Pawtograder
Pawtograder combines autograding, manual grading, office hours, discussion, a gradebook, and analytics for computer science courses.
What Pawtograder is
Pawtograder combines autograding, manual grading, office hours, discussion, a gradebook, and analytics for computer science courses. Each commit can trigger tests through GitHub Actions, with results displayed by test in the grading interface. Rubrics can use additive, deductive, or multi-level criteria, with line-level annotations and separate scores for group members. The gradebook supports MathJS expression columns, drop-lowest calculations, CSV import, and a student what-if mode.
Office hours queues support text, video, and screen sharing, and can surface a student's linked submission and failing test. The discussion board may present related threads when students encounter known errors, with public or staff-only posts. Calendar feeds and Discord channel mirroring cover course events; LTI 1.3 integrations with Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, and Moodle are roadmap items. Optional AI-generated test hints are available, and an MCP server supplies context to compatible AI clients. The GPLv3 open-source project can be used on its community instance or self-hosted on Kubernetes with Helm charts. The free community instance is for evaluation; ongoing use at scale requires contacting the project.
Good
- Autograding runs tests on each commit through GitHub Actions.
- Rubrics support line annotations and per-member group scoring.
- Office hours support text, video, and screen sharing.
- Open source under the GPLv3 license.
Watch out
- Institution must provide GitHub Actions runners.
- Current model assumes one repository per assignment.
- LTI 1.3 integrations are roadmap items.
- Community instance is for evaluation; scaled use requires contacting the project.
Who it suits
Pawtograder suits instructors, teaching assistants, and students in computer science courses. It may fit institutions that can provide GitHub Actions runners and want to host course data on their own infrastructure.
Verdict
Pawtograder brings grading, office hours, discussion, and course analytics together for computer science teaching. Institutions should weigh the GitHub Actions requirement and current repository model, and treat the community instance as an evaluation option.
Plans and prices
From Pawtograder's own pricing page, checked 7 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Community instance | Free | Evaluation use; ongoing use at scale requires contacting the project · Free for instructors evaluating Pawtograder; talk to us about ongoing use at scale. |
The facts
Each one read from Pawtograder's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- AI tools
- An MCP server provides context about a student's error, queue request, or discussion thread to MCP-compatible AI clients, and AI-generated test hints are optional.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Audience and support
- The site describes Pawtograder as built for instructors, teaching assistants, and students, and offers Discord community support and demo accounts by request.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Autograding
- Every commit can trigger tests through GitHub Actions, with per-test results shown in the grading interface.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Data control
- The site says self-hosting keeps data on the institution's infrastructure and can fit FERPA, GDPR, and provincial data-residency requirements.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Discussion
- The discussion board can surface relevant threads when students encounter known errors and supports public or staff-only posts.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Gradebook
- The gradebook supports MathJS expression columns, drop-lowest calculations, CSV import, and a student what-if mode.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Hosting
- Instructors can use the project-hosted community instance or self-host on Kubernetes using Helm charts.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The site lists calendar feeds and Discord channel mirroring for course events; it describes LTI 1.3 integrations with Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, and Moodle as roadmap items.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Known limit
- The current repository model assumes one repository per assignment; multi-assignment repositories and assignments without repositories are listed as unbuilt requests.checked 7 Oct 2026
- License
- The platform is open source under the GPLv3 license, and the site links its code to github.com/pawtograder/platform.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Office hours
- Office hours queues support text, video, and screen sharing, and can surface a student's linked submission and failing test.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Pawtograder combines autograding, manual grading, office hours, discussion, a gradebook, and analytics for computer science courses.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Rubrics
- Rubrics support additive, deductive, and multi-level criteria, line-level annotations, and per-member scoring for group submissions.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Runtime requirement
- Pawtograder requires the institution to provide GitHub Actions runners, either GitHub-hosted or self-hosted.checked 7 Oct 2026
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