How to integrate Outline MCP with Vercel AI SDK v6

Connect Vercel AI SDK v6 to Outline MCP. Summarize latest engineering design documents, create onboarding page for new hires, and more using natural language, with authentication handled for you.

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Outline is a team knowledge base and wiki for creating, organizing, and sharing documentation. It helps teams keep decisions, guides, and project knowledge easy to find.

101 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Outline to Vercel AI SDK v6 using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Outline agent that can summarize latest engineering design documents, create onboarding page for new hires, find outdated api documentation pages through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your Vercel AI SDK agent real control over a Outline account through Composio's Outline 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:
  • How to set up and configure a Vercel AI SDK agent with Outline integration
  • Using Composio's Tool Router to dynamically load and access Outline tools
  • Creating an MCP client connection using HTTP transport
  • Building an interactive CLI chat interface with conversation history management
  • Handling tool calls and results within the Vercel AI SDK framework

What is Vercel AI SDK?

The Vercel AI SDK is a TypeScript library for building AI-powered applications. It provides tools for creating agents that can use external services and maintain conversation state.

Key features include:

  • streamText: Core function for streaming responses with real-time tool support
  • MCP Client: Built-in support for Model Context Protocol via @ai-sdk/mcp
  • Step Counting: Control multi-step tool execution with stopWhen: stepCountIs()
  • OpenAI Provider: Native integration with OpenAI models

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

The Outline MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Outline account. It provides structured and secure access so your agent can perform Outline 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 step09 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:
  • Node.js and npm installed
  • A Composio account with API key
  • An OpenAI API key
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 required dependencies

bash
npm install @ai-sdk/openai @ai-sdk/mcp @composio/core ai dotenv

First, install the necessary packages for your project.

What you're installing:

  • @ai-sdk/openai: Vercel AI SDK's OpenAI provider
  • @ai-sdk/mcp: MCP client for Vercel AI SDK
  • @composio/core: Composio SDK for tool integration
  • ai: Core Vercel AI SDK
  • dotenv: Environment variable management
4

Set up environment variables

bash
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
COMPOSIO_USER_ID=your_user_id_here

Create a .env file in your project root.

What's needed:

  • OPENAI_API_KEY: Your OpenAI API key for GPT model access
  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY: Your Composio API key for tool access
  • COMPOSIO_USER_ID: A unique identifier for the user session
5

Import required modules and validate environment

typescript
import "dotenv/config";
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";
import { Composio } from "@composio/core";
import * as readline from "readline";
import { streamText, type ModelMessage, stepCountIs } from "ai";
import { createMCPClient } from "@ai-sdk/mcp";

const composioAPIKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const composioUserID = process.env.COMPOSIO_USER_ID;

if (!process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY) throw new Error("OPENAI_API_KEY is not set");
if (!composioAPIKey) throw new Error("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set");
if (!composioUserID) throw new Error("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set");

const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioAPIKey,
});
What's happening:
  • We're importing all necessary libraries including Vercel AI SDK's OpenAI provider and Composio
  • The dotenv/config import automatically loads environment variables
  • The MCP client import enables connection to Composio's tool server
6

Create Tool Router session and initialize MCP client

typescript
async function main() {
  // Create a tool router session for the user
  const session = await composio.create(composioUserID!, {
    toolkits: ["outline"],
  });

  const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;
What's happening:
  • We're creating a Tool Router session that gives your agent access to Outline tools
  • The create method takes the user ID and specifies which toolkits should be available
  • The returned mcp object contains the URL and authentication headers needed to connect to the MCP server
  • This session provides access to all Outline-related tools through the MCP protocol
7

Connect to MCP server and retrieve tools

typescript
const mcpClient = await createMCPClient({
  transport: {
    type: "http",
    url: mcpUrl,
    headers: session.mcp.headers, // Authentication headers for the Composio MCP server
  },
});

const tools = await mcpClient.tools();
What's happening:
  • We're creating an MCP client that connects to our Composio Tool Router session via HTTP
  • The mcp.url provides the endpoint, and mcp.headers contains authentication credentials
  • The type: "http" is important - Composio requires HTTP transport
  • tools() retrieves all available Outline tools that the agent can use
8

Initialize conversation and CLI interface

typescript
let messages: ModelMessage[] = [];

console.log("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n");
console.log(
  "Ask any questions related to outline, like summarize my last 5 emails, send an email, etc... :)))\n",
);

const rl = readline.createInterface({
  input: process.stdin,
  output: process.stdout,
  prompt: "> ",
});

rl.prompt();
What's happening:
  • We initialize an empty messages array to maintain conversation history
  • A readline interface is created to accept user input from the command line
  • Instructions are displayed to guide the user on how to interact with the agent
9

Handle user input and stream responses with real-time tool feedback

typescript
rl.on("line", async (userInput: string) => {
  const trimmedInput = userInput.trim();

  if (["exit", "quit", "bye"].includes(trimmedInput.toLowerCase())) {
    console.log("\nGoodbye!");
    rl.close();
    process.exit(0);
  }

  if (!trimmedInput) {
    rl.prompt();
    return;
  }

  messages.push({ role: "user", content: trimmedInput });
  console.log("\nAgent is thinking...\n");

  try {
    const stream = streamText({
      model: openai("gpt-5"),
      messages,
      tools,
      toolChoice: "auto",
      stopWhen: stepCountIs(10),
      onStepFinish: (step) => {
        for (const toolCall of step.toolCalls) {
          console.log(`[Using tool: ${toolCall.toolName}]`);
          }
          if (step.toolCalls.length > 0) {
            console.log(""); // Add space after tool calls
          }
        },
      });

      for await (const chunk of stream.textStream) {
        process.stdout.write(chunk);
      }

      console.log("\n\n---\n");

      // Get final result for message history
      const response = await stream.response;
      if (response?.messages?.length) {
        messages.push(...response.messages);
      }
    } catch (error) {
      console.error("\nAn error occurred while talking to the agent:");
      console.error(error);
      console.log(
        "\nYou can try again or restart the app if it keeps happening.\n",
      );
    } finally {
      rl.prompt();
    }
  });

  rl.on("close", async () => {
    await mcpClient.close();
    console.log("\n👋 Session ended.");
    process.exit(0);
  });
}

main().catch((err) => {
  console.error("Fatal error:", err);
  process.exit(1);
});
What's happening:
  • We use streamText instead of generateText to stream responses in real-time
  • toolChoice: "auto" allows the model to decide when to use Outline tools
  • stopWhen: stepCountIs(10) allows up to 10 steps for complex multi-tool operations
  • onStepFinish callback displays which tools are being used in real-time
  • We iterate through the text stream to create a typewriter effect as the agent responds
  • The complete response is added to conversation history to maintain context
  • Errors are caught and displayed with helpful retry suggestions

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Outline and Vercel AI SDK:

typescript
import "dotenv/config";
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";
import { Composio } from "@composio/core";
import * as readline from "readline";
import { streamText, type ModelMessage, stepCountIs } from "ai";
import { createMCPClient } from "@ai-sdk/mcp";

const composioAPIKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const composioUserID = process.env.COMPOSIO_USER_ID;

if (!process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY) throw new Error("OPENAI_API_KEY is not set");
if (!composioAPIKey) throw new Error("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set");
if (!composioUserID) throw new Error("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set");

const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioAPIKey,
});

async function main() {
  // Create a tool router session for the user
  const session = await composio.create(composioUserID!, {
    toolkits: ["outline"],
  });

  const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;

  const mcpClient = await createMCPClient({
    transport: {
      type: "http",
      url: mcpUrl,
      headers: session.mcp.headers, // Authentication headers for the Composio MCP server
    },
  });

  const tools = await mcpClient.tools();

  let messages: ModelMessage[] = [];

  console.log("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n");
  console.log(
    "Ask any questions related to outline, like summarize my last 5 emails, send an email, etc... :)))\n",
  );

  const rl = readline.createInterface({
    input: process.stdin,
    output: process.stdout,
    prompt: "> ",
  });

  rl.prompt();

  rl.on("line", async (userInput: string) => {
    const trimmedInput = userInput.trim();

    if (["exit", "quit", "bye"].includes(trimmedInput.toLowerCase())) {
      console.log("\nGoodbye!");
      rl.close();
      process.exit(0);
    }

    if (!trimmedInput) {
      rl.prompt();
      return;
    }

    messages.push({ role: "user", content: trimmedInput });
    console.log("\nAgent is thinking...\n");

    try {
      const stream = streamText({
        model: openai("gpt-5"),
        messages,
        tools,
        toolChoice: "auto",
        stopWhen: stepCountIs(10),
        onStepFinish: (step) => {
          for (const toolCall of step.toolCalls) {
            console.log(`[Using tool: ${toolCall.toolName}]`);
          }
          if (step.toolCalls.length > 0) {
            console.log(""); // Add space after tool calls
          }
        },
      });

      for await (const chunk of stream.textStream) {
        process.stdout.write(chunk);
      }

      console.log("\n\n---\n");

      // Get final result for message history
      const response = await stream.response;
      if (response?.messages?.length) {
        messages.push(...response.messages);
      }
    } catch (error) {
      console.error("\nAn error occurred while talking to the agent:");
      console.error(error);
      console.log(
        "\nYou can try again or restart the app if it keeps happening.\n",
      );
    } finally {
      rl.prompt();
    }
  });

  rl.on("close", async () => {
    await mcpClient.close();
    console.log("\n👋 Session ended.");
    process.exit(0);
  });
}

main().catch((err) => {
  console.error("Fatal error:", err);
  process.exit(1);
});

Conclusion

You've successfully built a Outline agent using the Vercel AI SDK with streaming capabilities! This implementation provides a powerful foundation for building AI applications with natural language interfaces and real-time feedback.

Key features of this implementation:

  • Real-time streaming responses for a better user experience with typewriter effect
  • Live tool execution feedback showing which tools are being used as the agent works
  • Dynamic tool loading through Composio's Tool Router with secure authentication
  • Multi-step tool execution with configurable step limits (up to 10 steps)
  • Comprehensive error handling for robust agent execution
  • Conversation history maintenance for context-aware responses

You can extend this further by adding custom error handling, implementing specific business logic, or integrating additional Composio toolkits to create multi-app workflows.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Activate User

Tool to activate a previously suspended user in Outline.

Add Group to Collection

Tool to add a group to a collection in Outline.

Add Document User

Tool to add a user membership to a document.

Add Group to Document

Tool to give all members in a group access to a document.

Add User to Group

Tool to add a user to a group.

Add User to Collection

Tool to add a user to a collection with specified permissions.

Archive Document

Tool to archive a document in Outline.

Create Attachment

Tool to create an attachment in Outline.

Create Collection

Tool to create a new collection in Outline.

Create Comment

Tool to create a comment on an Outline document.

Create Document

Tool to create a new document in Outline.

Create Group

Tool to create a new group in Outline.

Create OAuth Client

Tool to create a new OAuth client in Outline.

Create Share

Tool to create a public share link for an Outline document.

Create Star

Tool to create a star for a document or collection in Outline.

Create Template

Tool to create a new template in Outline.

Create View

Tool to create a view for a document.

Delete Attachment

Tool to delete an attachment from Outline.

Delete Collection

Tool to delete a collection and all of its documents from Outline.

Delete Comment

Tool to delete a comment in Outline.

Delete Document

Tool to delete a document in Outline.

Delete File Operation

Tool to delete a file operation and its associated files from Outline.

Delete Group

Tool to delete a group from Outline.

Delete OAuth Authentication

Tool to delete an OAuth authentication in Outline.

Delete OAuth Client

Tool to delete an OAuth client from Outline.

Delete Star

Tool to delete a star from a document in Outline.

Delete Template

Tool to delete a template in Outline.

Delete User

Tool to delete a user in Outline.

Duplicate Document

Tool to duplicate an Outline document.

Duplicate Template

Tool to duplicate an Outline template.

Empty Documents Trash

Tool to permanently delete all documents in the trash.

Export All Collections

Tool to export all collections and their documents in bulk.

Export Collection

Tool to export a collection in markdown, JSON, or HTML format.

Export Document

Tool to export a document from Outline in Markdown, HTML, or PDF format.

Get Attachment Redirect URL

Tool to retrieve an attachment redirect URL from Outline.

Get authentication config

Tool to retrieve authentication configuration options for an Outline workspace.

Get Collection Info

Tool to retrieve a collection by its unique identifier.

Get Collection Documents

Tool to retrieve a collection's document structure as a tree of navigation nodes.

Get Comment

Tool to retrieve a comment by its ID from Outline.

Get Document Info

Tool to retrieve a document from Outline by its UUID, urlId, or shareId.

Get Document Children Structure

Tool to retrieve a document's child structure.

Get File Operation Info

Tool to retrieve the details and current status of a file operation by its unique identifier.

Get Group Info

Tool to retrieve a group by its unique identifier.

Get OAuth Client Info

Tool to retrieve an OAuth client from Outline by its id or clientId.

Get Revision Info

Tool to retrieve a revision by its ID from Outline.

Get Share Info

Tool to retrieve a share object by its unique identifier or by the associated document ID.

Get Template Info

Tool to retrieve a template by its unique identifier.

Get User Info

Tool to retrieve a user by their unique identifier.

Invite Users

Tool to invite users to the Outline workspace.

List Archived Documents

List all archived documents in the Outline workspace.

List Collection Group Memberships

Tool to list all group memberships for a specific collection in Outline.

List collection memberships

Tool to list all individual user memberships for a collection.

List Collections

Tool to list all collections that the authenticated user has access to.

List Comments

Tool to retrieve all comments with optional filtering by document or collection.

List Data Attributes

Tool to list all data attributes in Outline.

List Deleted Documents

Tool to list all deleted documents in the workspace that the current user has access to.

List Document Group Memberships

Tool to list a document's group memberships.

List document memberships

Tool to list users with direct membership to a document.

List Documents

Tool to list all documents in your Outline workspace.

List Document Users

Tool to list all users with access to a document.

List Draft Documents

Tool to list all draft documents belonging to the current user.

List Events

Tool to list all events from the audit trail.

List File Operations

Tool to list all file operations for the workspace.

List Group Memberships

Tool to list all members of a specific group in Outline.

List Groups

Tool to list all groups in the workspace.

List OAuth Authentications

Tool to list all OAuth authentications for the current user.

List OAuth Clients

Tool to list all OAuth clients accessible to the authenticated user.

List Recently Viewed Documents

Tool to list all recently viewed documents by the current user.

List Revisions

Tool to list all revisions for a specific document.

List Shares

Tool to list all share links in the workspace.

List Stars

Tool to list all starred documents and collections for the authenticated user.

List Templates

Tool to list all templates available to the current user.

List Users

Tool to list all users in the workspace.

List Views

Tool to list all users that have viewed a specific document and the overall view count.

Move Document

Tool to move a document to a new location or collection in Outline.

Redirect File Operation

Tool to retrieve a file from Outline by file operation ID.

Remove Collection Group

Tool to remove a group from a collection, revoking access for all group members.

Remove Collection User

Tool to remove a user from a collection.

Remove Document User

Tool to remove a user membership from a document.

Remove Group from Document

Tool to remove a group from a document, revoking access for all group members.

Remove Group User

Tool to remove a user from a group.

Restore Document

Tool to restore a document in Outline.

Restore Template

Tool to restore a previously deleted template in Outline.

Retrieve Auth Info

Tool to retrieve authentication details for the current API key.

Revoke Share

Tool to revoke a share in Outline, making the share link inactive so it can no longer be used to access the document.

Rotate OAuth Client Secret

Tool to rotate the secret for an OAuth client in Outline.

Search Documents

Tool to search all documents in your Outline workspace using keywords.

Search Document Titles

Tool to search document titles in Outline workspace using keywords.

Suspend User

Tool to suspend a user in Outline.

Create Template from Document

Tool to create a template from an existing Outline document.

Unpublish Document

Tool to unpublish a document in Outline.

Update Collection

Tool to update an existing collection's properties in Outline.

Update Comment

Tool to update a comment in Outline.

Update Document

Tool to update a document in Outline.

Update Group

Tool to update an existing group's name in Outline.

Update OAuth Client

Tool to update an existing OAuth client in Outline.

Update Share

Tool to update a share in Outline.

Update Star

Tool to update a star's position in the Outline sidebar.

Update Template

Tool to update an existing template in Outline.

Update User

Tool to update a user's name, avatar, or language preference in Outline.

Update User Role

Tool to change a user's role in Outline workspace.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. Vercel AI SDK v6 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 Outline tools.

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

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