api
  description: Instructure-hosted Canvas (canvas.instructure.com)
- url: https://{canvas_host}/api
  description: Any Canvas instance; Canvas is multi-tenant and self-hostable, so the host is the institution's Canvas domain.
  variables:
    canvas_host:
      default: canvas.instructure.com
      description: Your institution's Canvas hostname, e.g. school.instructure.com
security:
- bearerAuth: []
- oauth2: []
tags:
- name: Sections
  x-resource: sections
  externalDocs:
    url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
paths:
  /v1/courses/{course_id}/sections:
    get:
      tags:
      - Sections
      operationId: list_course_sections
      summary: List course sections
      description: A paginated list of the list of sections for this course.
      parameters:
      - name: course_id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      - name: include
        in: query
        schema:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
            enum:
            - students
            - avatar_url
            - enrollments
            - total_students
            - passback_status
            - permissions
        required: false
        description: "- \"students\": Associations to include with the group. Note: this is only\n  available if you have permission to view users or grades in the course\n- \"avatar_url\": Include the avatar URLs for students returned.\n- \"enrollments\": If 'students' is also included, return the section\n  enrollment for each student\n- \"total_students\": Returns the total amount of active and invited students\n  for the course section\n- \"passback_status\": Include the grade passback status.\n- \"permissions\": Include whether section grants :manage_calendar permission\n  to the caller"
      - name: search_term
        in: query
        schema:
          type: string
        required: false
        description: 'When included, searches course sections for the term. Returns only matching

          results. Term must be at least 2 characters.'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: array
                items:
                  $ref: '#/components/schemas/Section'
      externalDocs:
        url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
    post:
      tags:
      - Sections
      operationId: create_course_section
      summary: Create course section
      description: Creates a new section for this course.
      parameters:
      - name: course_id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      requestBody:
        required: false
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                course_section[name]:
                  type: string
                  description: The name of the section
                course_section[sis_section_id]:
                  type: string
                  description: The sis ID of the section. Must have manage_sis permission to set. This is ignored if caller does not have permission to set.
                course_section[integration_id]:
                  type: string
                  description: The integration_id of the section. Must have manage_sis permission to set. This is ignored if caller does not have permission to set.
                course_section[start_at]:
                  type: string
                  format: date-time
                  description: Section start date in ISO8601 format, e.g. 2011-01-01T01:00Z
                course_section[end_at]:
                  type: string
                  format: date-time
                  description: Section end date in ISO8601 format. e.g. 2011-01-01T01:00Z
                course_section[restrict_enrollments_to_section_dates]:
                  type: boolean
                  description: Set to true to restrict user enrollments to the start and end dates of the section.
                enable_sis_reactivation:
                  type: boolean
                  description: When true, will first try to re-activate a deleted section with matching sis_section_id if possible.
          application/x-www-form-urlencoded:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                course_section[name]:
                  type: string
                  description: The name of the section
                course_section[sis_section_id]:
                  type: string
                  description: The sis ID of the section. Must have manage_sis permission to set. This is ignored if caller does not have permission to set.
                course_section[integration_id]:
                  type: string
                  description: The integration_id of the section. Must have manage_sis permission to set. This is ignored if caller does not have permission to set.
                course_section[start_at]:
                  type: string
                  format: date-time
                  description: Section start date in ISO8601 format, e.g. 2011-01-01T01:00Z
                course_section[end_at]:
                  type: string
                  format: date-time
                  description: Section end date in ISO8601 format. e.g. 2011-01-01T01:00Z
                course_section[restrict_enrollments_to_section_dates]:
                  type: boolean
                  description: Set to true to restrict user enrollments to the start and end dates of the section.
                enable_sis_reactivation:
                  type: boolean
                  description: When true, will first try to re-activate a deleted section with matching sis_section_id if possible.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Section'
      externalDocs:
        url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
  /v1/sections/{id}/crosslist/{new_course_id}:
    post:
      tags:
      - Sections
      operationId: cross_list_section
      summary: Cross-list a Section
      description: 'Move the Section to another course. The new course may be in a different account (department),

        but must belong to the same root account (institution).'
      parameters:
      - name: id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      - name: new_course_id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      requestBody:
        required: false
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                override_sis_stickiness:
                  type: boolean
                  description: 'Default is true. If false, any fields containing “sticky” changes will not be updated.

                    See SIS CSV Format documentation for information on which fields can have SIS stickiness'
          application/x-www-form-urlencoded:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                override_sis_stickiness:
                  type: boolean
                  description: 'Default is true. If false, any fields containing “sticky” changes will not be updated.

                    See SIS CSV Format documentation for information on which fields can have SIS stickiness'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Section'
      externalDocs:
        url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
  /v1/sections/{id}/crosslist:
    delete:
      tags:
      - Sections
      operationId: de_cross_list_section
      summary: De-cross-list a Section
      description: Undo cross-listing of a Section, returning it to its original course.
      parameters:
      - name: id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      - name: override_sis_stickiness
        in: query
        schema:
          type: boolean
        required: false
        description: 'Default is true. If false, any fields containing “sticky” changes will not be updated.

          See SIS CSV Format documentation for information on which fields can have SIS stickiness'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Section'
      externalDocs:
        url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
  /v1/sections/{id}:
    put:
      tags:
      - Sections
      operationId: edit_section
      summary: Edit a section
      description: Modify an existing section.
      parameters:
      - name: id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      requestBody:
        required: false
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                course_section[name]:
                  type: string
                  description: The name of the section
                course_section[sis_section_id]:
                  type: string
                  description: The sis ID of the section. Must have manage_sis permission to set.
                course_section[integration_id]:
                  type: string
                  description: The integration_id of the section. Must have manage_sis permission to set.
                course_section[start_at]:
                  type: string
                  format: date-time
                  description: Section start date in ISO8601 format, e.g. 2011-01-01T01:00Z
                course_section[end_at]:
                  type: string
                  format: date-time
                  description: Section end date in ISO8601 format. e.g. 2011-01-01T01:00Z
                course_section[restrict_enrollments_to_section_dates]:
                  type: boolean
                  description: Set to true to restrict user enrollments to the start and end dates of the section.
                override_sis_stickiness:
                  type: boolean
                  description: 'Default is true. If false, any fields containing “sticky” changes will not be updated.

                    See SIS CSV Format documentation for information on which fields can have SIS stickiness'
          application/x-www-form-urlencoded:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                course_section[name]:
                  type: string
                  description: The name of the section
                course_section[sis_section_id]:
                  type: string
                  description: The sis ID of the section. Must have manage_sis permission to set.
                course_section[integration_id]:
                  type: string
                  description: The integration_id of the section. Must have manage_sis permission to set.
                course_section[start_at]:
                  type: string
                  format: date-time
                  description: Section start date in ISO8601 format, e.g. 2011-01-01T01:00Z
                course_section[end_at]:
                  type: string
                  format: date-time
                  description: Section end date in ISO8601 format. e.g. 2011-01-01T01:00Z
                course_section[restrict_enrollments_to_section_dates]:
                  type: boolean
                  description: Set to true to restrict user enrollments to the start and end dates of the section.
                override_sis_stickiness:
                  type: boolean
                  description: 'Default is true. If false, any fields containing “sticky” changes will not be updated.

                    See SIS CSV Format documentation for information on which fields can have SIS stickiness'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Section'
      externalDocs:
        url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
    get:
      tags:
      - Sections
      operationId: get_section_information_sections
      summary: Get section information
      description: Gets details about a specific section
      parameters:
      - name: id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      - name: include
        in: query
        schema:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
            enum:
            - students
            - avatar_url
            - enrollments
            - total_students
            - passback_status
            - permissions
        required: false
        description: "- \"students\": Associations to include with the group. Note: this is only\n  available if you have permission to view users or grades in the course\n- \"avatar_url\": Include the avatar URLs for students returned.\n- \"enrollments\": If 'students' is also included, return the section\n  enrollment for each student\n- \"total_students\": Returns the total amount of active and invited students\n  for the course section\n- \"passback_status\": Include the grade passback status.\n- \"permissions\": Include whether section grants :manage_calendar permission\n  to the caller"
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Section'
      externalDocs:
        url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
    delete:
      tags:
      - Sections
      operationId: delete_section
      summary: Delete a section
      description: Delete an existing section. Returns the former Section.
      parameters:
      - name: id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Section'
      externalDocs:
        url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
  /v1/courses/{course_id}/sections/{id}:
    get:
      tags:
      - Sections
      operationId: get_section_information_courses
      summary: Get section information
      description: Gets details about a specific section
      parameters:
      - name: course_id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      - name: id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      - name: include
        in: query
        schema:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
            enum:
            - students
            - avatar_url
            - enrollments
            - total_students
            - passback_status
            - permissions
        required: false
        description: "- \"students\": Associations to include with the group. Note: this is only\n  available if you have permission to view users or grades in the course\n- \"avatar_url\": Include the avatar URLs for students returned.\n- \"enrollments\": If 'students' is also included, return the section\n  enrollment for each student\n- \"total_students\": Returns the total amount of active and invited students\n  for the course section\n- \"passback_status\": Include the grade passback status.\n- \"permissions\": Include whether section grants :manage_calendar permission\n  to the caller"
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Section'
      externalDocs:
        url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
  /v1/sections/{id}/users:
    get:
      tags:
      - Sections
      operationId: list_section_s_users
      summary: List section's users
      description: Returns a paginated list of users in the section.
      parameters:
      - name: id
        in: path
        schema:
          type: string
        required: true
        description: ID
      - name: search_term
        in: query
        schema:
          type: string
        required: false
        description: 'The partial name or full ID of the users to match and return in the

          results list. Must be at least 2 characters.'
      - name: include
        in: query
        schema:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
            enum:
            - avatar_url
        required: false
        description: '"avatar_url": Include users'' avatar_urls.'
      - name: exclude_inactive
        in: query
        schema:
          type: boolean
        required: false
        description: 'Whether to filter out inactive users from the results. Defaults to

          false unless explicitly provided.'
      - name: enrollment_type
        in: query
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - teacher
          - student
          - ta
          - observer
          - designer
        required: false
        description: When set, only return users with the specified enrollment type for the given section.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Success
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: array
                items:
                  type: string
                  x-canvas-declared-type: User
      externalDocs:
        url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/sections.html
components:
  schemas:
    Section:
      type: object
      properties:
        id:
          type: integer
          example: 1
          description: The unique identifier for the section.
        name:
          type: string
          example: Section A
          description: The name of the section.
        sis_section_id:
          type: string
          example: s34643
          description: The sis id of the section. This field is only included if the user has permission to view SIS information.
        integration_id:
          type: string
          example: '3452342345'
          description: 'Optional: The integration ID of the section. This field is only included if the user has permission to view SIS information.'
        sis_import_id:
          type: integer
          example: 47
          description: The unique identifier for the SIS import if created through SIS. This field is only included if the user has permission to manage SIS information.
        course_id:
          type: integer
          example: 7
          description: The unique Canvas identifier for the course in which the section belongs
        sis_course_id:
          type: string
          example: 7
          description: The unique SIS identifier for the course in which the section belongs. This field is only included if the user has permission to view SIS information.
        start_at:
          type: string
          format: date-time
          example: '2012-06-01T00:00:00-06:00'
          description: the start date for the section, if applicable
        end_at:
          type: string
          format: date-time
          description: the end date for the section, if applicable
        restrict_enrollments_to_section_dates:
          type: boolean
          description: Restrict user enrollments to the start and end dates of the section
        nonxlist_course_id:
          type: integer
          description: The unique identifier of the original course of a cross-listed section
        total_students:
          type: integer
          example: 13
          description: 'optional: the total number of active and invited students in the section'
        students:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
            x-canvas-declared-type: User
          description: 'optional: A list of students that are included in the section. Returned only if include[]=students. WARNING: this collection''s size is capped (if there are an extremely large number of users in the section (thousands) not all of them will be returned). If you need to capture all the users in a section with certainty or experiencing slow response consider using the paginated /api/v1/sections/<section_id>/users endpoint.'
  securitySchemes:
    bearerAuth:
      type: http
      scheme: bearer
      description: 'Canvas OAuth2 access token sent as "Authorization: Bearer <token>". See https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.oauth.html'
    oauth2:
      type: oauth2
      description: Canvas OAuth2. See https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.oauth.html and https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.oauth_endpoints.html
      flows:
        authorizationCode:
          authorizationUrl: https://canvas.instructure.com/login/oauth2/auth
          tokenUrl: https://canvas.instructure.com/login/oauth2/token
          refreshUrl: https://canvas.instructure.com/login/oauth2/token
          scopes: {}
externalDocs:
  description: Canvas LMS REST API Documentation
  url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/
x-generated-from: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/api-docs.json
x-provenance:
  method: derived
  derived_by: API Evangelist enrichment pipeline (Swagger 1.2 -> OpenAPI 3.1 conversion)
  source: openapi/_original/swagger-1.2/*.json (144 verbatim first-party Swagger 1.2 documents)
  source_url: https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/api-docs.json
  fetched: '2026-09-05'
  http_status: 200