How to integrate Kanbanize MCP with CrewAI

This guide walks you through connecting Kanbanize to CrewAI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Kanbanize agent that can move all 'in progress' cards to 'done', create a kanban card for new feature request, list all overdue tasks in your boards through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your CrewAI agent real control over a Kanbanize account through Composio's Kanbanize MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

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Kanbanize is a project management tool for Lean and Kanban workflows. Streamline product and engineering team collaboration with visual boards and analytics.

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Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Kanbanize to CrewAI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Kanbanize agent that can move all 'in progress' cards to 'done', create a kanban card for new feature request, list all overdue tasks in your boards through natural language commands.

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

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

Also integrate Kanbanize with

OpenAI Agents SDKClaude Agent SDKClaude CodeClaude CoworkCodexOpenClawHermesCLIGoogle ADKLangChainVercel AI SDKMastra AILlamaIndex

TL;DR

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

The Kanbanize MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Kanbanize account. It provides structured and secure access so your agent can perform Kanbanize operations on your behalf.

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 Kanbanize 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 Kanbanize 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 Kanbanize MCP URL
6

Create a Composio Tool Router session for Kanbanize

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

url = session.mcp.url
What's happening:
  • You create a Kanbanize only session through Composio
  • Composio returns an MCP HTTP URL that exposes Kanbanize 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 Kanbanize 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=["kanbanize"],
)
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 Kanbanize through Composio's Tool Router. The agent can perform Kanbanize 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 Kanbanize action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Add a comment to a card

Tool to add a comment to a Kanbanize card.

Check Board Milestone

Tool to check if a milestone is available on the specified board.

Check User Is Card Watcher

Tool to check if a user is a watcher of a specific card.

Delete Board

Tool to delete a board by its ID.

Delete Card

Tool to delete a card from the Kanbanize board.

Delete Tag

Tool to delete a tag from Kanbanize.

Delete Workflow

Tool to delete a workflow for the specified board.

Get Board Block Reasons

Tool to get a list of block reasons available on a board.

Get Board Card Templates

Tool to retrieve a list of card templates available on a Kanbanize board.

Get Child Cards

Tool to retrieve a list of child cards for a specified parent card.

Get Column

Tool to get the details of a specific column from a Kanbanize board.

Get Columns

Tool to get a list of columns for a specific board in Kanbanize.

Get Custom Fields

Tool to retrieve a list of custom fields from Kanbanize with optional filtering.

Get Stickers

Tool to retrieve a list of stickers with optional filtering by sticker IDs, label, availability, and enabled status.

Get User

Tool to get the details of a specified user in Kanbanize.

Get workflow cycle time columns

Tool to retrieve workflow's cycle time columns from a Kanbanize board.

Get Workspace Data Fields

Tool to retrieve a list of data fields available on a workspace.

Remove Board Block Reason

Tool to make a block reason unavailable on a board.

Remove Child Card

Tool to remove the link between a parent card and a child card.

Set card block reason

Tool to block a Kanbanize card by setting a block reason.

Update Board Sticker

Tool to update the properties of a sticker for the specified board.

Update Data Field Workspaces

Tool to add, update, or remove a data field on one or more workspaces via batch operations.

Update Lane Default Setting

Tool to update the default value of a specific lane setting in Kanbanize.

Update Tag

Tool to update the specified tag in Kanbanize.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Kanbanize MCP Agent with another framework

OpenAI Agents SDK logo

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Kanbanize MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK logo

Claude Agent SDK

Use Kanbanize MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Use Kanbanize MCP with Claude Code

Claude Cowork logo

Claude Cowork

Use Kanbanize MCP with Claude Cowork

Codex logo

Codex

Use Kanbanize MCP with Codex

OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

Use Kanbanize MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes logo

Hermes

Use Kanbanize MCP with Hermes

CLI logo

CLI

Use Kanbanize MCP with CLI

Google ADK logo

Google ADK

Use Kanbanize MCP with Google ADK

LangChain logo

LangChain

Use Kanbanize MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

Use Kanbanize MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI logo

Mastra AI

Use Kanbanize MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Kanbanize MCP with LlamaIndex

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

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

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A lot of students tell us that the moment their connected tools start talking to each other inside Opennote feels almost magical. The agent just knows them, and it's immensely helped keep new users on the platform.

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As a solo builder, shipping fast is life or death. The only way I can outcompete incumbents is by outmanoeuvring them. Getting bogged down managing agent auth would have been a death sentence.

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Before Composio, adding tool integrations was slow and resource-intensive. Each one could take weeks of engineering time, and maintaining them meant constantly keeping up with API changes.

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