How to integrate Helpwise MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

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Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Helpwise to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Helpwise agent that can add note to open conversation with client, delete outdated contact from contact list, create new team for support agents through natural language commands.

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

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

Also integrate Helpwise with

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 Helpwise
  • Configure an AI agent that can use Helpwise as a tool
  • Run a live chat session where you can ask the agent to perform Helpwise operations

What is OpenAI 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 Helpwise MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Helpwise MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Helpwise account. It provides structured and secure access to your customer communication tools, so your agent can create conversations, manage notes, upload attachments, delete messages, and organize your Helpwise workspace on your behalf.

  • Attachment management and uploads: Easily upload files as attachments to conversations and retrieve attachment metadata for streamlined file sharing.
  • Conversation note automation: Let your agent add or remove notes to specific conversations, making it easy to document context or follow up actions.
  • Mailbox and conversation cleanup: Direct your agent to delete entire conversations, mailboxes, or individual messages for efficient workspace management.
  • Contact and signature management: Seamlessly delete contacts and email signatures, keeping your Helpwise account up to date and clutter-free.
  • Webhook and team setup: Have your agent create new webhooks for event notifications or set up Helpwise teams to organize your users for better collaboration.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Create attachmentTool to upload a new attachment.
Add note to conversationTool to add a note to a conversation.
Create Helpwise TeamCreates a new team in Helpwise to group users for collaboration and assignment purposes.
Create Helpwise WebhookCreates a new webhook subscription in Helpwise to receive real-time event notifications.
Delete ContactDeletes a contact from Helpwise by its unique identifier (ID).
Delete Helpwise ConversationAttempts to delete a conversation by ID from Helpwise.
Delete MailboxTool to delete a mailbox by its unique identifier.
Delete Helpwise MessageAttempts to delete a message from Helpwise.
Delete Helpwise NoteTool to delete a note from a conversation.
Delete Email SignatureDeletes an email signature from Helpwise.
Delete TagPermanently deletes a tag from Helpwise.
Delete TeamTool to delete a team.
Delete TemplateDeletes a Helpwise email template (saved reply) by its ID.
Delete Helpwise WebhookDelete a Helpwise webhook by its ID.
Get AttachmentRetrieves a specific attachment by its unique identifier.
Get Conversation AttachmentsRetrieves attachments from messages in a specific conversation.
Get Helpwise ContactRetrieves detailed information for a specific contact by ID.
Get ConversationRetrieves complete details of a specific conversation by ID from Helpwise.
Get ConversationsTool to retrieve a list of conversations.
Get Helpwise Custom FieldRetrieves details of a specific custom field by its ID.
Get Helpwise MailboxTool to retrieve details of a specific mailbox by its ID.
Get Helpwise MailboxesTool to retrieve mailboxes.
Get Conversation NoteTool to retrieve details of a specific note.
Get Conversation NotesRetrieves all notes associated with a specific conversation.
Get Helpwise TagRetrieves detailed information about a specific tag in Helpwise.
Get Helpwise TeamRetrieves details of a specific Helpwise team by its ID.
Get Helpwise TeamsTool to retrieve Helpwise teams.
Get Helpwise WhatsApp TemplatesTool to retrieve Helpwise WhatsApp message templates.
Get Helpwise UsersTool to retrieve Helpwise users list.
Get Helpwise WebhookRetrieve detailed configuration for a specific Helpwise webhook by its ID.
Get Helpwise WebhooksTool to retrieve Helpwise webhooks.
Search Helpwise ContactsTool to search contacts by term with pagination.
Update Helpwise ContactTool to update an existing Helpwise contact.
Update MailboxUpdates an existing Helpwise mailbox.
Update Helpwise MessageTool to update an existing message.
Update Helpwise TagUpdates an existing tag's name and/or color in Helpwise.
Update Helpwise TemplateUpdates an existing Helpwise email template by modifying its name, subject, and/or HTML content.

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

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Composio API Key and OpenAI API Key
  • Primary know-how of OpenAI Agents SDK
  • A live Helpwise 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 Helpwise.

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 Helpwise Tool Router session
session = composio.create(
    user_id=user_id,
    toolkits=["helpwise"]
)

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 helpwise.
  • The router checks the user's Helpwise connection and prepares the MCP endpoint.
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that your agent will use to access Helpwise.
  • This approach keeps things lightweight and lets the agent request Helpwise 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 Helpwise. "
        "Help users perform Helpwise 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 Helpwise 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 Helpwise 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 Helpwise.
  • 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 Helpwise and OpenAI 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=["helpwise"]
)
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 Helpwise. "
        "Help users perform Helpwise 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 Helpwise MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK to build a functional AI agent that can interact with Helpwise.

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.

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FAQ

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

With a standalone Helpwise MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of Helpwise tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from Helpwise 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 Helpwise tools.

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

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

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