Quizzes¶

Author Canvas quizzes as TOML files in your course directory, then create, update, and sync them from the command line. export writes the format and create --from reads it, so a file round-trips.

Commands¶

cass canvas quizzes                                  # list quizzes
cass canvas quizzes --id "Survey 1"                  # settings and questions
cass canvas quizzes export "Survey 1" -o quizzes/survey-1.toml
cass canvas quizzes create --from quizzes/survey-1.toml [--publish] [--create-groups]
cass canvas quizzes update "Survey 1" --from quizzes/survey-1.toml
cass canvas quizzes publish "Survey 1"               # also unpublish, delete
cass canvas quizzes responses "Survey 1" [--all-attempts] [--csv responses.csv] [--wide]
cass canvas sync [--apply] [--create-groups]         # reconcile [[canvas.quizzes]] declarations

update and sync change quiz settings only. Questions on an existing quiz are never modified.

Quiz file¶

One TOML file per quiz.

title = "09-25 Participation Survey"
type = "graded_survey"          # practice_quiz | assignment | graded_survey | survey
group = "Attendance & Participation"
points = 2                      # graded_survey only; other types sum question points
unlock_at = "2026-09-25 14:15"  # course time zone unless an offset is given
due_at = "2026-09-25 17:00"
attempts = 1                    # -1 = unlimited
hide_results = "always"         # "" | always | until_after_last_attempt

[[questions]]
type = "essay"
text = "<p>What are you most hoping to get out of this course?</p>"

[[questions]]
type = "multiple_choice"
text = "<p>Which gamble does your calculation recommend?</p>"
points = 1
answers = [{ text = "A", correct = true }, { text = "B" }]

title and type are required; every other setting has a default (description, lock_at, time_limit, scoring_policy, shuffle_answers, one_question_at_a_time, published).
Question type aliases: essay, multiple_choice, multiple_answers, true_false, short_answer, numerical, text_only. Other Canvas question types pass through verbatim.
Question points default to 0 for surveys and 1 otherwise; name defaults to Question N.
answers are required for multiple_choice, multiple_answers, and true_false; correct = true marks the right answer.

Declaring quizzes in cass.toml¶

[[canvas.quizzes]]
file = "quizzes/09-25-participation.toml"   # relative to cass.toml

cass canvas sync creates quizzes listed here that are missing on Canvas (matched by title) and updates settings that differ.

Downloading responses¶

cass canvas quizzes responses downloads every student's answers to a classic quiz or survey. cass pull --submissions syncs scores only; use this when you need the answers themselves, for example to analyze a survey.

cass canvas quizzes responses "Survey 1" --csv responses.csv                  # latest attempt per student
cass canvas quizzes responses "Survey 1" --all-attempts --csv responses.csv   # every attempt
cass canvas quizzes responses "Survey 1" --wide --csv report.csv              # Canvas's report, unchanged

cass asks Canvas to generate a student analysis report and waits for it, which usually takes about 30 seconds. This also works on concluded courses, where the quiz questions endpoint returns 403.

The CSV has one row per student, attempt, and question:

Column	Meaning
`student`, `user_id`, `sis_id`, `section`	Who answered
`attempt`	Attempt number, blank if it can't be determined
`submitted_at`	When the attempt was submitted (UTC)
`due_at`	The student's own due date, including overrides and extensions; the quiz due date if the quiz has no assignment
`late`	`submitted_at` is after `due_at`
`started_at`	When the student opened the attempt (latest attempt only)
`auto_submitted`	Canvas closed the attempt itself (latest attempt only)
`question_id`, `position`, `question`	The question, in report order; `question` is the report's text
`answer`, `score`	The student's answer and the points it earned

auto_submitted is true when an attempt finished at or after its cutoff. This happens when a time limit runs out, and when a student opened an attempt but never submitted it: Canvas force-submits those when the course concludes and stamps them with the term end date. Without this flag, those attempts look like real submissions made on that date.

Limitations:

Classic Quizzes only. New Quizzes use a different reporting API.
Calculated (formula) questions show the student's answer but not the randomized values they saw.
started_at and auto_submitted are blank for earlier attempts. Canvas keeps timing only for each student's latest attempt.