It is easy to test out LTI tools within Sakai. To start with, we recommend testing the tool in a single site on your production instance. Using your production instance is important, since the LTI tool may require system settings that are only available in production. LTI developers often use unique values for each site, so development and production versions may require different settings from the provider.

You can test an LTI tool within a individual site using instructor permissions. You don't need to be an admin user to do this. The Sakai tool which enables you to add LTI tool providers is called the External Tool.

There are a couple of options for adding the External Tool to your individual site. You may add it via Site Info, or you may add it via Lessons.

Once you have tested the LTI tool and verified that it works as expected, admin users have the option to add it to the system so that it is available for all sites.

Optionally, some institutions also choose to "stealth" LTI system-wide tools. This means that the tool is available throughout the system, but instructors cannot add the tool on their own. An admin user will need to add the tool manually to a given site. (Instructions for doing this are included later in this guide.) Stealthing an LTI tool allows the institution more control over rolling out the application to a limited number of sites.