BC Curriculum

Official8 tools

by pdg6 · TypeScript

Query the full BC K-12 curriculum: Big Ideas, Competencies, Content, and more.

Query British Columbia K-12 curriculum standards and learning competencies.

Captured live from the server via tools/list.

search_curriculum

Search BC curriculum (K-12) for standards, competencies, content items, and assessment resources using full-text search. Returns structured results with source metadata. Args: - query (string): Natural language search query (e.g., 'empathetic design thinking', 'coding and computational thinking') - subject (string, optional): Filter by subject slug (e.g., 'adst', 'science') - grade (integer, optional): Filter by grade level (0=K, 1-12) - content_type (string, optional): Filter by content type ('big_idea', 'competency', 'content_item', 'elaboration', 'assessment', 'all') - limit (integer, optional): Max results (default 10, max 50) Returns: Matching curriculum elements with source type, course, subject, and grade metadata.

Parameters (5)

querystringrequired
Natural language search query (e.g., 'empathetic design thinking')
subjectstring
BC curriculum subject slug (e.g., 'adst', 'science')
gradeinteger
Grade level (0=Kindergarten, 1-12)
content_typestring
Type of curriculum content to filter by
limitinteger
Maximum results to return (default 10)

get_course_curriculum

Get the complete BC curriculum for a specific course: Big Ideas, Curricular Competencies (grouped by domain), and Content/KDU items with elaborations. Returns the full three-column structure used by BC Ministry of Education. Args: - subject (string): Subject slug (e.g., 'adst', 'science') - grade (integer): Grade level (0=K, 1-12) - course (string, optional): Course slug (e.g., 'technology-explorations'). If omitted, returns all courses for that subject+grade. Returns: Complete three-column curriculum structure per course, including elaborations.

Parameters (3)

subjectstringrequired
BC curriculum subject slug (e.g., 'adst', 'science')
gradeintegerrequired
Grade level (0=Kindergarten, 1-12)
coursestring
Course slug (e.g., 'technology-explorations'). If omitted, returns all courses for subject+grade.

get_grade_progression

Show how Big Ideas, Competencies, and Content progress across grade levels for a BC subject. Useful for understanding scaffolding, prerequisites, and learning trajectories. When a query is provided, filters to only matching items at each grade — showing a focused vertical thread rather than a full data dump. Args: - subject (string): Subject slug - grade_from (integer): Starting grade (0=K, 1-12) - grade_to (integer): Ending grade (0=K, 1-12) - focus (string, optional): Which element to trace ('big_ideas', 'competencies', 'content', 'all'). Default 'all'. - query (string, optional): Focus on a specific concept (e.g., 'evidence', 'multiplication'). Only matching items shown at each grade. Returns: Grade-by-grade breakdown of curriculum elements showing progression, optionally filtered to a concept thread.

No parameters.

get_competency_connections

Find curricular competencies that appear across multiple subjects or courses. Useful for interdisciplinary curriculum design and identifying transferable skills. Args: - competency_text (string): A competency description to find connections for - scope (string, optional): Where to search ('same_subject', 'cross_subject', 'all'). Default 'all'. Returns: Related competencies from other courses/subjects with similarity ranking.

Parameters (2)

competency_textstringrequired
A competency description to find connections for
scopestring
Where to search for related competencies

list_courses

List all available courses in the BC curriculum database (K-12). Use this to discover what courses are available before querying specific curriculum data. Args: - subject (string, optional): Filter by subject slug - grade (integer, optional): Filter by grade level (0=K, 1-12) Returns: List of courses with subject, grade, name, and URL.

Parameters (2)

subjectstring
BC curriculum subject slug (e.g., 'adst', 'science')
gradeinteger
Grade level (0=Kindergarten, 1-12)

search_cross_curricular

Find curriculum elements shared between two or more subjects at the same grade level. Identifies overlapping competencies, big ideas, and content across subjects. Essential for interdisciplinary planning. Args: - subjects (string[]): Two or more subject slugs to compare (e.g., ['science', 'adst']) - grade (integer): Grade level (0=K, 1-12) - focus (string, optional): Which element to compare ('big_ideas', 'competencies', 'content', 'all'). Default 'all'. - query (string, optional): Narrow to a specific concept (e.g., 'evidence', 'design thinking') - limit (integer, optional): Max connections to return (default 20, max 50) Returns: Groups of curriculum items connected by shared language across subjects.

Parameters (5)

subjectsarrayrequired
Two or more subject slugs to compare (e.g., ['science', 'adst'])
gradeintegerrequired
Grade level (0=Kindergarten, 1-12)
focusstring
Which curriculum element to compare across subjects
querystring
Optional: narrow to a specific concept (e.g., 'evidence', 'design thinking')
limitinteger
Maximum connections to return (default 20)

get_curriculum_changes

Show what changed in BC curriculum since a given date. Detects added, removed, and modified Big Ideas, Competencies, and Content items across crawl runs. Requires at least two crawls to have change data. Args: - since (string, optional): ISO date (e.g., '2026-01-15'). Default: last 30 days. - subject (string, optional): Filter by subject slug - grade (integer, optional): Filter by grade level - change_type (string, optional): Filter by change type ('added', 'removed', 'modified', 'all'). Default 'all'. - limit (integer, optional): Max entries to return (default 50, max 100) Returns: Course-level summary of which courses changed, plus item-level detail of what specifically was added/removed/modified.

Parameters (5)

sincestring
ISO date string — show changes detected after this date (e.g., '2026-01-15'). Defaults to last 30 days.
subjectstring
BC curriculum subject slug (e.g., 'adst', 'science')
gradeinteger
Grade level (0=Kindergarten, 1-12)
change_typestring
Filter by type of change
limitinteger
Maximum changelog entries to return (default 50)

get_course_history

Show the crawl history and change timeline for a specific course. Includes each crawl snapshot (date, item counts, content hash) and a changelog of all detected modifications. Args: - subject (string): Subject slug (e.g., 'science') - grade (integer): Grade level (0=K, 1-12) - course (string, optional): Course slug (e.g., 'chemistry'). If omitted, shows history for all courses at subject+grade. Returns: Timeline of crawl snapshots and detected changes per course.

Parameters (3)

subjectstringrequired
BC curriculum subject slug (e.g., 'adst', 'science')
gradeintegerrequired
Grade level (0=Kindergarten, 1-12)
coursestring
Course slug (e.g., 'chemistry'). If omitted, shows history for all courses at subject+grade.

README.md6 KBView on GitHub

BC Curriculum MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives BC teachers structured access to the entire BC Ministry of Education K–12 curriculum. Connect with one line of config — no installs, no accounts, no technical setup.

Author: Paul de Groot — Vancouver, BC

What It Does

This server crawls curriculum.gov.bc.ca and makes the full BC K–12 curriculum queryable through 12 MCP tools. Teachers and curriculum designers can ask natural-language questions about Big Ideas, Curricular Competencies, Content standards, grade progressions, cross-subject connections, and more — grounded in the actual published curriculum data.

Data Coverage

Grades K–12 (Kindergarten through Grade 12)
9 English-stream subjects: ADST, Arts Education, Career Education, English Language Arts, Languages, Mathematics, Physical & Health Education, Science, Social Studies
Big Ideas, Curricular Competencies, and Content (the three-column KDU structure) with elaborations
Core Competencies (Communication, Thinking, Personal & Social)
First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL)
Assessment resources and Instructional samples
Full-text search across all curriculum content

Quick Start

Option 1: Remote server (no install needed)

Add this to your MCP config:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bc-curriculum": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://bc-curriculum-mcp.fly.dev/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or via Claude Code CLI:

bash

claude mcp add bc-curriculum --transport http --url https://bc-curriculum-mcp.fly.dev/mcp

Option 2: Run locally via npx

bash

npx bc-curriculum-mcp-server

This runs the server in stdio mode — compatible with any MCP client. You'll need a local bc-curriculum.sqlite database (clone the repo, install Playwright, and run the crawler — see For Developers below).

Option 3: Install globally via npm

bash

npm install -g bc-curriculum-mcp-server
bc-curriculum-mcp

Once connected, ask things like:

"What are the Big Ideas for ADST grade 10?"
"Show me how science competencies build from grade 3 to 7"
"Find curriculum connections between math and ADST for grade 9"
"What are the First Peoples Principles of Learning?"
"What are the curricular competencies for Kindergarten math?"

Available Tools

Tool	What it does
`bc_search_curriculum`	Full-text search across all curriculum data
`bc_get_course_curriculum`	Get Big Ideas, Competencies, and Content for a course
`bc_list_courses`	List all available courses (filter by subject/grade)
`bc_get_grade_progression`	Trace how curriculum builds across grade levels
`bc_get_competency_connections`	Find competencies shared across subjects
`bc_get_core_competencies`	Get Communication, Thinking, Personal/Social competencies
`bc_get_fppl`	Get First Peoples Principles of Learning
`bc_get_assessment_resources`	Get assessment practices and guidance
`bc_get_crawl_status`	Check data freshness and completeness
`bc_search_cross_curricular`	Find curriculum connections shared between two or more subjects at a grade
`bc_get_curriculum_changes`	Show what changed in curriculum since a given date
`bc_get_course_history`	View crawl history and change timeline for a course

Architecture

code

┌──────────────────────┐       ┌─────────────────────────┐
│  Your Machine        │       │  Fly.io (free tier)     │
│                      │       │                         │
│  Playwright crawler  │──────▶│  Express + SQLite       │
│  builds SQLite DB    │ SFTP  │  read-only MCP server   │
│                      │       │  256MB RAM              │
└──────────────────────┘       └─────────────────────────┘
                                        │
                                        ▼
                               Claude Desktop / Cowork / VS Codee / Antigravity
                               connects via MCP over HTTPS

The crawler runs locally using Playwright + headless Chromium to render the JavaScript-heavy curriculum.gov.bc.ca pages. It produces a SQLite database that gets uploaded to Fly.io. The deployed server is lightweight and read-only — no browser, no crawler, just serves pre-built data over MCP.

For Developers

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+
npm

Setup

bash

git clone https://github.com/pdg6/bc-curriculum-mcp-server.git
cd bc-curriculum-mcp-server
npm install
npx playwright install chromium
npm run build

Crawl

bash

# Quick test — just ADST
npm run crawl -- --subject adst

# Full K–12 crawl (~60-90 minutes)
npm run crawl:all

# Re-crawl everything (overwrites existing data)
npm run crawl:all -- --force

Run Locally

bash

# stdio transport (for local MCP clients)
npm start

# HTTP transport (for remote connections)
TRANSPORT=http npm start

How It Works

The BC curriculum is organized in a three-column structure for every course:

Big Ideas — High-level conceptual understandings
Curricular Competencies — What students can do (grouped by domain)
Content — What students should know (the KDU items)

Each element can have elaborations — expandable details that clarify scope and provide examples. This server captures all three columns plus elaborations for every course across all 9 subjects and all grades K–12.

The Core Competencies (Communication, Thinking, Personal & Social) and First Peoples Principles of Learning are cross-cutting frameworks that apply across all subjects and are stored separately.

Data Source

All curriculum data is sourced from curriculum.gov.bc.ca, the official BC Ministry of Education curriculum website. The crawler respects the site with 1.5-second delays between requests.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

The curriculum content itself is published by the BC Ministry of Education. This project provides structured access to that publicly available data.

Install

Tools (8)

search_curriculumget_course_curriculumget_grade_progressionget_competency_connectionslist_coursessearch_cross_curricularget_curriculum_changesget_course_history

Add to VS Code Add to Cursor

claude_desktop_config.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bc-curriculum": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "bc-curriculum-mcp-server@1.1.1"
      ]
    }
  }
}