AAST LMS Sync

Automated course material synchronization for AAST Moodle LMS

Eliminates the manual effort of downloading and organizing lectures, sections, and assignments from the AAST LMS. Supports delta sync, intelligent categorization, Google Drive integration, and AI agent control via the Gemini CLI.

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Table of Contents

• Features
• Architecture
• Prerequisites
• Setup
• Configuration
• Usage
• AI Skill Integration
• Security & Privacy
• License

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Features

Feature	Description
Automated Sync	Pulls course materials directly from the AAST LMS (Moodle)
Course Discovery	Auto-detects enrolled courses and their LMS IDs
Smart Categorization	Sorts resources into Lectures/, Sections/, and Assignments/
Standardized Naming	Applies Week XX — [Resource Name] prefix from LMS section structure
Delta Sync	Only downloads new or modified files — saves time and bandwidth
Google Drive Support	Syncs supplementary materials from Drive links via gdown
Session Persistence	Caches authenticated sessions to minimize login frequency

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Architecture

aast-lms-sync/
├── scripts/
│   ├── discover.cjs        # Dashboard scraper — extracts course names & LMS IDs
│   ├── lms_sync.cjs        # Core sync engine — auth, parsing, download pipeline
│   └── parse_portal.cjs    # AAST portal utilities & data extraction
├── courses.json            # Course ID mapping (created from example)
├── courses.json.example    # Template for courses.json
├── SKILL.md                # AI agent skill definition (Gemini / MCP)
└── package.json

Data Flow

Credentials  ──►  Authentication  ──►  Session Cache (session.json)
                       │
                       ▼
              Course ID Resolution
             (courses.json / Discovery)
                       │
                       ▼
              Delta Analysis
         (remote metadata vs local state)
                       │
              ┌────────┴────────┐
              ▼                 ▼
         LMS Download     Google Drive
         (axios/fetch)      (gdown)
              │                 │
              └────────┬────────┘
                       ▼
              Post-Processing
         (rename → Week XX prefix → categorize)

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Prerequisites

Dependency	Version	Purpose
Node.js	v16+	Runtime environment
Puppeteer	bundled via npm	Headless browser for Moodle login & AJAX pages
gdown	latest	Downloads files/folders from Google Drive
Chrome / Chromium	any recent	Browser engine used by Puppeteer

Install gdown via pip:

pip install gdown

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Setup

1. Clone & Install

git clone https://github.com/4awmy/aast-lms-sync.git
cd aast-lms-sync
npm install

2. Create Credentials File

Create lms_creds.txt in your Uni directory:

your_lms_username
your_lms_password

Important

Each credential must be on its own line. Do not include labels or extra whitespace.

3. Configure Environment

Create a .env file in the project root:

BASE_DIR="C:/Users/YourUser/OneDrive/Desktop/Uni"
CRED_FILE="C:/Users/YourUser/OneDrive/Desktop/Uni/lms_creds.txt"
GDOWN_PATH="gdown"
PUPPETEER_EXECUTABLE_PATH="C:/Program Files/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe"

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Configuration

Course Mapping

Copy the example and populate your courses:

cp courses.json.example courses.json

Edit courses.json:

{
  "Numerical Methods": { "id": "1523" },
  "System Modeling And Simulation": {
    "id": "10227",
    "extra_sources": {
      "Sections": "https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/YOUR_FOLDER_ID"
    }
  },
  "Computing Algorithms": { "id": "10230" }
}

Tip: Don't know your course IDs? Run the discovery script:

npm run discover

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Usage

Sync a Specific Course

node scripts/lms_sync.cjs "Numerical Methods"

Discover All Enrolled Courses

npm run discover

Output Structure

After a sync, materials are organized as:

Uni/
└── Numerical Methods/
    ├── Lectures/
    │   ├── Week 01 — Introduction to Numerical Methods.pdf
    │   └── Week 02 — Error Analysis.pdf
    ├── Sections/
    │   └── Week 01 — Section Practice.pdf
    └── Assignments/
        └── Week 03 — Assignment 1.pdf

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AI Skill Integration

aast-lms-sync is designed as an AI Skill compatible with the Gemini CLI and MCP-based agents. The SKILL.md file provides agents with the context to:

• Understand when to trigger a sync
• Map natural language course names to script parameters
• Handle local filesystem paths according to the user's workspace

Example Agent Commands

"Sync my Computing Algorithms course."
"Check for new assignments in Numerical Methods."
"Download all missing materials for this week."

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Security & Privacy

Caution

Protect Your Credentials

• lms_creds.txt — Contains your plaintext LMS password. Store it in a secure location and never commit it to version control. It is listed in .gitignore by default.
• session.json — Contains active session cookies. Treat it with the same security level as your password.
• .env — Contains filesystem paths. Do not commit.

Compliance: Use this tool in accordance with AAST's Acceptable Use Policy. Avoid excessive scraping that may trigger rate limits or security flags.

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License

This project is licensed under the ISC License.

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_{Built for AAST students, by an AAST student.}