How to integrate Harvest MCP with OpenClaw

OpenClaw is the fastest growing agent harness out there, which can work 24/7 to automate almost any kind of tasks. However, its capabilities are limited to the tools it has access to. Composio allows your OpenClaw to access Harvest with authentication management handled for you. You can execute actions on Harvest via your favorite OpenClaw interface (Telegram, WhatsApp, TUI, etc), whichever you prefer.

Why use Composio?

Apart from a managed and hosted MCP server, you will get:

• Programmatic tool calling allows LLMs to write its code in a remote workbench to handle complex tool chaining. Reduces to-and-fro with LLMs for frequent tool calling.
• Handling Large tool responses out of LLM context to minimize context rot.
• Dynamic just-in-time access to 20,000 tools across 850+ other Apps for cross-app workflows. It loads the tools you need, so LLMs aren't overwhelmed by tools you don't need.

How to install Harvest with OpenClaw

Using Composio API Key and Setup Prompt

• Go to dashboard.composio.dev/composio/~/connect/clients/openclaw
• Copy the setup prompt

• Run it in your OpenClaw chat interface.
• Authenticate Harvest from the dashboard
• Go back to your OpenClaw interface and start asking questions.

Using OpenClaw/Composio Plugin

1. Install OpenClaw Composio plugin

2. Copy the API Key from dashboard.composio.dev

3. Setup OpenClaw Config

openclaw config set plugins.entries.composio.config.consumerKey "ck_your_key_here"

4. Restart OpenClaw

openclaw gateway restart

5. Go to your chat interface and start asking questions.

6. When prompted, authenticate the app and you're all set.

How It Works

The plugin connects to Composio's MCP server at https://connect.composio.dev/mcp and registers all available tools directly into the OpenClaw agent. Tools are called by name — no extra search or execute steps needed.

If a tool returns an auth error, the agent will prompt you to connect that toolkit at dashboard.composio.dev.

Configuration

{
  "plugins": {
    "entries": {
      "composio": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
          "consumerKey": "ck_your_key_here"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The Harvest MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Harvest account. It provides structured and secure access to your time-tracking, invoicing, and project management data, so your agent can create clients, log expenses, send invoices, record payments, and manage estimates automatically on your behalf.

• Client and contact management: Seamlessly create new clients and add contacts to keep your client list up to date without manual entry.
• Estimate creation and communication: Automatically generate new estimates, categorize line items, and send estimate messages or updates to clients.
• Expense tracking automation: Log new expense entries against projects, ensuring accurate financial records and effortless cost tracking.
• Streamlined invoicing and payments: Create professional invoices, categorize invoice items, send invoice notifications, and record payments as soon as they happen.
• Project financial workflow optimization: Let your agent handle the full cycle—from creating clients to sending invoices and tracking payments—saving your team valuable time and reducing errors.

Conclusion

You've successfully integrated Harvest with OpenClaw using Composio plugin. Now interact with Harvest directly from your terminal, Web UI, or any messenger app using natural language commands.

Key benefits of this setup:

• Seamless integration across TUI, Web UIs, and Messenger apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, etc.
• Natural language commands for Harvest operations
• Managed authentication through Composio
• Access to 20,000+ tools across 850+ apps for cross-app workflows
• Programmatic tool calling for complex tool chaining

Next steps:

• Try asking OpenClaw to perform various Harvest operations
• Explore cross-app workflows by connecting more toolkits like Calendar, Slack, Notion, etc.
• Build complex automation scripts that leverage OpenClaw's 24/7 running capabilities