How to integrate Freeagent MCP with CrewAI

Connect CrewAI to Freeagent MCP. List overdue invoices for this month, create a new expense for office supplies, and more using natural language, with authentication handled for you.

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Freeagent is a cloud-based accounting platform designed for freelancers and small businesses. It simplifies bookkeeping, invoicing, and expense management in one place.

76 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Freeagent to CrewAI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Freeagent agent that can list overdue invoices for this month, create a new expense for office supplies, summarize all unassigned transactions through natural language commands.

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

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

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TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get a Composio API key and configure your Freeagent connection
  • Set up CrewAI with an MCP enabled agent
  • Create a Tool Router session or standalone MCP server for Freeagent
  • Build a conversational loop where your agent can execute Freeagent operations

What is CrewAI?

CrewAI is a powerful framework for building multi-agent AI systems. It provides primitives for defining agents with specific roles, creating tasks, and orchestrating workflows through crews.

Key features include:

  • Agent Roles: Define specialized agents with specific goals and backstories
  • Task Management: Create tasks with clear descriptions and expected outputs
  • Crew Orchestration: Combine agents and tasks into collaborative workflows
  • MCP Integration: Connect to external tools through Model Context Protocol

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

The Freeagent MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Freeagent account. It provides structured and secure access to your accounting records, so your agent can create invoices, record timeslips, review expenses, monitor cash flow, and track tax deadlines on your behalf.

  • Invoices, estimates, and credit notes: Have your agent create invoices, estimates, and credit notes, convert estimates into invoices, or convert eligible invoices into credit notes.
  • Financial reporting: Let the agent retrieve cash flow, profit and loss, trial balance, balance sheet, opening balance, and accounting transaction details for your business.
  • Expenses, bills, and banking: Direct your agent to list or update expenses, create bills with attachments, review bills and bank transactions, or create and list bank accounts.
  • Contacts, projects, and time tracking: Instruct your agent to create contacts and projects, review existing records, and add timeslips for completed work.
  • Tax and VAT planning: Have your agent list VAT returns and check your company tax timeline for upcoming events and deadlines.

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

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Python 3.9 or higher
  • A Composio account and API key
  • A Freeagent connection authorized in Composio
  • An OpenAI API key for the CrewAI LLM
  • Basic familiarity with Python
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 crewai crewai-tools[mcp] python-dotenv
What's happening:
  • composio connects your agent to Freeagent via MCP
  • crewai provides Agent, Task, Crew, and LLM primitives
  • crewai-tools[mcp] includes MCP helpers
  • python-dotenv loads environment variables from .env
4

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
USER_ID=your_user_id_here
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here

Create a .env file in your project root.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY authenticates with Composio
  • USER_ID scopes the session to your account
  • OPENAI_API_KEY lets CrewAI use your chosen OpenAI model
5

Import dependencies

python
import os
from composio import Composio
from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew
from crewai_tools import MCPServerAdapter
import dotenv

dotenv.load_dotenv()

COMPOSIO_API_KEY = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_USER_ID = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_USER_ID")

if not COMPOSIO_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set")
if not COMPOSIO_USER_ID:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set")
What's happening:
  • CrewAI classes define agents and tasks, and run the workflow
  • MCPServerHTTP connects the agent to an MCP endpoint
  • Composio will give you a short lived Freeagent MCP URL
6

Create a Composio Tool Router session for Freeagent

python
composio_client = Composio(api_key=COMPOSIO_API_KEY)
session = composio_client.create(user_id=COMPOSIO_USER_ID, toolkits=["freeagent"])

url = session.mcp.url
What's happening:
  • You create a Freeagent only session through Composio
  • Composio returns an MCP HTTP URL that exposes Freeagent tools
7

Initialize the MCP Server

python
server_params = {
    "url": url,
    "transport": "streamable-http",
    "headers": {"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY},
}

with MCPServerAdapter(server_params) as tools:
    agent = Agent(
        role="Search Assistant",
        goal="Help users search the internet effectively",
        backstory="You are a helpful assistant with access to search tools.",
        tools=tools,
        verbose=False,
        max_iter=10,
    )
What's Happening:
  • Server Configuration: The code sets up connection parameters including the MCP server URL, streamable HTTP transport, and Composio API key authentication.
  • MCP Adapter Bridge: MCPServerAdapter acts as a context manager that converts Composio MCP tools into a CrewAI-compatible format.
  • Agent Setup: Creates a CrewAI Agent with a defined role (Search Assistant), goal (help with internet searches), and access to the MCP tools.
  • Configuration Options: The agent includes settings like verbose=False for clean output and max_iter=10 to prevent infinite loops.
  • Dynamic Tool Usage: Once created, the agent automatically accesses all Composio Search tools and decides when to use them based on user queries.
8

Create a CLI Chatloop and define the Crew

python
print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")

conversation_context = ""

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

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

    if not user_input:
        continue

    conversation_context += f"\nUser: {user_input}\n"
    print("\nAgent is thinking...\n")

    task = Task(
        description=(
            f"Conversation history:\n{conversation_context}\n\n"
            f"Current request: {user_input}"
        ),
        expected_output="A helpful response addressing the user's request",
        agent=agent,
    )

    crew = Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task], verbose=False)
    result = crew.kickoff()
    response = str(result)

    conversation_context += f"Agent: {response}\n"
    print(f"Agent: {response}\n")
What's Happening:
  • Interactive CLI Setup: The code creates an infinite loop that continuously prompts for user input and maintains the entire conversation history in a string variable.
  • Input Validation: Empty inputs are ignored to prevent processing blank messages and keep the conversation clean.
  • Context Building: Each user message is appended to the conversation context, which preserves the full dialogue history for better agent responses.
  • Dynamic Task Creation: For every user input, a new Task is created that includes both the full conversation history and the current request as context.
  • Crew Execution: A Crew is instantiated with the agent and task, then kicked off to process the request and generate a response.
  • Response Management: The agent's response is converted to a string, added to the conversation context, and displayed to the user, maintaining conversational continuity.

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Freeagent and CrewAI:

python
from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew, LLM
from crewai_tools import MCPServerAdapter
from composio import Composio
from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os

load_dotenv()

GOOGLE_API_KEY = os.getenv("GOOGLE_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_API_KEY = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_USER_ID = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_USER_ID")

if not GOOGLE_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("GOOGLE_API_KEY is not set in the environment.")
if not COMPOSIO_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set in the environment.")
if not COMPOSIO_USER_ID:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set in the environment.")

# Initialize Composio and create a session
composio = Composio(api_key=COMPOSIO_API_KEY)
session = composio.create(
    user_id=COMPOSIO_USER_ID,
    toolkits=["freeagent"],
)
url = session.mcp.url

# Configure LLM
llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-5",
    api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
)

server_params = {
    "url": url,
    "transport": "streamable-http",
    "headers": {"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY},
}

with MCPServerAdapter(server_params) as tools:
    agent = Agent(
        role="Search Assistant",
        goal="Help users with internet searches",
        backstory="You are an expert assistant with access to Composio Search tools.",
        tools=tools,
        llm=llm,
        verbose=False,
        max_iter=10,
    )

    print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")

    conversation_context = ""

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

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

        if not user_input:
            continue

        conversation_context += f"\nUser: {user_input}\n"
        print("\nAgent is thinking...\n")

        task = Task(
            description=(
                f"Conversation history:\n{conversation_context}\n\n"
                f"Current request: {user_input}"
            ),
            expected_output="A helpful response addressing the user's request",
            agent=agent,
        )

        crew = Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task], verbose=False)
        result = crew.kickoff()
        response = str(result)

        conversation_context += f"Agent: {response}\n"
        print(f"Agent: {response}\n")

Conclusion

You now have a CrewAI agent connected to Freeagent through Composio's Tool Router. The agent can perform Freeagent operations through natural language commands.

Next steps:

  • Add role-specific instructions to customize agent behavior
  • Plug in more toolkits for multi-app workflows
  • Chain tasks for complex multi-step operations
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Cashflow summary for a date range

Tool to retrieve cashflow summary for a given date range from FreeAgent.

Get Company Details

Tool to retrieve company details from FreeAgent.

Create a Journal Set

Tool to create a journal set in FreeAgent.

Create Sales Tax Period

Tool to create a sales tax period in FreeAgent.

Create Task Under Project

Tool to create a task under a specific project in FreeAgent.

Create A Timeslip

Tool to create a new timeslip in FreeAgent.

Create a User

Tool to create a new user in FreeAgent.

Create Bank Account

Tool to create a bank account in FreeAgent.

Create Bill with Attachment

Tool to create a bill with optional attachment in FreeAgent.

Create Category

Tool to create a custom category in FreeAgent.

Create Contact

Tool to create a new contact in FreeAgent.

Create Credit Note

Tool to create a credit note in FreeAgent.

Create Credit Note Reconciliation

Tool to create a credit note reconciliation in FreeAgent.

Create Estimate

Tool to create a new estimate in FreeAgent.

Create Estimate Item

Tool to create an estimate item in FreeAgent.

Duplicate Estimate

Tool to duplicate an existing estimate in FreeAgent.

Send Estimate Email

Tool to email an estimate in FreeAgent.

Create Invoice

Tool to create an invoice in FreeAgent.

Create Invoice Item

Tool to create an invoice item in FreeAgent.

Duplicate Invoice

Tool to duplicate an existing invoice in FreeAgent.

Create Note

Tool to create a note for a contact or project in FreeAgent.

Create Price List Item

Tool to create a price list item in FreeAgent.

Create Project

Tool to create a project in FreeAgent.

Delete Bank Transaction Explanation

Tool to delete a bank transaction explanation in FreeAgent.

Delete Estimates Default Additional Text

Tool to delete default additional text for estimates in FreeAgent.

Delete Note

Tool to delete a note by its ID.

Get Invoice Timeline

Tool to retrieve invoice timeline showing chronological record of invoice-related events.

Get Mileage Settings

Tool to retrieve mileage settings including engine type/size options and reimbursement rates.

Get Opening Balances

Tool to retrieve the Opening Balances journal set for a company.

Get Personal Profile

Tool to retrieve the authenticated user's personal profile from FreeAgent.

Get the Opening Balances

Tool to retrieve the opening balances from the trial balance summary.

Get the P&L summary

Tool to retrieve the Profit and Loss summary for a specified period from FreeAgent.

Get Trial Balance Summary

Tool to get the trial balance summary from FreeAgent.

Get Balance Sheet

Tool to retrieve the balance sheet for a FreeAgent account.

Get Opening Balances

Tool to retrieve opening balances for the balance sheet from FreeAgent.

List Accounting Transactions

Tool to list all accounting transactions from FreeAgent.

List All CIS Bands

Tool to list all CIS (Construction Industry Scheme) bands for a company.

List All Expenses

Tool to list all expenses from FreeAgent.

List All Price List Items

Tool to list all price list items from FreeAgent.

List All Properties

Tool to list all properties in FreeAgent.

List All Recurring Invoices

Tool to retrieve a list of recurring invoices from FreeAgent.

List All Sales Tax Periods

Tool to list all sales tax periods for a company in FreeAgent.

List All Stock Items

Tool to list all stock items from FreeAgent.

List All Tasks

Tool to list all tasks in FreeAgent.

List All Timeslips

Tool to list all timeslips from FreeAgent.

List All Users

Tool to list users in FreeAgent.

List Bank Accounts

Tool to list bank accounts in FreeAgent.

List Bank Feeds

Tool to list all bank feeds for a company.

List Bank Transactions

Tool to list all bank transactions under a certain bank account in FreeAgent.

List Bills

Tool to retrieve a list of bills from FreeAgent.

List Business Categories

Tool to retrieve all available business categories from FreeAgent.

List Categories

Tool to retrieve all categories for the current FreeAgent company.

List Contacts

Tool to list contacts in FreeAgent.

List Credit Note Reconciliations

Tool to retrieve all credit note reconciliations from FreeAgent.

List Credit Notes

Tool to list credit notes from FreeAgent.

List EC MOSS Sales Tax Rates

Tool to retrieve EC VAT MOSS sales tax rates for a specific EU country and date.

List Estimates

Tool to list estimates in FreeAgent.

Get Default Estimates Additional Text

Tool to retrieve the default additional text for estimates.

List Final Accounts Reports

Tool to list final accounts reports for a company in FreeAgent.

List Hire Purchases

Tool to retrieve all hire purchases for the authorized FreeAgent account.

Get Default Additional Text

Tool to get the default additional text shown on all invoices.

List Notes

Tool to retrieve a list of notes for a contact or project.

List Projects

Tool to list projects in FreeAgent.

List VAT Returns

Tool to list VAT returns for a company in FreeAgent.

Show Tax Timeline

Tool to retrieve the company's tax timeline showing upcoming tax events and deadlines.

Update Bank Transaction Explanation

Tool to update a bank transaction explanation in FreeAgent.

Update Estimates Default Additional Text

Tool to update the default additional text for estimates in FreeAgent.

Convert Estimate to Invoice

Tool to convert an estimate to an invoice in FreeAgent.

Update Expense

Tool to update an existing expense in FreeAgent.

Update Invoices Default Additional Text

Tool to update the default additional text shown on all invoices.

Convert Invoice to Credit Note

Tool to convert a draft negative invoice to a credit note in FreeAgent.

Update a Journal Set

Tool to update a journal set in FreeAgent.

Update Note

Tool to update an existing note in FreeAgent.

Update Price List Item

Tool to update a price list item in FreeAgent.

Update Personal Profile

Tool to update the authenticated user's personal profile in FreeAgent.

Upload a Bank Statement

Tool to upload a bank statement to FreeAgent.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. CrewAI 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 Freeagent tools.

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

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