Canvas sandboxes
Spin up a private Canvas LMS on its own VM, with you as its admin, to build and test LTI 1.3 tools and Canvas API integrations. Pay by the second while it runs, and stop it when you're done.
Sign in with Google · Prepaid credit, no contract · It stops itself when idle
Why sandboxes
Other ways to get a hosted Canvas for testing start with a form and a large payment to commit to. A sandbox starts with a Google sign-in, and costs only the time it runs.
| Step | Other hosted Canvas | Canvas sandboxes |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Fill in a sales form | Sign in with Google |
| Paying | A large commitment up front | Prepaid credit, by the second |
| Waiting | Until someone replies | About 2 minutes to a working Canvas |
A Canvas of your own
Each sandbox is a fresh Canvas on its own VM, with nothing in it but your admin account. Set it up the way your test needs, and break it if you must: Reset gives you a new one.
LTI 1.3 and the Canvas API
A sandbox's connection details hold its address, admin login, API token and LTI 1.3 platform values. Paste them into your tool's settings, or let your code read them.
Your way
Create, start, stop and connect to sandboxes from the REST API or the MCP server, as well as from the dashboard. Make an API key on the dashboard, and use it from either.
Add the MCP server with your API key. Claude can then create a sandbox, wait for it, and read its address, admin login, API token and LTI values.
Create, start, stop, reset and connect from a script or a CI job. With an Idempotency-Key header, a retried job gets the sandbox it already made, not a second one.
Sign in with Google, add credit and make API keys. Start, stop and open your sandboxes by hand, and see what each one costs.
claude mcp add --transport http canvas-sandbox https://sandbox-api.lmsystems.ai/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer $LMSYSTEMS_API_KEY"
Pay for what runs
Running time is billed per second, at least a minute per start. A stopped sandbox costs only its disk.
After an hour with no signed-in use, a sandbox stops itself and keeps its data. You choose how long it waits.
Buy credit up front, and running sandboxes draw from it. At $0 they stop.
Start a stopped sandbox later, as you left it. Delete it to stop paying for its disk, and restore it within 24 hours if you change your mind.
Questions
Developers who build for Canvas: LTI 1.3 tools, Canvas API integrations, and the tests and CI jobs around them. It's a separate product from LMSystems for teachers, with its own dashboard and sign-in.
A fresh Canvas LMS on its own VM, at its own https address, with one admin account: yours. You also get an admin API token and the sandbox's LTI 1.3 platform values. There are no courses or users until you make them.
Other ways to get a hosted Canvas for testing start with a sales form and a large payment commitment. A sandbox needs a Google sign-in and prepaid credit. You pay by the second while it runs, and you can stop or delete it at any time.
Running time is billed by the second, and each sandbox's disk by the month until you delete it. The dashboard shows the current prices before you sign in. Starting a sandbox needs credit for at least an hour of its running time.
Yes. Each sandbox has a public https address. Its REST and LTI APIs, OAuth token endpoint and deep-linking returns are open to your tool's server. A browser gets in only through the sandbox's login link.
It's open-source Canvas LMS, the code Instructure publishes under the AGPL. Instructure's hosted services that are not open source, such as New Quizzes, are not in it. LMSystems is not affiliated with Instructure.
Stopping keeps the disk and everything in Canvas. Reset replaces it with a fresh Canvas. Delete removes it after 24 hours, and you can restore it until then.
More features
Get started
Sign in with Google, add credit, and your own Canvas is ready in about two minutes. No sales form, no contract.
Billed by the second · Read the API docs
LMSystems