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How to integrate Blackbaud MCP with Autogen

Connect Autogen to Blackbaud MCP. Create a new donor record for a fundraiser, list recent donations for a specific campaign, and more using natural language, with authentication handled for you.

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Blackbaud provides cloud-based software for nonprofits, schools, and healthcare institutions. It streamlines fundraising, donor management, and mission-driven operations.

5 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Blackbaud to AutoGen using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Blackbaud agent that can add gifts to batches, look up gifts by ID, fetch membership details, and check payment transactions through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your AutoGen agent real control over a Blackbaud account through Composio's Blackbaud MCP server.

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

Also integrate Blackbaud with

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TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get and set up your OpenAI and Composio API keys
  • Install the required dependencies for Autogen and Composio
  • Initialize Composio and create a Tool Router session for Blackbaud
  • Wire that MCP URL into Autogen using McpWorkbench and StreamableHttpServerParams
  • Configure an Autogen AssistantAgent that can call Blackbaud tools
  • Run a live chat loop where you ask the agent to perform Blackbaud operations

What is AutoGen?

Autogen is a framework for building multi-agent conversational AI systems from Microsoft. It enables you to create agents that can collaborate, use tools, and maintain complex workflows.

Key features include:

  • Multi-Agent Systems: Build collaborative agent workflows
  • MCP Workbench: Native support for Model Context Protocol tools
  • Streaming HTTP: Connect to external services through streamable HTTP
  • AssistantAgent: Pre-built agent class for tool-using assistants

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

The Blackbaud MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc. directly to your Blackbaud account. It provides structured and secure access to your Blackbaud environment, so your agent can perform actions like managing fundraising campaigns, tracking donor engagement, handling financial records, and supporting nonprofit operations on your behalf.

  • Fundraising campaign management: Enable your agent to create, update, or summarize key fundraising initiatives, track progress, and optimize campaign outcomes.
  • Donor and constituent engagement: Automate the process of tracking donor information, recording interactions, and segmenting engagement strategies for better relationship management.
  • Financial record keeping: Allow your agent to access, update, or reconcile financial transactions, ensuring your organization’s accounts remain accurate and up-to-date.
  • Event planning and management: Let your agent coordinate event logistics, handle registrations, and track attendance to streamline in-person or virtual fundraising events.
  • Grant and gift processing: Support your agent in processing incoming gifts or grants, managing acknowledgments, and keeping detailed records for compliance and reporting.

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

What is Composio SDK?

Composio's Composio SDK 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 Composio SDK

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

How the Composio SDK works

The Composio SDK 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

Step by step08 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

You will need:

  • A Composio API key
  • An OpenAI API key (used by Autogen's OpenAIChatCompletionClient)
  • A Blackbaud account you can connect to Composio
  • Some basic familiarity with Autogen and Python async
2

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
  • Log in to the Composio dashboard.
  • Navigate to your API settings and generate a new API key.
  • Store this key securely as you'll need it for authentication.
3

Install dependencies

bash
pip install composio python-dotenv
pip install autogen-agentchat autogen-ext-openai autogen-ext-tools

Install Composio, Autogen extensions, and dotenv.

What's happening:

  • composio connects your agent to Blackbaud via MCP
  • autogen-agentchat provides the AssistantAgent class
  • autogen-ext-openai provides the OpenAI model client
  • autogen-ext-tools provides MCP workbench support

4

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-composio-api-key
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key
USER_ID=your-user-identifier@example.com

Create a .env file in your project folder.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY is required to talk to Composio
  • OPENAI_API_KEY is used by Autogen's OpenAI client
  • USER_ID is how Composio identifies which user's Blackbaud connections to use
5

Import dependencies and create Tool Router session

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio

from autogen_agentchat.agents import AssistantAgent
from autogen_ext.models.openai import OpenAIChatCompletionClient
from autogen_ext.tools.mcp import McpWorkbench, StreamableHttpServerParams

load_dotenv()

async def main():
    # Initialize Composio and create a Blackbaud session
    composio = Composio(api_key=os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY"))
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=os.getenv("USER_ID"),
        toolkits=["blackbaud"]
    )
    url = session.mcp.url
What's happening:
  • load_dotenv() reads your .env file
  • Composio(api_key=...) initializes the SDK
  • create(...) creates a Tool Router session that exposes Blackbaud tools
  • session.mcp.url is the MCP endpoint that Autogen will connect to
6

Configure MCP parameters for Autogen

python
# Configure MCP server parameters for Streamable HTTP
server_params = StreamableHttpServerParams(
    url=url,
    timeout=30.0,
    sse_read_timeout=300.0,
    terminate_on_close=True,
    headers={"x-api-key": os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")}
)

Autogen expects parameters describing how to talk to the MCP server. That is what StreamableHttpServerParams is for.

What's happening:

  • url points to the Tool Router MCP endpoint from Composio
  • timeout is the HTTP timeout for requests
  • sse_read_timeout controls how long to wait when streaming responses
  • terminate_on_close=True cleans up the MCP server process when the workbench is closed
7

Create the model client and agent

python
# Create model client
model_client = OpenAIChatCompletionClient(
    model="gpt-5",
    api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
)

# Use McpWorkbench as context manager
async with McpWorkbench(server_params) as workbench:
    # Create Blackbaud assistant agent with MCP tools
    agent = AssistantAgent(
        name="blackbaud_assistant",
        description="An AI assistant that helps with Blackbaud operations.",
        model_client=model_client,
        workbench=workbench,
        model_client_stream=True,
        max_tool_iterations=10
    )

What's happening:

  • OpenAIChatCompletionClient wraps the OpenAI model for Autogen
  • McpWorkbench connects the agent to the MCP tools
  • AssistantAgent is configured with the Blackbaud tools from the workbench
8

Run the interactive chat loop

python
print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n")
print("Ask any Blackbaud related question or task to the agent.\n")

# Conversation loop
while True:
    user_input = input("You: ").strip()

    if user_input.lower() in ["exit", "quit", "bye"]:
        print("\nGoodbye!")
        break

    if not user_input:
        continue

    print("\nAgent is thinking...\n")

    # Run the agent with streaming
    try:
        response_text = ""
        async for message in agent.run_stream(task=user_input):
            if hasattr(message, "content") and message.content:
                response_text = message.content

        # Print the final response
        if response_text:
            print(f"Agent: {response_text}\n")
        else:
            print("Agent: I encountered an issue processing your request.\n")

    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Agent: Sorry, I encountered an error: {str(e)}\n")
What's happening:
  • The script prompts you in a loop with You:
  • Autogen passes your input to the model, which decides which Blackbaud tools to call via MCP
  • agent.run_stream(...) yields streaming messages as the agent thinks and calls tools
  • Typing exit, quit, or bye ends the loop

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Blackbaud and AutoGen:

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio

from autogen_agentchat.agents import AssistantAgent
from autogen_ext.models.openai import OpenAIChatCompletionClient
from autogen_ext.tools.mcp import McpWorkbench, StreamableHttpServerParams

load_dotenv()

async def main():
    # Initialize Composio and create a Blackbaud session
    composio = Composio(api_key=os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY"))
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=os.getenv("USER_ID"),
        toolkits=["blackbaud"]
    )
    url = session.mcp.url

    # Configure MCP server parameters for Streamable HTTP
    server_params = StreamableHttpServerParams(
        url=url,
        timeout=30.0,
        sse_read_timeout=300.0,
        terminate_on_close=True,
        headers={"x-api-key": os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")}
    )

    # Create model client
    model_client = OpenAIChatCompletionClient(
        model="gpt-5",
        api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
    )

    # Use McpWorkbench as context manager
    async with McpWorkbench(server_params) as workbench:
        # Create Blackbaud assistant agent with MCP tools
        agent = AssistantAgent(
            name="blackbaud_assistant",
            description="An AI assistant that helps with Blackbaud operations.",
            model_client=model_client,
            workbench=workbench,
            model_client_stream=True,
            max_tool_iterations=10
        )

        print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n")
        print("Ask any Blackbaud related question or task to the agent.\n")

        # Conversation loop
        while True:
            user_input = input("You: ").strip()

            if user_input.lower() in ['exit', 'quit', 'bye']:
                print("\nGoodbye!")
                break

            if not user_input:
                continue

            print("\nAgent is thinking...\n")

            # Run the agent with streaming
            try:
                response_text = ""
                async for message in agent.run_stream(task=user_input):
                    if hasattr(message, 'content') and message.content:
                        response_text = message.content

                # Print the final response
                if response_text:
                    print(f"Agent: {response_text}\n")
                else:
                    print("Agent: I encountered an issue processing your request.\n")

            except Exception as e:
                print(f"Agent: Sorry, I encountered an error: {str(e)}\n")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

Conclusion

You now have an Autogen assistant wired into Blackbaud through Composio's Tool Router and MCP. From here you can:
  • Add more toolkits to the toolkits list, for example notion or hubspot
  • Refine the agent description to point it at specific workflows
  • Wrap this script behind a UI, Slack bot, or internal tool
Once the pattern is clear for Blackbaud, you can reuse the same structure for other MCP-enabled apps with minimal code changes.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

Every Blackbaud action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Add Gifts To Batch

Add one or more gifts (donations) to an existing gift batch in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT.

Get Gift By ID

Retrieves comprehensive gift details from Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT by gift ID.

Get Membership Details

Retrieves comprehensive membership details from Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT by member junction ID.

Get Payment Transaction

Retrieves payment transaction details from Blackbaud SKY Payments API.

OneRoster OAuth2 Base API

Tool to interact with Blackbaud OneRoster OAuth2 base endpoints.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Blackbaud MCP Agent with another framework

Claude Code logo

Claude Code

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Claude Cowork

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OpenAI Agents SDK logo

OpenAI Agents SDK

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Claude Agent SDK logo

Claude Agent SDK

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Codex logo

Codex

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OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

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Hermes logo

Hermes

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Atomic Agent logo

Atomic Agent

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Google ADK logo

Google ADK

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LangChain logo

LangChain

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Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

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Mastra AI logo

Mastra AI

Use Blackbaud MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Blackbaud MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI logo

CrewAI

Use Blackbaud MCP with CrewAI

Pydantic AI logo

Pydantic AI

Use Blackbaud MCP with Pydantic AI

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. Autogen 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 Blackbaud tools.

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Blackbaud 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.

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 Blackbaud data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

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