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How to integrate Breathe HR MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Connect Claude Agent SDK to Breathe HR MCP. List all employees out on leave this week, add new employee record for onboarding, and more using natural language, with authentication handled for you.

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Breathe HR is cloud-based HR software for SMEs to manage employee data, absences, and performance. It simplifies HR admin, making it easy to keep employee records accurate and up to date.

50 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Breathe HR to the Claude Agent SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Breathe HR agent that can list all employees out on leave this week, add new employee record for onboarding, generate a summary of recent performance reviews through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your Claude Agent SDK agent real control over a Breathe HR account through Composio's Breathe HR MCP server.

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

Also integrate Breathe HR with

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TL;DR

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

What is Claude Agent SDK?

The Claude Agent SDK is Anthropic's official framework for building AI agents powered by Claude. It provides a streamlined interface for creating agents with MCP tool support and conversation management.

Key features include:

  • Native MCP Support: Built-in support for Model Context Protocol servers
  • Permission Modes: Control tool execution permissions
  • Streaming Responses: Real-time response streaming for interactive applications
  • Context Manager: Clean async context management for sessions

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

The Breathe HR MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Breathe HR account. It provides structured and secure access to employee records, departments, absences, leave requests, expenses, and salaries, so your agent can create employees, review HR information, track absences, manage leave approvals, and record expenses on your behalf.

  • Employee record management: Have your agent create new employee records, list your workforce, or retrieve detailed information about a specific employee.
  • Absence and leave tracking: Instruct your agent to review absences and leave requests by date, employee, department, or absence type.
  • Leave request approvals: Direct your agent to approve pending employee leave requests in Breathe HR.
  • Expense administration: Let the agent create employee expense records and review expenses already submitted.
  • Department and salary visibility: Have your agent list company departments and review employee salary information.

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 step09 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Composio API Key and Claude/Anthropic API Key
  • Primary know-how of Claude Agents SDK
  • A Breathe HR account
  • Some knowledge of Python
2

Getting API Keys for Claude/Anthropic and Composio

Claude/Anthropic API Key
  • Go to the Anthropic Console and create an API key. You'll need credits to use the models.
  • 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

npm install @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk @composio/core dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the Claude Agents SDK.

What's happening:

  • @composio/core provides Composio integration for Anthropic
  • @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk is the core agent framework
  • dotenv/config loads environment variables
4

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
USER_ID=your_user_id_here
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_anthropic_api_key_here

Create a .env file in your project root.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY authenticates with Composio
  • USER_ID identifies the user for session management
  • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY authenticates with Anthropic/Claude
5

Import dependencies

import 'dotenv/config';
import readline from 'node:readline';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { query, type Options } from "@anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk";

dotenv.config();
What's happening:
  • We're importing all necessary libraries including the Claude Agent SDK and Composio
  • The dotenv.config() function loads environment variables from your .env file
  • This setup prepares the foundation for connecting Claude with Breathe HR functionality
6

Create a Composio instance and Tool Router session

async function chat() {
  const { COMPOSIO_API_KEY, USER_ID } = process.env;
  if (!COMPOSIO_API_KEY || !USER_ID) {
    throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID required in .env');
  }

  const composio = new Composio({ apiKey: COMPOSIO_API_KEY });

  // Create Tool Router session for Breathe HR
  const session = await composio.create(USER_ID, {
    toolkits: ['breathehr'],
  });
  const mcpUrl = session?.mcp.url;
What's happening:
  • The function checks for the required COMPOSIO_API_KEY environment variable
  • We're creating a Composio instance using our API key
  • The create method creates a Tool Router session for Breathe HR
  • The returned url is the MCP server URL that your agent will use
7

Configure Claude Agent with MCP

const options: Options = {
  permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions',
  mcpServers: {
    composio: {
      type: 'http',
      url: mcpUrl,
      headers: { 'x-api-key': COMPOSIO_API_KEY }
    }
  },
  systemPrompt: 'You are a helpful assistant with access to Breathe HR tools via Composio.',
  maxTurns: 10,
};
What's happening:
  • We're configuring the Claude Agent options with the MCP server URL
  • permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions' allows the agent to execute operations without asking for permission each time
  • The system prompt instructs the agent that it has access to Breathe HR
  • maxTurns: 10 limits the conversation length to prevent excessive API usage
8

Create client and start chat loop

const rl = readline.createInterface({
    input: process.stdin,
    output: process.stdout,
    prompt: 'You: '
  });

  console.log('\nChat started. Type "exit" to quit.\n');

  let isProcessing = false;

  async function ask(prompt: string) {
    isProcessing = true;
    rl.pause();

    process.stdout.write('Claude is thinking...');
    const stream = query({ prompt, options });

    let firstChunk = true;
    for await (const msg of stream) {
      const content = (msg as any).message?.content || (msg as any).content;
      if (Array.isArray(content)) {
        for (const block of content) {
          if (block.type === 'text' && block.text) {
            if (firstChunk) {
              process.stdout.write('\r\x1b[K');
              process.stdout.write('Claude: ');
              firstChunk = false;
            }
            process.stdout.write(block.text);
          }
        }
      }
    }
    process.stdout.write('\n\n');

    isProcessing = false;
    rl.resume();
    rl.prompt();
  }

  rl.on('line', async (line) => {
    if (isProcessing) return;

    const input = line.trim();
    if (input === 'exit') {
      rl.close();
      process.exit(0);
    }
    if (input) await ask(input);
    else rl.prompt();
  });

  await ask('What can you help me with?');
}
What's happening:
  • The readline interface is created to handle user input and output
  • The query function is used to send the user's input to the agent
  • The chat loop continues until the user types 'exit' or 'quit'
9

Run the application

try {
  await chat();
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
  process.exit(1);
}
What's happening:
  • The chat function is the entry point for the application
  • The try-catch block is used to handle any errors that occur

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Breathe HR and Claude Agent SDK:

import 'dotenv/config';
import readline from 'node:readline';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { query, type Options } from "@anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk";

async function chat() {
  const { COMPOSIO_API_KEY, USER_ID } = process.env;
  if (!COMPOSIO_API_KEY || !USER_ID) {
    throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID required in .env');
  }

  const composio = new Composio({ apiKey: COMPOSIO_API_KEY });
  const session = await composio.create(USER_ID, {
    toolkits: ['breathehr']
  });
  const mcp_url = session?.mcp.url;

  const options: Options = {
    permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions',
    mcpServers: {
      composio: {
        type: 'http',
        url: mcp_url,
        headers: { 'x-api-key': COMPOSIO_API_KEY }
      }
    },
    systemPrompt: 'You are a helpful assistant with access to Breathe HR tools via Composio.',
    maxTurns: 10,
  };

  const rl = readline.createInterface({
    input: process.stdin,
    output: process.stdout,
    prompt: 'You: '
  });

  console.log('\nChat started. Type "exit" to quit.\n');

  let isProcessing = false;

  async function ask(prompt: string) {
    isProcessing = true;
    rl.pause();

    process.stdout.write('Claude is thinking...');
    const stream = query({ prompt, options });

    let firstChunk = true;
    for await (const msg of stream) {
      const content = (msg as any).message?.content || (msg as any).content;
      if (Array.isArray(content)) {
        for (const block of content) {
          if (block.type === 'text' && block.text) {
            if (firstChunk) {
              process.stdout.write('\r\x1b[K');
              process.stdout.write('Claude: ');
              firstChunk = false;
            }
            process.stdout.write(block.text);
          }
        }
      }
    }
    process.stdout.write('\n\n');

    isProcessing = false;
    rl.resume();
    rl.prompt();
  }

  rl.on('line', async (line) => {
    if (isProcessing) return;

    const input = line.trim();
    if (input === 'exit') {
      rl.close();
      process.exit(0);
    }
    if (input) await ask(input);
    else rl.prompt();
  });

  await ask('What can you help me with?');
}

try {
  await chat();
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
  process.exit(1);
}

Conclusion

You've successfully built a Claude Agent SDK agent that can interact with Breathe HR through Composio's Tool Router.

Key features:

  • Native MCP support through Claude's agent framework
  • Streaming responses for real-time interaction
  • Permission bypass for smooth automated workflows
You can extend this by adding more toolkits, implementing custom business logic, or building a web interface around the agent.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Approve Leave Request

Tool to approve a leave request in BreatheHR.

Create Employee

Tool to create a new employee in BreatheHR.

Create Employee Change Request

Tool to create a change request for an employee field.

Create Employee Expense

Tool to create an employee expense record in BreatheHR.

Create Employee Expense Claim

Tool to create a new expense claim for an employee.

Create Employee Sickness

Tool to create a sickness record for an employee in BreatheHR.

Delete Employee Expense

Tool to delete an employee expense by ID.

Delete Employee Training Course

Tool to delete an employee training course record by its ID.

Get Account

Tool to retrieve account information including ID, name, domain, UUID, and RTA usage status.

Get Employee

Tool to retrieve detailed information about a specific employee by ID.

Get Employee Expense

Tool to retrieve a specific employee expense record by ID.

Get Leave Request

Tool to retrieve detailed information about a specific leave request by ID.

Get Leave Request Cancelling

Tool to retrieve the leave request that is being cancelled.

List Absences

Tool to list all absences with optional filtering by date range, employee, department, and type.

List Employee Benefits

Tool to retrieve a list of employee benefits with optional pagination.

List Employee Bonuses

Tool to retrieve employee bonuses from BreatheHR with pagination support.

List Change Requests

Tool to list change requests from BreatheHR.

List Company Documents

Tool to retrieve a paginated list of company documents from BreatheHR.

List Company Projects

Tool to list company projects from BreatheHR.

List Company Training Types

Tool to list company training types.

List Department Absences

Tool to list absences for a specific department.

List Department Benefits

Tool to list all employee benefits for a specific department.

List Department Bonuses

Tool to list bonuses for a specific department.

List Department Leave Requests

Tool to list leave requests for a specific department.

List Departments

Tool to list all company departments from BreatheHR.

List Department Salaries

Tool to list salaries for a specific department.

List Divisions

Tool to retrieve all company divisions.

List Employee Absences

Tool to list absences for a specific employee from BreatheHR.

List Employee Benefits

Tool to list benefits for an employee.

List Employee Bonuses

Tool to list bonuses for a specific employee.

List Employee Change Requests

Tool to list change requests for a specific employee.

List Employee Expense Claims

Tool to list employee expense claims from BreatheHR.

List Employee Expenses

Tool to list employee expenses from BreatheHR.

List Employee Holiday Years

Tool to get holiday years for an employee.

List Employee Jobs

Tool to list employee jobs with optional employee filtering.

List Employee Leave Requests

Tool to list leave requests for a specific employee.

List Employees

Tool to list all employees in the BreatheHR account with pagination support.

List Employee Salaries

Tool to list salaries for a specific employee.

List Employee Training Courses

Tool to list employee training courses with optional filtering by employee and pagination support.

List Holiday Allowances

Tool to list holiday allowances configured for the company.

List Leave Requests

Tool to list all leave requests with optional date and employee/department filtering.

List Locations

Tool to list all company locations from BreatheHR.

List Other Leave Reasons

Tool to list other leave reasons configured for the company in BreatheHR.

List Salaries

Tool to list employee salaries with pagination support.

List Sicknesses

Tool to list all sickness records from BreatheHR with optional date filtering.

List Working Patterns

Tool to list all working patterns defined in the BreatheHR account with pagination support.

Reject Leave Request

Tool to reject a leave request in BreatheHR.

Update Employee Expense Claim

Tool to approve or reject an employee expense claim.

Update employee training course

Tool to update an existing employee training course record in BreatheHR.

Update Sickness

Tool to update an existing sickness record in BreatheHR.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Breathe HR MCP Agent with another framework

Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Use Breathe HR MCP with Claude Code

Claude Cowork logo

Claude Cowork

Use Breathe HR MCP with Claude Cowork

OpenAI Agents SDK logo

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Breathe HR MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Grok Bot logo

Grok Bot

Use Breathe HR MCP with Grok Bot

Codex logo

Codex

Use Breathe HR MCP with Codex

OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

Use Breathe HR MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes logo

Hermes

Use Breathe HR MCP with Hermes

Atomic Agent logo

Atomic Agent

Use Breathe HR MCP with Atomic Agent

Google ADK logo

Google ADK

Use Breathe HR MCP with Google ADK

LangChain logo

LangChain

Use Breathe HR MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

Use Breathe HR MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI logo

Mastra AI

Use Breathe HR MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Breathe HR MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI logo

CrewAI

Use Breathe HR MCP with CrewAI

Pydantic AI logo

Pydantic AI

Use Breathe HR MCP with Pydantic AI

AutoGen logo

AutoGen

Use Breathe HR MCP with AutoGen

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. Claude Agent 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 Breathe HR tools.

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Breathe HR 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 Breathe HR data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

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