Autolab
Autolab is an open-source course management platform for programming and computer science classes that need autograded assignments.
What Autolab is
Autolab is an open-source course management platform for programming and computer science classes that need autograded assignments. Instructors can create autograders for assignments in any language and with any software package. Course tools cover gradebooks, rosters, submissions, lab writeups, manual grading, late penalties, grace days, meetings, partners, and bulk email. Instructors can annotate submitted code with feedback, and autograded labs may display an optional live scoreboard with anonymized student results. The project also describes comparing assessments with one another and with prior submissions through Stanford’s MOSS system. Students can submit from GitHub repositories using OAuth; those submissions are packaged as .tgz files for grading. LTI can link courses and sync rosters, although roster synchronization is manual. LTI Advantage is built mainly for Canvas, while other integrations such as Moodle are untested. Deployment options include Docker Compose, manual installation on Ubuntu or Mac OS X, and a beta AWS installation. Autolab is free and open source.
Good
- Autograders support any language and software package.
- Includes gradebooks, rosters, and manual grading.
- Code annotations let instructors give direct feedback.
- Optional scoreboards anonymize student results.
- Free and open source.
Watch out
- Roster synchronization through LTI is manual.
- Moodle integration is described as untested.
- Machines under 2 GB RAM may have sassc installation issues.
- The public demo refreshes daily; important data should not be stored there.
Who it suits
Autolab suits secondary and university programming or computer science courses that need automated assignment grading and course-management tools. It is also relevant to instructors who want code feedback, GitHub submissions, or LTI course linking.
Verdict
Autolab brings automated programming assessment together with a broad set of course tools. Check the LTI and deployment constraints against your institution’s setup before choosing it.
The facts
Each one read from Autolab's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Autograding
- Autolab can grade assignments in any language using any software package.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Autograding isolation
- Tango runs grading jobs in Docker containers or AWS virtual machines, and the project’s v3.0.0 release notes mention an option to selectively disable network access.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Cheat detection
- The site describes comparing assessments with one another and past submissions using Stanford’s MOSS Cheat Detector.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Code annotation
- Autolab supports adding feedback annotations directly to student code.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Code feedback
- Instructors can add feedback directly to students’ submitted code with code annotation.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Course tools
- Autolab also provides gradebooks, rosters, submissions and handouts, manual grading, late penalties, grace days, meetings, groups, and bulk email.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Demo
- The public demonstration site refreshes daily, and the documentation advises against storing important information there.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- Autolab and its Tango autograding backend can be installed with Docker Compose, manually on Ubuntu or Mac OS X, or through a beta AWS setup.checked 11 Oct 2026
- GitHub integration
- Students can submit code from GitHub repositories through OAuth, and Git submissions are packaged as .tgz files for grading.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Autolab supports LTI Advantage course linking for roster syncing, with integration features built mainly for Canvas; support for other platforms such as Moodle is untested.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The project aims to bring autograding to programming and computer science classes at secondary and university levels.checked 4 Oct 2026
- LMS integration
- Autolab's LTI integration supports linking courses and synchronizing course rosters; roster synchronization is manual.checked 4 Oct 2026
- LTI limitation
- The LTI Advantage integration is mainly built for Canvas; integration with platforms such as Moodle is described as possible but untested.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Plagiarism checking
- The project describes cheat detection that compares assessments with each other and with past submissions using Stanford's MOSS system.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Autolab is an open-source course management platform for instructors to offer autograded programming assignments.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Scoreboards
- Its real-time scoreboard displays anonymized, rank-ordered student results.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Security
- For GitHub submissions, Autolab requests only the minimum permissions needed to access selected private repositories.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Security configuration
- The installation overview says the Docker Compose deployment includes TLS/SSL.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Submission formats
- Assessments can accept text or archive files, and instructors can enable GitHub submissions for students to submit from a repository branch.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Support
- The project invites schools and organizations to contact its core developers by email for help; it says servers may be provided for free on a case-by-case basis.checked 11 Oct 2026
- System requirements
- The installation guide says machines with less than 2 GB of RAM may have issues installing the sassc gem.checked 4 Oct 2026
Money
- Free hosting
- The project says it provides servers for free on a case-by-case basis, especially for NGOs or small high-school classrooms.checked 4 Oct 2026
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