Moodle#

Use the Moodle REST API ( curl) to list courses, browse content, and check assignments.

Setup#

1. Log into your Moodle instance
2. Go to Preferences → Security keys (or visit /login/token.php while logged in)
3. Create a token for the Moodle mobile web service
4. Set the env vars:

bash

export MOODLE_TOKEN="your_token_here"
export MOODLE_URL="https://your-moodle.example.com"

MOODLE_URL defaults to https://mylms.vossie.net when unset.

API Basics#

All requests go to the REST endpoint:

text

Base: ${MOODLE_URL:-https://mylms.vossie.net}/webservice/rest/server.php

Every request needs: wstoken, wsfunction, moodlewsrestformat=json

Use curl -s with --get and --data-urlencode for clean parameter encoding. Always pipe through python3 -m json.tool for readable output.

Available API Functions#

Use core_webservice_get_site_info to see which functions your Moodle instance exposes. Common ones include:

FunctionPurposemod_assign_get_assignmentsList all courses and their assignmentscore_course_get_contentsBrowse course sections, modules, filescore_completion_get_activities_completion_statusCheck activity completioncore_completion_get_course_completion_statusCheck course completion

Calendar and grade API functions are not enabled on this Moodle instance.

Common Operations#

List courses and assignments#

mod_assign_get_assignments is the primary course-discovery endpoint. It returns every enrolled course with its id, fullname, shortname, and any assignments:

bash

curl -s "${MOODLE_URL:-https://mylms.vossie.net}/webservice/rest/server.php" \
  --get \
  --data-urlencode "wstoken=$MOODLE_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "wsfunction=mod_assign_get_assignments" \
  --data-urlencode "moodlewsrestformat=json" | python3 -m json.tool

Response shape: { courses: [{ id, fullname, shortname, assignments: [{ name, duedate, intro, ... }] }] }

Find only courses with assignments due:

bash

curl -s "${MOODLE_URL:-https://mylms.vossie.net}/webservice/rest/server.php" \
  --get \
  --data-urlencode "wstoken=$MOODLE_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "wsfunction=mod_assign_get_assignments" \
  --data-urlencode "moodlewsrestformat=json" | \
  python3 -c "
import json, sys, time
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
now = time.time()
for c in data.get('courses', []):
    for a in c.get('assignments', []):
        due = a.get('duedate', 0)
        if due > 0:
            status = 'OVERDUE' if due < now else 'upcoming'
            due_str = time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M', time.localtime(due))
            print(f'[{status}] {a[\"name\"]}')
            print(f'  Course: {c[\"fullname\"]} (id={c[\"id\"]})')
            print(f'  Due:    {due_str}')
            if a.get('intro'):
                intro = a['intro'].strip()
                if intro:
                    print(f'  Info:   {intro[:200]}')
            print()
"

Get assignments for a specific course:

bash

curl -s "${MOODLE_URL:-https://mylms.vossie.net}/webservice/rest/server.php" \
  --get \
  --data-urlencode "wstoken=$MOODLE_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "wsfunction=mod_assign_get_assignments" \
  --data-urlencode "moodlewsrestformat=json" \
  --data-urlencode "courseids[0]=<COURSE_ID>" | python3 -m json.tool

Browse course content#

Use core_course_get_contents with a course ID (from mod_assign_get_assignments above):

bash

curl -s "${MOODLE_URL:-https://mylms.vossie.net}/webservice/rest/server.php" \
  --get \
  --data-urlencode "wstoken=$MOODLE_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "wsfunction=core_course_get_contents" \
  --data-urlencode "moodlewsrestformat=json" \
  --data-urlencode "courseid=<COURSE_ID>" | python3 -m json.tool

Returns an array of sections. Each section has name, summary, and modules[]. Each module has name, modname (type: resource, url, assign, quiz, forum, book, label, subcourse, etc.), url, and contents[] (files with filename, fileurl).

Summarize just section structure (good for orientation):

bash

curl -s "${MOODLE_URL:-https://mylms.vossie.net}/webservice/rest/server.php" \
  --get \
  --data-urlencode "wstoken=$MOODLE_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "wsfunction=core_course_get_contents" \
  --data-urlencode "moodlewsrestformat=json" \
  --data-urlencode "courseid=<COURSE_ID>" | \
  python3 -c "
import json, sys
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
for s in data:
    print(f'## {s[\"name\"]}')
    if s.get('summary'):
        print(f'  {s[\"summary\"][:100]}')
    for m in s.get('modules', []):
        print(f'  [{m[\"modname\"]}] {m[\"name\"]}')
"

Check activity completion#

bash

curl -s "${MOODLE_URL:-https://mylms.vossie.net}/webservice/rest/server.php" \
  --get \
  --data-urlencode "wstoken=$MOODLE_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "wsfunction=core_completion_get_activities_completion_status" \
  --data-urlencode "moodlewsrestformat=json" \
  --data-urlencode "courseid=<COURSE_ID>" \
  --data-urlencode "userid=0" | python3 -m json.tool

Verify available functions#

To check which API functions your token can access (useful when debugging):

bash

curl -s "${MOODLE_URL:-https://mylms.vossie.net}/webservice/rest/server.php" \
  --get \
  --data-urlencode "wstoken=$MOODLE_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "wsfunction=core_webservice_get_site_info" \
  --data-urlencode "moodlewsrestformat=json" | \
  python3 -c "import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); [print(f['name']) for f in d.get('functions',[])]"

Tips#

• Always use python3 -m json.tool to pretty-print JSON.
• Course IDs are integers. Find them via mod_assign_get_assignments (the id field in each course object).
• Unix timestamps from Moodle are in seconds. Convert with python3 -c "import datetime; print(datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(<TS>))".
• The token is scoped to your user — you can only see your own data.
• If a function returns an error, verify it's in the available list by checking core_webservice_get_site_info.
• Some courses have duedate: 0 — that means no deadline is set.
• Strip HTML from the intro field with python3 -c "import sys,html; print(html.unescape(sys.stdin.read()))" if needed.