This guide is for schools without specific data residency requirements. For compliance with Canadian data residency requirements please see the Canadian version of this guide.
Who is this guide for?
- This guide is for instructors who want to install Hypothesis into an individual course without using the Canvas App Center.
- If you are a Canvas admin and want to install Hypothesis at the Account or Sub-Account level, please see our Canvas Administrator Guide.
- Are you having trouble getting Hypothesis installed in Canvas? Please contact us and send us the information of your Canvas admin or your IT department. We’ll work with them to get Hypothesis installed.
Before creating a course-level install, please check and make sure your LMS administrator hasn’t already installed Hypothesis site-wide.
1. Generate Hypothesis Credentials
These instructions assume that you have already spoken with a member of our Education Team and been provided with a link to the page where you can generate Hypothesis credentials.
If you have not yet received a link, please fill out this form and a someone from our Education Team will get in touch with you about the next steps.
In the form to generate credentials, fill out the following:
- LMS Domain:
- This is the basic web address instructors and students use to access Canvas (e.g., canvas.yourschool.edu)
- Email:
- Can be any valid email address that belongs to you
- Canvas Developer ID and Canvas Developer Key:
- These values are generated during the creation of Canvas developer credentials. Entering them here is optional, but if you do not provide them now you won’t be able to turn on advanced Canvas integration features for your Hypothesis credentials later. Instead, you’ll need to delete the Hypothesis app and fill out this form again.
Click the Generate Credentials button.
You will be shown a screen that contains your new Hypothesis Consumer Key and Shared Secret.
Don’t close this tab/window! You will need to copy and paste these credentials later in the install process.
2. Accessing your Course Settings Page
Navigate to the desired course site and go to your course Settings. You can usually find a link to the Settings page in the left sidebar of your course site:
On the Settings page, click on Apps in the top menu:
Click View App Configurations and then +App in the upper right corner:
A window with configuration options will pop up.
3. Adding the Hypothesis App
From the Configuration Type drop-down, select By URL:
Fill in the following fields:
- Name:
- Hypothesis
- Consumer Key and Shared Secret:
- Enter the credentials you generated in step 1
- Config URL:
https://lms.hypothes.is/config_xml
Click the Submit button, and Hypothesis will be successfully installed.
The Hypothesis LMS app can be used in two places in Canvas: in Modules or as part of an Assignment. You may wish to consult: