How to integrate Highergov MCP with Autogen

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Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Highergov to AutoGen using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Highergov agent that can list recent federal contract awards for it services, show all active dla contract opportunities today, retrieve grant history for a specific agency, download documents linked to a contract award through natural language commands.

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

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

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 Highergov
  • Wire that MCP URL into Autogen using McpWorkbench and StreamableHttpServerParams
  • Configure an Autogen AssistantAgent that can call Highergov tools
  • Run a live chat loop where you ask the agent to perform Highergov 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 Highergov MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Highergov MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Highergov account. It provides structured and secure access to government contracting and grant intelligence, so your agent can perform actions like searching contracts, analyzing award history, retrieving agency details, and fetching grant data on your behalf.

  • Comprehensive contract search and retrieval: Quickly have your agent look up federal contracts, filter by last modified date, or leverage saved searches to find exactly what you need.
  • Award and grant history analysis: Direct your agent to access detailed award and grant histories, making it simple to track funding trends across agencies or time periods.
  • Agency and program intelligence: Ask your agent to list and explore government agencies, defense programs, or contract vehicles to support your market research.
  • Document and opportunity extraction: Let your agent fetch associated documents or list DLA contract opportunities for deeper due diligence and competitive analysis.
  • IDV and contract vehicle tracking: Monitor Indefinite Delivery Vehicles (IDVs) and contract vehicles to better understand procurement patterns and strategic opportunities.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Get AgenciesTool to retrieve agencies information.
Get Award HistoryTool to retrieve award history.
Get Contract HistoryTool to retrieve contract history.
Get Contract IDVsTool to retrieve Indefinite Delivery Vehicle (IDV) contract records via the HigherGov Contracts endpoint.
Get ContractsTool to retrieve federal contract data.
Get Contract VehiclesTool to retrieve contract vehicles.
Get Defense ProgramsTool to retrieve defense programs information.
Get DLA Contract OpportunitiesTool to retrieve DLA contract opportunities.
Get DocumentsTool to fetch document metadata from HigherGov.
Get Grant HistoryTool to fetch historical data on grants.
Get Grant OpportunitiesTool to retrieve information on grant opportunities.
Get Grant ProgramsTool to retrieve information on grant programs.
Get NAICS CodesTool to retrieve NAICS codes.
Get OpportunitiesTool to retrieve opportunity data.
Get Opportunity HistoryTool to retrieve opportunity history.
Get PeopleTool to retrieve information on people related to government contracts and grants.
Get Prime Contract AwardsTool to retrieve prime contract awards.
Get Prime Grant AwardsTool to retrieve information on prime grant awards.
Get ProgramsTool to retrieve a list of government programs and categories.
Get Product and Service CodesTool to retrieve information on Product and Service Codes.
Get PursuitsTool to retrieve user-specific pursuits.
Get SBIR OpportunitiesTool to retrieve SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) opportunities.
Get SLED Contract OpportunitiesTool to retrieve state and local (SLED) contract opportunities.
Get Subcontract AwardsTool to retrieve subcontract awards.
Get Subgrant AwardsTool to retrieve subgrant awards information.
Get Task OrdersTool to retrieve task order data.
Get Tech ProgramsTool to retrieve information on technology programs.

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

What is Tool Router?

Composio's Tool Router 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 Tool Router

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

How the Tool Router works

The Tool Router 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

You will need:

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

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.

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 Highergov via MCP
  • autogen-agentchat provides the AssistantAgent class
  • autogen-ext-openai provides the OpenAI model client
  • autogen-ext-tools provides MCP workbench support

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 Highergov connections to use

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 Highergov session
    composio = Composio(api_key=os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY"))
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=os.getenv("USER_ID"),
        toolkits=["highergov"]
    )
    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 Highergov tools
  • session.mcp.url is the MCP endpoint that Autogen will connect to

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

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 Highergov assistant agent with MCP tools
    agent = AssistantAgent(
        name="highergov_assistant",
        description="An AI assistant that helps with Highergov 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 Highergov tools from the workbench

Run the interactive chat loop

python
print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n")
print("Ask any Highergov 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 Highergov 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 Highergov 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 Highergov session
    composio = Composio(api_key=os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY"))
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=os.getenv("USER_ID"),
        toolkits=["highergov"]
    )
    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 Highergov assistant agent with MCP tools
        agent = AssistantAgent(
            name="highergov_assistant",
            description="An AI assistant that helps with Highergov 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 Highergov 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 Highergov 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 Highergov, you can reuse the same structure for other MCP-enabled apps with minimal code changes.

How to build Highergov MCP Agent with another framework

OpenAI Agents SDK

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Highergov MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK

Claude Agent SDK

Use Highergov MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Google ADK

Google ADK

Use Highergov MCP with Google ADK

LangChain

LangChain

Use Highergov MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK

Vercel AI SDK

Use Highergov MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI

Mastra AI

Use Highergov MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex

LlamaIndex

Use Highergov MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI

CrewAI

Use Highergov MCP with CrewAI

FAQ

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

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

Can I use Tool Router MCP with Autogen?

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 Highergov tools.

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

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

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