Connecting Soft Serv to your Canvas

What this integration does

Soft Serv gives students AI-powered simulation practice — realistic spoken conversations (a job interview, a difficult customer, a counseling session) that are automatically graded against the instructor's rubric.

With the Canvas integration, simulations become ordinary Canvas assignments. Teachers pick a simulation from inside Canvas, students launch it from their assignment list with no separate login, and the grade and detailed feedback land in the Canvas gradebook automatically.

It uses LTI 1.3 with LTI Advantage grade services — the current Canvas standard. No browser plugins, no user imports, no passwords shared between systems.

What we need from you (one-time, ~10 minutes)

Everything happens in your Canvas admin console. The last step offers two ways to finish: automatic (recommended — nothing to copy) or sending us three values.

1. Create the LTI Developer Key

   Admin → Developer Keys → + Developer Key → + LTI Key

   Set Method to Enter URL and paste our configuration URL:

   https://api.trysoftserv.com/lti/configCopy

   Then fill in the other fields on the form:

   • Key Name — Soft ServCopy
   • Owner Email — the person implementing Soft Serv (typically you, the Canvas admin), so future admins know who's responsible for the key.
   • Notes (optional) — a short reminder of what the key is for. Feel free to copy ours:

   Soft Serv — AI simulation practice. Teachers attach spoken simulations as Canvas assignments; students launch them from Canvas, and AI-graded scores and feedback post to the gradebook automatically (LTI 1.3).

   Copy

   Click Save. The configuration URL auto-fills all the technical settings (launch URLs, scopes, placements, public key).

2. Turn the key ON and copy the Client ID

   New keys start Off — flip the toggle to On in the key list.

   Copy the long number in the Details column (it looks like 170000000000042). That's the Client ID — you'll use it to install the app in the next step.

3. Install the app using the Client ID

   Admin → Settings → Apps → View App Configurations → + App

   On newer Canvas accounts this lives in the App Portal instead — if your admin sidebar has an Apps item, use Admin → Apps → Manage and install from there.

   Set Configuration Type to By Client ID, paste the Client ID from step 2, and submit. You can install account-wide, or only in a sub-account or specific courses if you'd rather pilot first.

4. On the new App Portal: unlock the app

   If your Canvas uses the new App Portal, the app installs locked, and you can't view or change its configuration until you unlock it. Go to Admin → Apps → Manage, click Soft Serv, then click Unlock app. While you're there, confirm the app is turned On.

   Installed through the classic Settings → Apps page instead? Skip this step.

5. Connect — automatically (recommended) or manually

   Automatic: once the app is installed, open any course, create an assignment with Submission Type External Tool, click Find, and choose Soft Serv. Because your Canvas signs every launch, Soft Serv receives the connection details directly from Canvas — sign in to (or get invited to) a Soft Serv admin account once, click Connect, and you're done. Nothing to copy.

   Manual fallback: if you'd rather not create a Soft Serv account, just send us three values — your Canvas URL (e.g. softserv.instructure.com), the Client ID, and the Deployment ID. In the classic Apps list, open the gear menu next to the Soft Serv app (it looks like 6:8865aa05b4…); in the new App Portal, open Soft Serv under Admin → Apps → Manage and it's listed right on the app's page. We'll enter them on our side and the connection is live.

How instructors use it

The first time a teacher does this, Soft Serv matches them by their Canvas email (or a quick one-time sign-in) and remembers them from then on. Teachers who open a student assignment see it in preview mode — they can try the simulation without anything being written to the gradebook.

What students experience

Students click the assignment in Canvas and the simulation opens right there. There is no signup and no separate password — Soft Serv creates and links their account automatically from the Canvas launch. After a consent notice, they hold a live spoken conversation with the AI character, then press End & Submit.

Within moments they see their score and feedback on screen — and so does the gradebook.

Everything the integration can do

• Assignment picker (deep linking). Teachers browse and attach simulations without leaving Canvas.
• Automatic AI grading. Each submission is graded against the instructor's rubric; the score posts to the Canvas gradebook as a percentage, scaled to the assignment's point value.
• Rich feedback in SpeedGrader. The grade arrives with a full breakdown: per-criterion scores, strengths, areas for improvement, and a link to the complete submission including the session recording.
• Multiple rubrics. A simulation can be scored on several rubrics at once; the primary rubric determines the gradebook score and all of them appear in the feedback.
• Completion-based grading. Simulations without a rubric record 100% on completion — useful for low-stakes practice.
• Honest failure handling. If automatic grading is ever unavailable, the submission is still saved and the assignment is simply left ungraded for the instructor to review — a missing grade, never a made-up one.
• Instructor preview. Teachers can run any assignment themselves without touching the gradebook.
• Automatic accounts. Students and teachers are matched by their Canvas identity — no rostering, CSV imports, or provisioning.

Security and data

• Standard LTI 1.3: every launch is a signed token from Canvas that we verify against Instructure's published keys, and everything we send back is signed with ours (published at a public JWKS URL for Canvas to verify).
• Canvas shares only name, email, and Canvas user ID with Soft Serv. No passwords ever cross between the systems.
• Grades are written through the official Assignment and Grade Services scopes — the only write access the tool requests.
• Simulation sessions (audio/video and transcript) are recorded with student consent and stored so instructors can review submissions.

Good to know

• The integration currently appears in the assignment flow only (External Tool → Find). There's no course-navigation tab — by design, so it stays simple for students.
• Grading takes a few seconds after a student submits; students see a progress screen, and the grade posts automatically.
• Works with Instructure-hosted Canvas out of the box. Self-hosted Canvas instances are supported too — we just allowlist your issuer domain on our side first.
• Questions during setup? Contact us — we're happy to hop on a call with your Canvas admin.