How to integrate Ahrefs MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

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Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Ahrefs to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Ahrefs agent that can get domain rating trend for competitor site, list all broken backlinks for my website, find keyword volume for 'ai tools' in us, show top referring domains for example.com through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your OpenAI Agents SDK agent real control over a Ahrefs account through Composio's Ahrefs MCP server.

Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get and set up your OpenAI and Composio API keys
  • Install the necessary dependencies
  • Initialize Composio and create a Tool Router session for Ahrefs
  • Configure an AI agent that can use Ahrefs as a tool
  • Run a live chat session where you can ask the agent to perform Ahrefs operations

What is open-ai-agents-sdk?

The OpenAI Agents SDK is a lightweight framework for building AI agents that can use tools and maintain conversation state. It provides a simple interface for creating agents with hosted MCP tool support.

Key features include:

  • Hosted MCP Tools: Connect to external services through hosted MCP endpoints
  • SQLite Sessions: Persist conversation history across interactions
  • Simple API: Clean interface with Agent, Runner, and tool configuration
  • Streaming Support: Real-time response streaming for interactive applications

What is the Ahrefs MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Ahrefs MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Ahrefs account. It provides structured and secure access to your SEO and marketing data, so your agent can perform actions like analyzing backlinks, researching keywords, auditing domain authority, and uncovering competitive insights on your behalf.

  • Comprehensive backlink analysis: Instantly retrieve detailed backlink profiles, stats, and broken link data for any website to inform your SEO strategy or spot link-building opportunities.
  • Keyword research and trends: Explore keyword overviews, search volumes by country, and discover matching or related terms to optimize content and target the right audience.
  • Domain authority tracking: Fetch up-to-date domain ratings or track historical changes to monitor the SEO health and growth of your own sites or competitors over time.
  • Batch competitor and site analysis: Analyze up to 100 domains or URLs at once to compare SEO metrics, spot weaknesses, and benchmark your performance against competitors efficiently.
  • Outbound link and partnership insights: Identify all external domains a site links to, helping you understand content strategy, partnerships, and potential link-building prospects.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Backlinks stats retrievalRetrieves comprehensive backlink statistics for a specified website or url using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Batch Url AnalysisPerforms a batch analysis on multiple urls or domains using ahrefs' powerful seo metrics.
Domain rating for site explorerRetrieves the domain rating (dr) for a specified domain.
Domain rating historyRetrieves the historical domain rating (dr) data for a specified domain over time.
Explore keywords overviewRetrieves a comprehensive overview of keyword data from ahrefs' keywords explorer tool.
Explore keyword volume by countryRetrieves the search volume data for specified keywords across different countries using ahrefs' keywords explorer tool.
Explore linked domains of a siteRetrieves a list of external domains that the specified target website or url links to, using ahrefs' site explorer functionality.
Explore matching terms for keywordsThe keywords explorer matching terms endpoint retrieves a list of keyword phrases that match or contain the specified keyword from ahrefs' vast database.
Fetch all backlinksRetrieves a comprehensive list of backlinks for a specified website or url using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Fetch broken backlinks dataRetrieves a list of broken backlinks for a specified website using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Fetch competitors overviewRetrieves a comprehensive overview of competitor data in relation to keyword rankings and organic search performance.
Fetch rank tracker overviewThe getranktrackeroverview endpoint retrieves a comprehensive summary of keyword rankings and seo performance data from ahrefs' rank tracker tool.
Fetch site explorer referring domainsRetrieves a list of domains that have backlinks pointing to a specified target website.
Fetch total search volume historyRetrieves the historical total search volume data for specified keywords using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Get serp overviewRetrieves a comprehensive overview of search engine results pages (serp) data for specified keywords or queries.
Get site audit projectsRetrieves a list of site audit projects associated with the authenticated ahrefs account.
Get site explorer country metricsRetrieves country-specific site explorer metrics for a given website from ahrefs.
Get site explorer linked anchors externalThe site-explorer-linked-anchors-external endpoint retrieves data about external anchor texts linking to a specified target website.
Get url rating historyRetrieves the historical url rating data for a specified url over time.
Linked anchors explorerRetrieves information about internal linked anchors for a specified website using the ahrefs api.
List best by external linksThe 'get best by external links' endpoint retrieves a list of pages from a specified website, ranked by the number of external links pointing to them.
Pages by traffic overviewRetrieves a list of pages from a specified website, ordered by their estimated organic search traffic.
Retrieve anchor dataRetrieves anchor text data for a specified website or url using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Retrieve best by internal linksRetrieves data on the best-performing internal links within a specified website using ahrefs' site explorer feature.
Retrieve crawler ip rangesRetrieves the list of ip address ranges used by ahrefs' web crawler (ahrefsbot).
Retrieve organic competitorsThe getorganiccompetitors endpoint in the ahrefs api provides a comprehensive analysis of websites competing for organic search rankings with a specified target domain.
Retrieve organic keywordsRetrieves organic keywords data for a specified website using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Retrieve outlinks statsRetrieves comprehensive statistics about outgoing links (outlinks) from a specified website using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Retrieve paid pages dataRetrieves information about paid pages (ppc advertising) for a specified website using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Retrieve public crawler ipsRetrieves a list of ip addresses currently used by ahrefsbot, ahrefs' web crawler.
Retrieve related termsThe keywords explorer related terms endpoint retrieves a list of related terms for a given keyword using ahrefs' extensive keyword database.
Retrieve site explorer keywords historyRetrieves historical keyword performance data for a specified website or domain using ahrefs' site explorer.
Retrieve site explorer metricsThe getsiteexplorermetrics endpoint retrieves comprehensive seo metrics for a specified website using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Retrieve site explorer metrics historyRetrieves historical seo metrics data for a specified website over a given time period.
Retrieve site explorer pages historyThe get site explorer pages history endpoint retrieves historical data about specific pages or domains from ahrefs' site explorer.
Retrieve site explorer referring domains historyRetrieves the historical data of referring domains for a specified website or url over time.
Retrieve subscription limits and usageRetrieves detailed information about the current subscription limits and usage for an ahrefs account.
Retrieve top pages from site explorerRetrieves data about the top-performing pages of a specified website using ahrefs' site explorer tool.
Retrieve volume historyRetrieves the historical search volume data for a specified keyword using ahrefs' keywords explorer tool.
Search suggestions explorerRetrieves search suggestions for a given keyword or phrase using ahrefs' keywords explorer tool.

What is the Composio tool router, and how does it fit here?

What is Tool Router?

Composio's Tool Router helps agents find the right tools for a task at runtime. You can plug in multiple toolkits (like Gmail, HubSpot, and GitHub), and the agent will identify the relevant app and action to complete multi-step workflows. This can reduce token usage and improve the reliability of tool calls. Read more here: Getting started with Tool Router

The tool router generates a secure MCP URL that your agents can access to perform actions.

How the Tool Router works

The Tool Router follows a three-phase workflow:

  1. Discovery: Searches for tools matching your task and returns relevant toolkits with their details.
  2. Authentication: Checks for active connections. If missing, creates an auth config and returns a connection URL via Auth Link.
  3. Execution: Executes the action using the authenticated connection.

Step-by-step Guide

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Composio API Key and OpenAI API Key
  • Primary know-how of OpenAI Agents SDK
  • A live Ahrefs project
  • Some knowledge of Python or Typescript

Getting API Keys for OpenAI and Composio

OpenAI API Key
  • Go to the OpenAI dashboard and create an API key. You'll need credits to use the models, or you can connect to another model provider.
  • Keep the API key safe.
Composio API Key

Install dependencies

pip install composio_openai_agents openai-agents python-dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the OpenAI Agents SDK.

Set up environment variables

bash
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...your-api-key
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-api-key
USER_ID=composio_user@gmail.com

Create a .env file and add your OpenAI and Composio API keys.

Import dependencies

import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

from composio import Composio
from composio_openai_agents import OpenAIAgentsProvider
from agents import Agent, Runner, HostedMCPTool, SQLiteSession
What's happening:
  • You're importing all necessary libraries.
  • The Composio and OpenAIAgentsProvider classes are imported to connect your OpenAI agent to Composio tools like Ahrefs.

Set up the Composio instance

load_dotenv()

api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")

if not api_key:
    raise RuntimeError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key")

# Initialize Composio
composio = Composio(api_key=api_key, provider=OpenAIAgentsProvider())
What's happening:
  • load_dotenv() loads your .env file so OPENAI_API_KEY and COMPOSIO_API_KEY are available as environment variables.
  • Creating a Composio instance using the API Key and OpenAIAgentsProvider class.

Create a Tool Router session

# Create a Ahrefs Tool Router session
session = composio.create(
    user_id=user_id,
    toolkits=["ahrefs"]
)

mcp_url = session.mcp.url

What is happening:

  • You give the Tool Router the user id and the toolkits you want available. Here, it is only ahrefs.
  • The router checks the user's Ahrefs connection and prepares the MCP endpoint.
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that your agent will use to access Ahrefs.
  • This approach keeps things lightweight and lets the agent request Ahrefs tools only when needed during the conversation.

Configure the agent

# Configure agent with MCP tool
agent = Agent(
    name="Assistant",
    model="gpt-5",
    instructions=(
        "You are a helpful assistant that can access Ahrefs. "
        "Help users perform Ahrefs operations through natural language."
    ),
    tools=[
        HostedMCPTool(
            tool_config={
                "type": "mcp",
                "server_label": "tool_router",
                "server_url": mcp_url,
                "headers": {"x-api-key": api_key},
                "require_approval": "never",
            }
        )
    ],
)
What's happening:
  • We're creating an Agent instance with a name, model (gpt-5), and clear instructions about its purpose.
  • The agent's instructions tell it that it can access Ahrefs and help with queries, inserts, updates, authentication, and fetching database information.
  • The tools array includes a HostedMCPTool that connects to the MCP server URL we created earlier.
  • The headers dict includes the Composio API key for secure authentication with the MCP server.
  • require_approval: 'never' means the agent can execute Ahrefs operations without asking for permission each time, making interactions smoother.

Start chat loop and handle conversation

print("\nComposio Tool Router session created.")

chat_session = SQLiteSession("conversation_openai_toolrouter")

print("\nChat started. Type your requests below.")
print("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n")

async def main():
    try:
        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            "What can you help me with?",
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}\n")

    while True:
        user_input = input("You: ").strip()
        if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit", "q"}:
            print("Goodbye!")
            break

        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            user_input,
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")

asyncio.run(main())
What's happening:
  • The program prints a session URL that you visit to authorize Ahrefs.
  • After authorization, the chat begins.
  • Each message you type is processed by the agent using Runner.run().
  • The responses are printed to the console, and conversations are saved locally using SQLite.
  • Typing exit, quit, or q cleanly ends the chat.

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Ahrefs and open-ai-agents-sdk:

import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

from composio import Composio
from composio_openai_agents import OpenAIAgentsProvider
from agents import Agent, Runner, HostedMCPTool, SQLiteSession

load_dotenv()

api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")

if not api_key:
    raise RuntimeError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key")

# Initialize Composio
composio = Composio(api_key=api_key, provider=OpenAIAgentsProvider())

# Create Tool Router session
session = composio.create(
    user_id=user_id,
    toolkits=["ahrefs"]
)
mcp_url = session.mcp.url

# Configure agent with MCP tool
agent = Agent(
    name="Assistant",
    model="gpt-5",
    instructions=(
        "You are a helpful assistant that can access Ahrefs. "
        "Help users perform Ahrefs operations through natural language."
    ),
    tools=[
        HostedMCPTool(
            tool_config={
                "type": "mcp",
                "server_label": "tool_router",
                "server_url": mcp_url,
                "headers": {"x-api-key": api_key},
                "require_approval": "never",
            }
        )
    ],
)

print("\nComposio Tool Router session created.")

chat_session = SQLiteSession("conversation_openai_toolrouter")

print("\nChat started. Type your requests below.")
print("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n")

async def main():
    try:
        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            "What can you help me with?",
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}\n")

    while True:
        user_input = input("You: ").strip()
        if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit", "q"}:
            print("Goodbye!")
            break

        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            user_input,
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")

asyncio.run(main())

Conclusion

This was a starter code for integrating Ahrefs MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK to build a functional AI agent that can interact with Ahrefs.

Key features:

  • Hosted MCP tool integration through Composio's Tool Router
  • SQLite session persistence for conversation history
  • Simple async chat loop for interactive testing
You can extend this by adding more toolkits, implementing custom business logic, or building a web interface around the agent.

How to build Ahrefs MCP Agent with another framework

Claude Agent SDK

Claude Agent SDK

Use Ahrefs MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Google ADK

Google ADK

Use Ahrefs MCP with Google ADK

LangChain

LangChain

Use Ahrefs MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK

Vercel AI SDK

Use Ahrefs MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI

Mastra AI

Use Ahrefs MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex

LlamaIndex

Use Ahrefs MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI

CrewAI

Use Ahrefs MCP with CrewAI

FAQ

What are the differences in Tool Router MCP and Ahrefs MCP?

With a standalone Ahrefs MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of Ahrefs tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from Ahrefs and many other apps based on the task at hand, all through a single MCP endpoint.

Can I use Tool Router MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK?

Yes, you can. OpenAI Agents SDK fully supports MCP integration. You get structured tool calling, message history handling, and model orchestration while Tool Router takes care of discovering and serving the right Ahrefs tools.

Can I manage the permissions and scopes for Ahrefs while using Tool Router?

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Ahrefs scopes and actions are allowed when connecting your account to Composio. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials or API configuration so you keep full control over what the agent can do.

How safe is my data with Composio Tool Router?

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your Ahrefs data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

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