edstem-cli

A terminal-first CLI for Ed Discussion: browse courses, lessons, threads, and comments without leaving the terminal.

Features

• Courses: list all enrolled courses
• Lessons: list course lessons and inspect lesson slides
• Threads: list, filter, and sort course threads
• Thread detail: view full thread with answers and comment tree
• Activity: browse your activity across courses
• User profile: view current user info
• JSON output: export any data for scripting and AI agent integration

AI Agent Tip: Always use --json for structured output instead of parsing the default rich-text display. Use --max to limit results.

Installation

# Recommended: uv tool (fast, isolated)
uv tool install edstem-cli

# Alternative: pipx
pipx install edstem-cli

Install from source:

git clone https://github.com/bunizao/edstem-cli.git
cd edstem-cli
uv sync

Update

Update the CLI using the same method you used to install it:

# If installed with uv tool
uv tool upgrade edstem-cli

# If installed with pipx
pipx upgrade edstem-cli

If you installed from source:

git pull
uv sync

Running an older version? Check with edstem --version first. If a command in this README does not exist locally, update the CLI before trying again.

Quick Start

Get your API token from: https://edstem.org/settings/api-tokens

# View your profile and courses
edstem user

# List enrolled courses
edstem courses

# List threads in a course
edstem threads 12345

# List lessons in a course
edstem lessons 12345

# View a thread with comments
edstem thread 67890

Usage

# Courses
edstem courses
edstem courses --archived
edstem courses --json

# Threads
edstem threads <course_id>
edstem threads <course_id> --sort top
edstem threads <course_id> --category "HW1"
edstem threads <course_id> --type question
edstem threads <course_id> --unanswered
edstem threads <course_id> --max 50 --json

# Thread detail
edstem thread <thread_id>
edstem thread <course_id>#<number>      # by course thread number
edstem thread <thread_id> --json

# Lessons
edstem lessons <course_id>
edstem lessons <course_id> --module "Week 1"
edstem lessons <course_id> --type python --status attempted
edstem lesson <lesson_id>
edstem lesson <lesson_id> --json

# Activity
edstem activity                          # all courses
edstem activity <course_id>              # specific course
edstem activity --filter answer --json

# User
edstem user
edstem user --json

# Option 1: Environment variable
export ED_API_TOKEN="your-token-here"

# Option 2: Will prompt on first use and save automatically
edstem user

Configuration

Create config.yaml in your working directory:

fetch:
  count: 30

rateLimit:
  requestDelay: 1.0
  maxRetries: 3
  retryBaseDelay: 3.0
  maxCount: 100

• fetch.count is the default item count when --max is omitted

Development

# Install dev dependencies
uv sync --extra dev

# Lint + tests
uv run ruff check .
uv run pytest -q

Acknowledgements

This project builds on ideas and structure from
twitter-cli.
Thanks to the original project for the foundation and inspiration.