generated: '2026-06-20'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://developerdocs.instructure.com/services/dap/dap-cli-readme.md and the
  Canvas Data CLI / DAP client repositories. Canvas has no general-purpose REST
  API CLI; its first-party command-line surface is the Data Access Platform
  (DAP) client for warehouse-scale data export (and the legacy Canvas Data 1
  CLI it replaces).
clis:
- name: dap
  status: current
  purpose: Data Access Platform (Canvas Data 2) command-line client for snapshot + incremental table/event exports.
  package: instructure-dap-client
  repo: https://github.com/instructure/dap-client-py
  docs: https://developerdocs.instructure.com/services/dap/dap-cli-readme.md
  install:
    pip: pip install instructure-dap-client
    with_db: pip install "instructure-dap-client[postgresql,mysql]"
  requirements:
    python: ">=3.11"
    databases: [PostgreSQL 16.3+, MySQL 8.2+, SQL Server 2019+]
  syntax: "dap [arguments] [command] [flags]"
  commands:
  - {name: snapshot, description: Fetch an initial full snapshot of a dataset/table.}
  - {name: incremental, description: Fetch changes since a previous query (incremental sync).}
  - {name: initdb, description: Initialize a supported database with DAP data.}
  - {name: syncdb, description: Synchronize a supported database with the latest DAP data.}
  - {name: list, description: List available tables/datasets in a namespace.}
  - {name: schema, description: Retrieve the schema for a table.}
  reference: https://developerdocs.instructure.com/services/dap/dap-cli-readme/dap-cli-reference.md
  note: >-
    Command names above reflect the documented DAP CLI verbs; run `dap --help`
    for the authoritative, version-specific list. The CLI is a thin wrapper over
    the instructure-dap-client Python library.
- name: canvas-data-cli
  status: legacy
  purpose: Legacy Canvas Data 1 export CLI; superseded by DAP / Canvas Data 2.
  repo: https://github.com/instructure/canvas-data-cli