Group Categories API

Group Categories allow grouping of groups together in canvas. There are a few different built-in group categories used, or custom ones can be created. The built in group categories are: "communities", "student_organized", and "imported".

A GroupCategory object looks like:

{
  // The ID of the group category.
  "id": 17,
  // The display name of the group category.
  "name": "Math Groups",
  // Certain types of group categories have special role designations. Currently,
  // these include: 'communities', 'student_organized', and 'imported'. Regular
  // course/account group categories have a role of null.
  "role": "communities",
  // If the group category allows users to join a group themselves, thought they
  // may only be a member of one group per group category at a time. Values
  // include 'restricted', 'enabled', and null 'enabled' allows students to assign
  // themselves to a group 'restricted' restricts them to only joining a group in
  // their section null disallows students from joining groups
  "self_signup": null,
  // Gives instructors the ability to automatically have group leaders assigned. 
  // Values include 'random', 'first', and null; 'random' picks a student from the
  // group at random as the leader, 'first' sets the first student to be assigned
  // to the group as the leader
  "auto_leader": null,
  // The course or account that the category group belongs to. The pattern here is
  // that whatever the context_type is, there will be an _id field named after
  // that type. So if instead context_type was 'Course', the course_id field would
  // be replaced by an course_id field.
  "context_type": "Account",
  "account_id": 3,
  // If self-signup is enabled, group_limit can be set to cap the number of users
  // in each group. If null, there is no limit.
  "group_limit": null,
  // The SIS identifier for the group category. This field is only included if the
  // user has permission to manage or view SIS information.
  "sis_group_category_id": null,
  // The unique identifier for the SIS import. This field is only included if the
  // user has permission to manage SIS information.
  "sis_import_id": null,
  // If the group category has not yet finished a randomly student assignment
  // request, a progress object will be attached, which will contain information
  // related to the progress of the assignment request. Refer to the Progress API
  // for more information
  "progress": null
}

List group categories for a context GroupCategoriesController#index

GET /api/v1/accounts/:account_id/group_categories

Scope: url:GET|/api/v1/accounts/:account_id/group_categories

GET /api/v1/courses/:course_id/group_categories

Scope: url:GET|/api/v1/courses/:course_id/group_categories

Returns a paginated list of group categories in a context

Example Request:

curl https://<canvas>/api/v1/accounts/<account_id>/group_categories \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

Returns a list of GroupCategory objects

Get a single group category GroupCategoriesController#show

GET /api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id

Scope: url:GET|/api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id

Returns the data for a single group category, or a 401 if the caller doesn’t have the rights to see it.

Example Request:

curl https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/<group_category_id> \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

Returns a GroupCategory object

Create a Group Category GroupCategoriesController#create

POST /api/v1/accounts/:account_id/group_categories

Scope: url:POST|/api/v1/accounts/:account_id/group_categories

POST /api/v1/courses/:course_id/group_categories

Scope: url:POST|/api/v1/courses/:course_id/group_categories

Create a new group category

Request Parameters:

Parameter		Type	Description
name	Required	string	Name of the group category
self_signup		string	Allow students to sign up for a group themselves (Course Only). valid values are: “enabled” allows students to self sign up for any group in course “restricted” allows students to self sign up only for groups in the same section null disallows self sign up Allowed values: `enabled`, `restricted`
auto_leader		string	Assigns group leaders automatically when generating and allocating students to groups Valid values are: “first” the first student to be allocated to a group is the leader “random” a random student from all members is chosen as the leader Allowed values: `first`, `random`
group_limit		integer	Limit the maximum number of users in each group (Course Only). Requires self signup.
sis_group_category_id		string	The unique SIS identifier.
create_group_count		integer	Create this number of groups (Course Only).
split_group_count		string	(Deprecated) Create this number of groups, and evenly distribute students among them. not allowed with “enable_self_signup”. because the group assignment happens synchronously, it’s recommended that you instead use the assign_unassigned_members endpoint. (Course Only)

Example Request:

curl htps://<canvas>/api/v1/courses/<course_id>/group_categories \
    -F 'name=Project Groups' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

Returns a GroupCategory object

Import category groups GroupCategoriesController#import

POST /api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/import

Scope: url:POST|/api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/import

Create Groups in a Group Category through a CSV import

For more information on the format that’s expected here, please see the “Group Category CSV” section in the API docs.

Request Parameters:

Parameter Type Description

attachment

string

Parameter		Type	Description
attachment		string	There are two ways to post group category import data - either via a multipart/form-data form-field-style attachment, or via a non-multipart raw post request. ‘attachment’ is required for multipart/form-data style posts. Assumed to be outcome data from a file upload form field named ‘attachment’. Examples: `curl -F attachment=@<filename> -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \ 'https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/<category_id>/import'` If you decide to do a raw post, you can skip the ‘attachment’ argument, but you will then be required to provide a suitable Content-Type header. You are encouraged to also provide the ‘extension’ argument. Examples: `curl -H 'Content-Type: text/csv' --data-binary @<filename>.csv \ -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \ 'https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/<category_id>/import'`

There are two ways to post group category import data - either via a multipart/form-data form-field-style attachment, or via a non-multipart raw post request.

‘attachment’ is required for multipart/form-data style posts. Assumed to be outcome data from a file upload form field named ‘attachment’.

Examples:

curl -F attachment=@<filename> -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
    'https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/<category_id>/import'

If you decide to do a raw post, you can skip the ‘attachment’ argument, but you will then be required to provide a suitable Content-Type header. You are encouraged to also provide the ‘extension’ argument.

Examples:

curl -H 'Content-Type: text/csv' --data-binary @<filename>.csv \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
    'https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/<category_id>/import'

Example Response:

# Progress (default)
{
    "completion": 0,
    "context_id": 20,
    "context_type": "GroupCategory",
    "created_at": "2013-07-05T10:57:48-06:00",
    "id": 2,
    "message": null,
    "tag": "course_group_import",
    "updated_at": "2013-07-05T10:57:48-06:00",
    "user_id": null,
    "workflow_state": "running",
    "url": "http://localhost:3000/api/v1/progress/2"
}

Returns a Progress object

Update a Group Category GroupCategoriesController#update

PUT /api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id

Scope: url:PUT|/api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id

Modifies an existing group category.

Request Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
name	string	Name of the group category
self_signup	string	Allow students to sign up for a group themselves (Course Only). Valid values are: “enabled” allows students to self sign up for any group in course “restricted” allows students to self sign up only for groups in the same section null disallows self sign up Allowed values: `enabled`, `restricted`
auto_leader	string	Assigns group leaders automatically when generating and allocating students to groups Valid values are: “first” the first student to be allocated to a group is the leader “random” a random student from all members is chosen as the leader Allowed values: `first`, `random`
group_limit	integer	Limit the maximum number of users in each group (Course Only). Requires self signup.
sis_group_category_id	string	The unique SIS identifier.
create_group_count	integer	Create this number of groups (Course Only).
split_group_count	string	(Deprecated) Create this number of groups, and evenly distribute students among them. not allowed with “enable_self_signup”. because the group assignment happens synchronously, it’s recommended that you instead use the assign_unassigned_members endpoint. (Course Only)

Example Request:

curl https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/<group_category_id> \
    -X PUT \
    -F 'name=Project Groups' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

Returns a GroupCategory object

Delete a Group Category GroupCategoriesController#destroy

DELETE /api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id

Scope: url:DELETE|/api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id

Deletes a group category and all groups under it. Protected group categories can not be deleted, i.e. “communities” and “student_organized”.

Example Request:

curl https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/<group_category_id> \
      -X DELETE \
      -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

List groups in group category GroupCategoriesController#groups

GET /api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/groups

Scope: url:GET|/api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/groups

Returns a paginated list of groups in a group category

Example Request:

curl https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/<group_cateogry_id>/groups \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

Returns a list of Group objects

export groups in and users in category GroupCategoriesController#export

BETA: This API endpoint is not finalized, and there could be breaking changes before its final release.

GET /api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/export

Scope: url:GET|/api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/export

Returns a csv file of users in format ready to import.

Example Request:

curl https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/<group_category_id>/export \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

List users in group category GroupCategoriesController#users

GET /api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/users

Scope: url:GET|/api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/users

Returns a paginated list of users in the group category.

Request Parameters:

Parameter		Type	Description
search_term		string	The partial name or full ID of the users to match and return in the results list. Must be at least 3 characters.
unassigned		boolean	Set this value to true if you wish only to search unassigned users in the group category.

Example Request:

curl https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/1/users \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

Returns a list of User objects

Assign unassigned members GroupCategoriesController#assign_unassigned_members

POST /api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/assign_unassigned_members

Scope: url:POST|/api/v1/group_categories/:group_category_id/assign_unassigned_members

Assign all unassigned members as evenly as possible among the existing student groups.

Request Parameters:

Parameter		Type	Description
sync		boolean	The assigning is done asynchronously by default. If you would like to override this and have the assigning done synchronously, set this value to true.

Example Request:

curl https://<canvas>/api/v1/group_categories/1/assign_unassigned_members \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

Example Response:

# Progress (default)
{
    "completion": 0,
    "context_id": 20,
    "context_type": "GroupCategory",
    "created_at": "2013-07-05T10:57:48-06:00",
    "id": 2,
    "message": null,
    "tag": "assign_unassigned_members",
    "updated_at": "2013-07-05T10:57:48-06:00",
    "user_id": null,
    "workflow_state": "running",
    "url": "http://localhost:3000/api/v1/progress/2"
}

# New Group Memberships (when sync = true)
[
  {
    "id": 65,
    "new_members": [
      {
        "user_id": 2,
        "name": "Sam",
        "display_name": "Sam",
        "sections": [
          {
            "section_id": 1,
            "section_code": "Section 1"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "user_id": 3,
        "name": "Sue",
        "display_name": "Sue",
        "sections": [
          {
            "section_id": 2,
            "section_code": "Section 2"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "id": 66,
    "new_members": [
      {
        "user_id": 5,
        "name": "Joe",
        "display_name": "Joe",
        "sections": [
          {
            "section_id": 2,
            "section_code": "Section 2"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "user_id": 11,
        "name": "Cecil",
        "display_name": "Cecil",
        "sections": [
          {
            "section_id": 3,
            "section_code": "Section 3"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]