Create a course by pasting JSON

A course can be written as one JSON document and pasted into Magpie: the text of its course page, its modules, and its lessons with their quizzes and assignments. New course → Paste JSON will create a draft course from it. On a draft course, More → Import JSON… will replace the course's modules and lessons with the ones in the document. Export as JSON, in any course's More menu, will download the course in the same format. An export will import back as a new draft course with the same outline.

Use Copy the prompt in the import box to copy these instructions for an assistant you use. The assistant will ask you for what it needs, then write the document.

Importing is all or nothing. Magpie will check the whole document before it saves anything, and will name a mistake by its place in the document, such as "modules[1].lessons[0].title" is required and cannot be empty. A field that is not in the format is refused, and so is a field for another kind of lesson, such as questions on a lesson whose kind is "lesson". A document can be up to 1 MB.

An imported course is a draft, and so is every imported lesson. Students will see a lesson once you publish it and the course; Get started with Courses says how a course is put together and published.

The document never contains students, cohorts, prices, videos, audio or files; add them to the course after the import. A line in a lesson's text that shows a video, @[video](…), will be left out of an export and removed from an import. A picture in any text of the document is written as ![caption](/image/…) with the picture's address in your image library; an address that is not in your image library is refused, and the message names where it is. A question's own picture, chosen in the lesson editor, is not part of the document.

Replacing a draft's outline

Import JSON… is in the More menu of a draft course. Every module and lesson in the draft will be replaced by the ones in the document, and every new lesson will be a draft. The files on the current lessons will be deleted, and so will their videos, except a video another lesson uses. A live session's meeting and its Calendar event will be removed with its lesson. The course's title, subtitle, description, audience, outcomes, questions and answers, mode and time zone will change only where the document has them. The mode can change only while no student has enrolled and the course has no cohorts.

Only a draft can be replaced. To change the outline of a published course, use More → Duplicate course and import into the copy, which is a draft.

The document

{
  "schema": "magpie.course",
  "version": 1,
  "title": "Pricing your freelance work",
  "subtitle": "Set prices clients accept and you can live on",
  "description": "Six short modules on working out a rate, writing a quote and holding your price.",
  "audience": "Freelance designers, writers and developers in their first three years.",
  "outcomes": ["Work out a day rate from what you need to earn", "Write a quote with three options"],
  "faq": [{ "question": "How long does it take?", "answer": "About four hours over two weeks." }],
  "mode": "self_paced",
  "modules": [
    {
      "title": "Your number",
      "availability": { "rule": "now" },
      "lessons": [
        { "kind": "lesson", "title": "What you need to earn", "minutes": 12, "freePreview": true,
          "body": "Start from the year, not the hour.\n\n1. Add up what you spend in a year..." },
        { "kind": "quiz", "title": "Check your number", "passPercent": 80, "attempts": null, "showAfter": "explanations",
          "questions": [
            { "kind": "single", "prompt": "Which comes first?", "points": 1,
              "options": [ { "text": "Your yearly costs", "correct": true }, { "text": "Your competitors' rates", "correct": false } ],
              "explanation": "Your costs set the lowest price you can accept." }
          ] }
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Quoting",
      "availability": { "rule": "after_days", "days": 7 },
      "lessons": [
        { "kind": "assignment", "title": "Write your first quote", "submit": ["text", "files"], "reviewRequired": true,
          "body": "Write a quote for the brief below and upload it as a PDF." }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

The course

Modules

When a module or lesson opens

availability is an object with these fields:

days is used only with "after_days", and date and time only with "on_date"; with another rule they are refused. A lesson's own availability replaces its module's. A lesson without one opens with its module.

Lessons

Every lesson has these fields:

A quiz and an assignment take more fields, below. A lesson whose kind is "lesson" or "live" takes only the fields above.

Quizzes

A lesson whose kind is "quiz" also takes:

Each question:

To replace only a quiz's questions later, see Replace a quiz's questions by pasting JSON.

Assignments

A lesson whose kind is "assignment" also takes:

Live sessions

A lesson whose kind is "live" takes the lesson fields only, with minutes as the session's length. Its time, and whether it takes place on Zoom, in Video Chat or at an address, are set in the lesson editor after the import. In a cohort course, each cohort's time is set on that cohort's page.

If an import is rejected for a reason you cannot work out, Contact support.