lti-poc

Proof-of-concept explorations for LTI 1.3 integration

This POC uses the ltijs library to create a LTI tool server with a few demo resources.

The main entry point is index.ts, which adds the api routes and then starts the lti server.

Initial Setup

1. Clone this repo
2. Run npm ci to install the dependencies
3. Copy .env.sample to .env
4. Run something like ngrok or localtunnel to get an https endpoint for port 3000 (eg ngrok http 3000) and then set the PUBLIC_URL value in .env to the https url. LTI requires the endpoints be https.
5. Run docker compose up in one terminal window to start the MySQL instance used by the server
6. Run npm start to start the server on port 3000
7. Load http://localhost:3000 and the public https url from step 4 to ensure the homepage loads
8. Use the registration url shown on the homepage to register the server with an LMS that supports LT1 1.3

NOTE: ngrok only hands out stable urls if you pay them. The url will remain the same until you close ngrok or it loses a connection to the Internet. When that happens you will need to restart ngrok and update the PUBLIC_URL value in the .env file and re-register the tool in any LMSes you have it registered with.

Debugging

The ltijs library uses the debug npm module for logging. That module allows developers to namespace console logs so that output is controlled by a DEBUG environment variable. To see all debug statements run export DEBUG=* in the terminal window before running npm start. To see specific module output search for debug in the GitHub repo and use the module names you see there (eg: export DEBUG=provider:auth or export DEBUG=provider:gradeService).