Canvas LMS integration specialists

Hire Canvas LMS developers

Engineers who extend Canvas the supported way: LTI 1.3 tools, the Canvas REST and GraphQL APIs, SIS and HR integrations and data pipelines. Built for institutions and companies that need Canvas to work with everything else.

LTI 1.3 and LTI Advantage
Canvas REST and GraphQL APIs
NDA and data agreements first
Reply within 1 business day

Get a free estimate See engagement models

Get a free Canvas LMS estimate

Takes 2 minutes. A senior engineer replies - not a salesperson.

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10+Years in LMS engineering
500+LMS projects delivered
150+Clients served
30+Countries
4.9/5Average client rating
NDA before accessWe sign your NDA before you share code, data or credentials.
You own 100% of the codeCode, documentation and credentials are yours. No lock-in.
Talk to the engineerYou speak with the person doing the work, not a salesperson.
Reply within 1 business dayEvery request is read by a senior LMS engineer.

Common Canvas problems we solve

Sound familiar?

Canvas is usually hosted by Instructure, so you cannot change its code. Almost everything is solved through LTI tools, APIs and good data plumbing.

Your LTI 1.1 tool needs to move to LTI 1.3

We rebuild the launch flow on LTI 1.3 with OIDC login and signed JWTs, add Deep Linking, Names and Role Provisioning and Assignment and Grade Services, then migrate existing placements.

Rosters and enrolments are uploaded by hand

Automatic sync from your SIS or HR system using SIS imports or the API, with error reports instead of silent failures.

Grades have to be copied into another system

Grade passback through LTI Advantage or scheduled API exports to your SIS, with an audit trail.

Leaders want reports Canvas does not provide

Data pipelines from Canvas Data 2 or the API into your warehouse and BI tool, refreshed automatically.

API scripts keep hitting rate limits and timeouts

Paginated, throttled and retry-safe integrations that respect Canvas rate limiting and run in the background.

You are moving to or from Canvas

Course content, users, enrolments and grade history migrated with scripts and checks, not copy and paste.

What our Canvas developers do

Canvas LMS development services

LTI 1.3 tool development

Tools that launch inside Canvas with deep linking, roster access and grade passback.

Canvas API integrations

REST and GraphQL integrations for courses, enrolments, submissions and outcomes.

SIS and HR roster sync

Automatic account, section and enrolment management from your system of record.

Data and reporting

Pipelines from Canvas Data 2 and the API to your warehouse and dashboards.

SSO and identity

SAML, OIDC and Azure AD or Google sign-in alongside your other systems.

Migrations

From Moodle, Blackboard or a WordPress LMS into Canvas, or out of Canvas.

Theme and UX customization

Branding, custom CSS and JavaScript where your Canvas account allows it.

Security and compliance reviews

LTI key handling, token scopes, data minimisation and privacy documentation.

Support for your integrations

Monitoring, fixes when Canvas changes, and on-call help during term starts.

Code-level expertise

Integrations that behave like good Canvas citizens

Because Canvas is a shared hosted service, integrations have to be polite: paginate every list, respect rate limits, use narrowly scoped tokens and never block a teacher waiting for an external system.

LTI 1.3 security. OIDC login, signed JWTs and per-deployment keys stored outside your code.
Pagination and throttling. Every list call follows the Link header, and retries back off when Canvas asks.
Least privilege. Developer keys scoped to only the endpoints the integration needs.

This example reads every student enrolment in a course, following Canvas pagination.

import os
import time

import requests

BASE = os.environ["CANVAS_URL"]          # e.g. https://school.instructure.com
TOKEN = os.environ["CANVAS_TOKEN"]       # scoped developer key token


def student_enrollments(course_id: int):
    url = f"{BASE}/api/v1/courses/{course_id}/enrollments"
    params = {"type[]": "StudentEnrollment", "per_page": 100}
    session = requests.Session()
    session.headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {TOKEN}"

    while url:
        resp = session.get(url, params=params, timeout=30)
        if resp.status_code == 403 and "Rate Limit Exceeded" in resp.text:
            time.sleep(5)                # back off, then retry the same page
            continue
        resp.raise_for_status()
        yield from resp.json()
        url = resp.links.get("next", {}).get("url")
        params = None                    # the next URL already has the query

Canvas returns lists in pages and puts the next page in the Link header. The token comes from the environment, never from the code.

Skills

The Canvas stack we work with every day

Canvas platform

Canvas REST API
Canvas GraphQL
Developer keys
SIS imports
Canvas Data 2
Blueprint courses
Outcomes
Account theming

Standards and identity

LTI 1.3
LTI Advantage
Deep Linking
Names and Role Provisioning
Assignment and Grade Services
OIDC
SAML 2.0
OneRoster

Engineering

Python
PHP
Node.js
PostgreSQL
Queues and workers
Docker
Git and CI
Data warehouses

Engagement models

Hire Canvas developers your way

Pick the model that fits today and switch when your needs change. Every model includes a senior engineer, code review and a staging site.

Hourly

Bug fixes, small changes, audits and urgent issues.

from $45/hour

Billed on hours actually worked
Task-level time log with every invoice
Start with a single task
Senior engineer, not a junior

Hire by the hour

Part-time dedicated

Steady roadmap work and ongoing maintenance.

from 2500/month

A named developer, about 4 hours a day
Shared task board and weekly report
Updates, monitoring and small features
Scale up or down month to month

Hire part-time

Full-time dedicated

Large roadmaps, platform teams and agencies.

from 4500/month

A developer who works only on your LMS
Daily async updates and agreed overlap hours
Code review and QA by a second engineer
Add QA, design or DevOps when needed

Hire full-time

Fixed-price project

Well-defined features, migrations and new builds.

from 3000 minimum

Written scope, price and timeline up front
Milestone-based payments
Staging demos before each release
Post-launch warranty period agreed in the proposal

Get a fixed quote

Every engagement starts with a free technical call and an NDA. Prices exclude applicable taxes.

How it works

How hiring a Canvas LMS expert works

Tell us what you need

2 minutes

Use the short form: platform, what is wrong or what you want built, and how you prefer to work. Two minutes is enough.
Free technical call

30 minutes

A senior engineer reviews your site or requirements, asks the awkward questions early and suggests the simplest approach that will last.
Proposal and NDA

1-3 business days

You get a written plan: fixed price and timeline, or the developer profile and monthly plan for dedicated work. NDA signed before any access.
Work starts on staging

Weekly demos

We set up staging and version control, ship in small reviewed increments and demo every change before it reaches your live site.

Compare

A Canvas integration team vs a freelancer vs hiring in-house

Criterion	All-in-One LMS	Freelance marketplace	In-house hire
Engineers who work only on learning platforms	Yes	Partial	Partial
One team for WordPress LMS, Moodle, Open edX, Canvas and custom LMS	Yes	No	No
Cover when your developer is ill or on leave	Yes	No	Partial
Code review and QA before every release	Yes	Varies	Partial
NDA and IP assignment in the contract	Yes	Varies	Yes
No recruitment, payroll or notice periods	Yes	Yes	No
Scale hours up or down month to month	Yes	Partial	No
One accountable point of contact	Yes	No	Yes

A general comparison of how each model usually works. Individual freelancers and in-house teams vary.

How Canvas customization really works

Canvas is open source, but most institutions and companies use the version hosted by Instructure, where you cannot change the application code. That shapes every project:

New functionality is delivered as an LTI tool that launches inside Canvas.
Automation and data flows use the REST and GraphQL APIs with developer keys.
Bulk roster changes go through SIS imports rather than thousands of individual API calls.
Look and feel changes are limited to the theming options your account allows.

LTI 1.3, with the LTI Advantage services, is the current standard. It replaces shared-secret LTI 1.1 launches with OIDC and signed tokens, and adds standard services for deep linking, rosters and grade passback. If your tools still use LTI 1.1, plan the move now.

How to hire the right Canvas developer

Ask about LTI 1.3 specifically

A Canvas specialist will talk about the OIDC launch, platform and tool keys, deployment IDs, Deep Linking and Assignment and Grade Services without prompting.

Ask how they handle pagination and rate limits

Integrations that ignore them work in testing and fail on the first day of term.

Ask where tokens and keys will live

The answer should be a secrets store or environment configuration with narrow scopes, never a spreadsheet or the code.

Make sure they think about student data

Canvas integrations often handle student records. Your developer should help you minimise the data you copy and document where it goes.

Comparing platforms? Read Moodle vs Canvas and our guide to SCORM, xAPI and cmi5, or see our Canvas integration services.

Hiring a Canvas LMS expert: FAQ

How much does it cost to hire a Canvas developer?

Integrations and LTI tools are usually fixed-price projects once the scope is clear; ongoing integration support fits a part-time dedicated plan. You get a written estimate after the free technical call.

Can you build a custom LTI 1.3 tool for Canvas?

Yes, including OIDC launch, Deep Linking for content selection, Names and Role Provisioning for rosters and Assignment and Grade Services for passing scores back to the gradebook.

Can you migrate our LTI 1.1 tool to LTI 1.3?

Yes. We rebuild the launch and security layer, keep your existing features, and plan the switch of course placements so teachers are not disrupted mid-term.

Can you sync Canvas with our SIS or HR system?

Yes, using SIS imports for bulk changes and the API for real-time updates, with error reporting so mismatched records are fixed rather than lost.

Can you customize Canvas itself?

On hosted Canvas, changes to the core application are not possible; customization happens through LTI tools, APIs and the theming your account allows. For self-hosted Canvas, more is possible, but we still recommend extensions over code changes.

Can you move us from Moodle or Blackboard to Canvas?

Yes. Course content, users, enrolments and, where the source allows it, grade history can be migrated with scripted checks. See our LMS migration services.

Do you work with Canvas Data 2 and reporting?

Yes. We build pipelines from Canvas Data 2 and the API into your data warehouse and dashboards, refreshed on a schedule.

Free estimate

Tell us about your Canvas project

Tell us whether you use hosted or self-hosted Canvas, what needs to connect, and your timeline. A senior engineer will reply with questions or a first estimate.

A senior engineer reads every request
Written estimate before any work starts
NDA signed before you share access