# edX MCP MCP > edX MCP lets you search and discover thousands of courses from top universities—Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, and 160+ institutions. Find full program details, check prerequisites, or track when a course is next offered. It’s your direct pipeline to the world's largest online learning catalog. ## Overview - **Category:** productivity - **Price:** Free - **Tags:** online-courses, higher-education, course-discovery, academic-learning, skill-development, university-curriculum ## Description Need to figure out your next career move? This MCP connects you directly to edX, letting you explore courses and degree programs from some of the best schools globally—all without needing an API key or logging into a portal. You can run a general search by topic, narrow it down by university, or check specific subject categories like Data Science or Finance. If you're trying to compare offerings across institutions, this is what you need. You get full course information, including descriptions and effort estimates. Plus, if you find a promising field, you can look into structured paths like Professional Certificates and MicroMasters programs. When you connect edX through Vinkius, your agent gets access to the entire catalog, letting you simply talk through complex academic questions instead of clicking through dozens of tabs. ## Tools ### get_course Retrieves detailed information for one specific edX course, including its prerequisites and level. ### get_course_run Gets the current details for a single scheduled offering (run) of an edX course. ### get_course_runs Finds all upcoming or active scheduled offerings for courses, filtered by status and key. ### get_organizations Lists partner institutions—like Harvard, MIT, and Google—and provides their descriptions and course counts. ### get_program Pulls detailed information for a specific edX program structure (e.g., Professional Certificate). ### get_subjects Returns a list of all academic subject categories available on the platform, along with their course counts. ### search_courses Performs keyword searches across edX courses, allowing filtering by organization, level, or language. ### search_programs Searches for structured degree programs like MicroMasters and Professional Certificates. ## Prompt Examples **Prompt:** ``` Find machine learning courses from Harvard. ``` **Response:** ``` Found 12 machine learning courses from HarvardX. Notable: 'CS109B Data Science 2: Advanced Topics' (Harvard), 'Machine Learning Fundamentals' (Harvard). Courses include self-paced and instructor-led options. ``` **Prompt:** ``` Show me all MicroMasters programs in Data Science. ``` **Response:** ``` Found 8 MicroMasters programs in Data Science: MIT's 'Statistics and Data Science' (4 courses, $1,350), Columbia's 'Data Science' (4 courses), Georgia Tech's 'Analytics' (4 courses). Each includes course details and enrollment links. ``` **Prompt:** ``` What organizations offer courses on edX? ``` **Response:** ``` edX partners with 160+ institutions including: Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Columbia, Cornell, Caltech, University of Sydney, Tsinghua University and many more top universities and companies. ``` ## Capabilities ### Search courses by topic or university Find thousands of available classes using simple keywords and filters like beginner, advanced, or specific subjects. ### Detail a single course offering Get all the specifics on one class—the description, what you need to know beforehand, and how long it takes. ### Track future enrollment dates See upcoming or current versions of a course, including when classes start and where you can enroll. ### Browse institutional partners View the list of partner universities and companies that host courses on edX, like Google, IBM, and MIT. ### Explore structured degree programs Look up entire academic pathways, such as Professional Certificates or MicroMasters, to plan a full curriculum. ## Use Cases ### Figuring out a career pivot A user asks their agent: 'Show me all Professional Certificates in Cybersecurity.' The agent uses `search_programs` and then follows up with `get_course` to give the full curriculum breakdown for the top two options. ### Researching educational gaps An educator needs to know what subject areas are available. They call `get_subjects`, which instantly lists all categories, helping them build a new academic module outline. ### Finding the next class offering A student knows they want a course from Google but doesn't know if it's running. They use `get_course_runs` on that specific course key to confirm start dates and enrollment links. ### Comparing university offerings Someone wants advanced statistics training. They first run `search_courses` filtered by 'advanced' level, then use `get_organizations` to narrow the results down only to institutions like Berkeley or Columbia. ## Benefits - Find courses quickly. Instead of navigating edX's complex site, you can ask your agent to search for anything—like 'Data Science from MIT'—and get a direct link and summary. - See the full picture of learning paths. Use the `search_programs` tool to look up entire certificates, letting you compare multiple degree options at once. - Always know when something starts. The `get_course_runs` function tells you if an offering is upcoming or current, so you don't miss enrollment windows. - Compare top schools easily. You can use the `get_organizations` tool to list all partners, making it simple to see who offers courses in a specific area. - Deep course knowledge. If you zero in on one class, `get_course` provides mandatory details like prerequisites and effort estimates so you know if it's right for you. ## How It Works The bottom line is you get a natural conversation interface that pulls complex academic data directly from edX's catalog. 1. Subscribe to this MCP through Vinkius. No API key is needed; your agent connects immediately. 2. Ask your AI client to search for courses or programs by topic, institution, or subject category. 3. The system returns structured data detailing the course information, prerequisites, and any scheduled enrollment runs. ## Frequently Asked Questions **How do I find courses from Harvard using the search_courses tool?** You simply ask your agent to 'Search for Harvard courses.' The underlying `search_courses` tool handles the filtering by organization, giving you a list of relevant options and their links. **Is get_program used for single classes or full degrees?** `get_program` is built to handle structured degree pathways. It provides details on entire certificates (like MicroMasters), showing the whole curriculum instead of just one class. **What if I only know a general topic, like 'AI'? Should I use search_courses?** Yes, `search_courses` is built for broad text searching. It'll pull in any course titles or descriptions mentioning 'AI,' letting you then narrow down the results with other tools. **Can I check if a class has upcoming dates using get_course_runs?** Absolutely. `get_course_runs` specifically checks scheduled offerings, telling you when an edX course is currently available or starting soon. **When I use get_course, where do I find prerequisites and effort estimates for a class?** The tool returns this detailed information directly. It lists required background knowledge and gives you an estimated time commitment for the course, so you know if it's right for your schedule. **If I don't know what subjects are available, how do I use get_subjects to explore all academic fields?** It gives you a full list of subject categories and shows exactly how many courses fall under each one. This is the best way to browse edX without knowing a specific topic. **What if I want to see every partner university offering courses, which tool should I use? Should I use get_organizations?** You should use get_organizations. It compiles a list of all partner institutions, including names and how many course offerings they have on the platform. **If my search using search_courses returns zero results, what's the best way to adjust my query?** Try removing specific filters. If you filtered by level (e.g., advanced), try running the search again without that parameter first. This usually helps broaden your search scope.