Coursera Progress Skill#

Fetch enrollment status, grades, deadlines, and certificates from Coursera via the Coursera REST API v1.

---

Authentication setup#

Coursera uses OAuth 2.0. Two paths:

Path A — Personal access (for learners)#

1. Go to coursera.org/account/api → Generate key
2. Note the Client ID and Client Secret
3. Get a token (client credentials flow):

bash

export COURSERA_CLIENT_ID="your_client_id"
export COURSERA_CLIENT_SECRET="your_client_secret"

COURSERA_ACCESS_TOKEN=$(curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.coursera.com/oauth2/client_credentials/token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
  -d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=$COURSERA_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=$COURSERA_CLIENT_SECRET" \
  | python3 -c "import json,sys; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['access_token'])")

export COURSERA_ACCESS_TOKEN

Path B — Unofficial API (no key needed)#

Coursera's public endpoints don't require auth for some queries. Use when the user hasn't set up credentials.

---

Base URL and headers#

text

https://api.coursera.com/api

bash

AUTH_HEADER="Authorization: Bearer $COURSERA_ACCESS_TOKEN"

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Core API calls#

Get enrollments for a user#

bash

# Get your own user ID first
curl -s "https://api.coursera.com/api/users/v1/me" \
  -H "$AUTH_HEADER"

# Then fetch enrollments
curl -s "https://api.coursera.com/api/enrollments.v1?userId=USER_ID&fields=courseId,enrolledAt,grade,completedAt,certificateCode" \
  -H "$AUTH_HEADER"

Get course details by ID#

bash

curl -s "https://api.coursera.com/api/courses.v1?ids=COURSE_ID_1,COURSE_ID_2&fields=name,slug,description,specializations" \
  -H "$AUTH_HEADER"

Get on-demand course progress#

bash

curl -s "https://api.coursera.com/api/onDemandCourseCompletions.v1?userId=USER_ID&courseId=COURSE_ID&fields=progressPercent,completedAt,grade" \
  -H "$AUTH_HEADER"

Get assignment deadlines#

bash

curl -s "https://api.coursera.com/api/onDemandDeadlineSchedules.v1?courseId=COURSE_ID&fields=deadlineSchedule,moduleIds" \
  -H "$AUTH_HEADER"

Get certificate info#

bash

curl -s "https://api.coursera.com/api/certificates.v1?userId=USER_ID&fields=courseId,issuedAt,verifyUrl,grade" \
  -H "$AUTH_HEADER"

Search for courses#

bash

curl -s "https://api.coursera.com/api/courses.v1?q=search&query=SEARCH_TERM&fields=name,slug,partnerIds,primaryLanguages" \
  -H "$AUTH_HEADER" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

---

Displaying results#

Active enrollments summary:

text

Your Coursera Courses
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
📚 Machine Learning Specialization (Stanford/DeepLearning.AI)
   Progress: 68% complete   Grade: 91.4%
   Next deadline: Mar 28 — Week 4 Programming Assignment

📚 Python for Everybody (University of Michigan)
   Progress: 100% ✅  Grade: 96.7%
   Certificate: Issued Jan 12, 2026
   Verify: https://coursera.org/verify/XXXX

📚 SQL for Data Science (UC Davis)
   Progress: 23%  Grade: —
   Next deadline: Apr 3 — Module 2 Quiz
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Certificates earned: 1   Active courses: 2

Upcoming deadlines:

text

Deadlines (next 14 days):
  Mar 28  Week 4 Programming Assignment  — Machine Learning
  Apr 3   Module 2 Quiz                 — SQL for Data Science
  Apr 10  Peer Review Submission        — Machine Learning

---

Without API credentials (public lookup)#

For course search and public course info:

bash

# Public course info (no auth)
curl -s "https://api.coursera.com/api/courses.v1?q=search&query=python&includes=instructors&fields=name,partnerIds,instructorIds,primaryLanguages,workload" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

For personal data (grades, certificates), credentials are required.

---

Python helper for parsing progress#

python

import json, subprocess, os

def get_enrollments(user_id):
    token = os.environ["COURSERA_ACCESS_TOKEN"]
    r = subprocess.run(
        ["curl", "-s",
         f"https://api.coursera.com/api/enrollments.v1?userId={user_id}"
         f"&fields=courseId,enrolledAt,grade,completedAt,certificateCode",
         "-H", f"Authorization: Bearer {token}"],
        capture_output=True, text=True)
    return json.loads(r.stdout).get("elements", [])

def upcoming_deadlines(enrollments, days=14):
    from datetime import date, timedelta
    cutoff = (date.today() + timedelta(days=days)).isoformat()
    # Parse deadlines per course and filter by date
    ...

---

Error handling#

ErrorMeaningFix401 UnauthorizedToken expired or missingRe-run token generation step403 ForbiddenScope missing on keyRegenerate API key with correct scopesEmpty elements arrayNo enrollments foundConfirm correct user IDRate limit (429)Too many requestsBack off 30s; Coursera is ~100 req/min