Assistant Rocky Lti Assist

Rocky-LTI Coding Assistant

Provides project-aware coding guidance for the Rocky-LTI Canvas integration.

Project Overview

Rocky-LTI is a Canvas LMS integration using LTI 1.3 that exposes an AI agent (Rocky) to students and instructors. The AI agent is powered via Model Context Protocol (MCP), with Canvas course data surfaced as MCP resources and tools.

Monorepo Structure

rocky-lti/
├── lti/
│   ├── backend/
│   │   ├── agent/           # FastAPI server + MCP (PRIMARY backend)
│   │   │   ├── src/
│   │   │   │   ├── app.py   # FastAPI entrypoint
│   │   │   │   ├── api/     # Routes, models, services
│   │   │   │   ├── canvas_mcp/  # MCP server (servers, services, classes, models)
│   │   │   │   └── env.py   # Pydantic settings
│   │   │   ├── tests/       # pytest-asyncio tests
│   │   │   └── alembic/     # DB migrations (agent-side)
│   │   ├── db/              # Shared SQLAlchemy models package
│   │   │   └── src/canvas_lti_db/
│   │   └── workers/         # Azure Functions (async tasks)
│   ├── setup/               # LTI tool registration scripts
│   └── web/
│       ├── lti-frontend/    # Production React 19 + TypeScript app
│       └── lti-test-app/    # Dev/test Vite app
├── packages/
│   ├── rocky-chat/          # Shared npm chat component
│   └── rocky-chat-next/     # Next.js variant
└── infrastructure/terraform/ # Azure IaC

Tech Stack & Conventions

Python Backend

• Runtime: Python 3.13, managed exclusively with uv
• Framework: FastAPI with async/await throughout
• ORM: SQLAlchemy (async) + asyncpg (PostgreSQL)
• MCP: FastMCP for Canvas resource/tool/prompt exposure
• Auth: python-jose for JWT; LTI 1.3 OIDC launch flow
• Observability: OpenTelemetry + Azure Monitor
• Linting/Formatting: ruff (replaces flake8/black/isort)

Never use pip or python -m venv. Always use:

uv add           # add dependency
uv run         # run script
uv sync                   # sync environment
uv run pytest             # run tests

Frontend

• Framework: React 19 + TypeScript + Vite
• State: React Query for server state
• Styling: Sass
• AI Streaming: OpenAI SDK (streaming responses)
• Package manager: npm (workspace at root)

Infrastructure

• Cloud: Azure Container Apps (deployment target)
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/)
• develop push → test environment
• Release/RC tags → stage environment
• IaC: Terraform under infrastructure/terraform/
• Containers: Multi-stage Docker builds

Key Patterns

FastAPI Route Structure

Routes live under lti/backend/agent/src/api/ organized by domain (e.g., lti/, oauth/, agent/, tools/). Each domain typically has:

• router.py — FastAPI router with endpoint definitions
• models.py — Pydantic request/response models
• service.py — Business logic (called from router)
• db.py — Database access layer

MCP Components (canvas_mcp/)

• servers/ — FastMCP server instances
• services/ — Canvas API data fetching
• classes/ — Domain abstractions
• models/ — Pydantic models for MCP types

Database Models

• Shared models in lti/backend/db/src/canvas_lti_db/
• Migrations split: lti/backend/agent/alembic/ and lti/backend/db/alembic/
• Always use async SQLAlchemy patterns

Testing

• Framework: pytest + pytest-asyncio
• Tests in lti/backend/agent/tests/
• Mock Canvas OAuth server (Docker) for integration tests
• Run: uv run pytest from lti/backend/agent/

LTI 1.3 Auth Flow

1. Canvas initiates OIDC login (/lti/login)
2. App redirects back with signed JWT
3. Canvas POSTs launch JWT (/lti/launch)
4. App validates JWT, creates session

Environment Config

• lti/backend/agent/src/env.py — Pydantic BaseSettings
• Secrets via environment variables (Azure Key Vault in prod)

Common Tasks

Add a new API endpoint

1. Add route in appropriate api//router.py
2. Define Pydantic models in api//models.py
3. Implement logic in api//service.py
4. Write async tests in tests/

Add a new MCP resource or tool

1. Implement in canvas_mcp/services/
2. Register in appropriate canvas_mcp/servers/ file
3. Add Pydantic types to canvas_mcp/models/

Add a database model

1. Add SQLAlchemy model to lti/backend/db/src/canvas_lti_db/
2. Generate migration: uv run alembic revision --autogenerate -m "description"
3. Apply: uv run alembic upgrade head

Add a frontend feature

1. Work in lti/web/lti-frontend/src/
2. Use React Query for data fetching
3. Shared chat UI lives in packages/rocky-chat/

Pydantic v2

This project uses Pydantic v2. Key differences:

• Use model_validator, field_validator (not v1 @validator)
• Use model_dump() not .dict()
• Use model_config = ConfigDict(...) not class Config
• Settings via pydantic-settings BaseSettings

Code Quality Guidelines

• Prefer async/await for all I/O
• Keep routers thin — delegate to services
• Use dependency injection (Depends) for DB sessions, auth
• Type-annotate all function signatures
• Write tests for new endpoints and services
• Follow existing module structure — don't create new top-level packages without discussion
• Use ruff for linting and formatting (configured in pyproject.toml); run uv run ruff check and uv run ruff format before committing

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: ucdavis
• Source: ucdavis/ai-skills-registry
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.