Getting Started
A step-by-step guide for IT admins, analysts, and non-technical users.
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A step-by-step guide for IT admins, analysts, and non-technical users.
Last updated
Was this helpful?
To access the DAP API, you will need a Client ID and Secret. These are generated via the Instructure Identity Services.
Log into .
Select your institution from the drop-down menu and log in.
Once authorized, navigate to the dashboard and click Add New Key.
Enter a name for the key and set the expiration time.
Copy the Client ID and Secret when they appear. Note: These are displayed only once. If you lose them, you will need to generate new ones.
The DAP CLI tool allows you to interact with the Canvas Data 2 API. Installation steps differ slightly depending on your operating system.
Install Xcode Developer Tools:
download and install Python 3.10+ from :
Install PIP (if not installed by default):
Install the DAP CLI tool with PostgreSQL support:
Install the DAP CLI tool using the Windows command prompt:
If you miss installing an extra feature, the library will not be able to synchronize data with a database, and you may get an error message similar to the following:
For secure access to the API, it's recommended to store your credentials as environment variables. This prevents sensitive information from being exposed in command-line arguments.
Open Terminal and run the following commands, replacing placeholders with your actual Client ID and Secret:
Restart Terminal for changes to take effect.
Unless you set environment variables, you need to pass endpoint URL, Client ID, and Secret to the dap command explicitly:
DAP CLI allows you to interact with PostgreSQL, MySQL or MSSQL databases. You will need the connection string of your database for DAP to function correctly.
Open Terminal and run the following commands, replacing placeholders with your actual Client ID and Secret:
Restart Terminal for changes to take effect.
Regular use of snapshots is not recommended, as they are resource-intensive for the API and costly to process on the client side.
If you need to change the temporary storage directory for data processing, you can configure the location using the following command-line option:
You can export data using either the snapshot or incremental methods, depending on your use case.
Regular use of snapshots is not recommended, as they are resource-intensive for the API and costly to process on the client side.
Install Python 3.10+ from .
Follow this or use the set
command in the Windows command line:
Follow this or use the set
command in the Windows command line:
Use the command to download full snapshots of tables and store them in your database.
After obtaining snapshots, keep your database updated with the command. This ensures incremental changes are applied to your tables.
Use command to download a full copy of tables at a point in time.
The commands captures only the data that has changed since your last export.