How to integrate Scale ai MCP with Claude Agent SDK

GET STARTED FOR FREE
Framework Integration Gradient
Scale ai Logo
Claude Agent SDK Logo
divider

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Scale ai to the Claude Agent SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Scale ai agent that can create image labeling task for dataset 'road-signs', list completed annotation tasks for project, fetch results of data labeling job through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your Claude Agent SDK agent real control over a Scale ai account through Composio's Scale ai 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 Claude/Anthropic and Composio API keys
  • Install the necessary dependencies
  • Initialize Composio and create a Tool Router session for Scale ai
  • Configure an AI agent that can use Scale ai as a tool
  • Run a live chat session where you can ask the agent to perform Scale ai operations

What is Claude Agent SDK?

The Claude Agent SDK is Anthropic's official framework for building AI agents powered by Claude. It provides a streamlined interface for creating agents with MCP tool support and conversation management.

Key features include:

  • Native MCP Support: Built-in support for Model Context Protocol servers
  • Permission Modes: Control tool execution permissions
  • Streaming Responses: Real-time response streaming for interactive applications
  • Context Manager: Clean async context management for sessions

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

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

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Add Studio AssignmentsTool to add project assignments to team members in Scale AI Studio.
Add Task TagsTool to add tags to an existing task.
Create BatchTool to create a new batch within a project.
Create Document Transcription TaskTool to create a document transcription task where workers transcribe and annotate information from single or multi-page documents.
Create Image Annotation TaskTool to create an image annotation task where annotators label images with vector geometric shapes (box, polygon, line, point, cuboid, ellipse).
Create Lidar Annotation TaskTool to create a lidar annotation task where annotators mark objects with 3D cuboids in 3D space.
Create LiDAR Segmentation TaskTool to create a LiDAR segmentation task where annotators assign semantic class labels to individual LiDAR points.
Create Named Entity Recognition TaskTool to create a named entity recognition task for labelers to highlight text entity mentions.
Create Segmentation Annotation TaskTool to create a segmentation task where annotators classify pixels in an image according to provided labels.
Create Text Collection TaskTool to create a textcollection task for collecting information from attachments and/or web sources.
Create Video Annotation TaskTool to create a video annotation task where annotators draw geometric shapes around specified objects across video frames.
Create Video Playback Annotation TaskTool to create a video playback annotation task where annotators draw shapes around specified objects in video files.
Delete Task TagsTool to remove specified tags from a Scale AI task.
Delete Task Unique IDTool to remove the unique identifier from a task.
Finalize BatchTool to finalize a batch so its tasks can be worked on.
Get AssetsTool to retrieve file assets with filtering capabilities by project and metadata.
Get BatchTool to retrieve the details of a batch with the specified name.
Get Batch StatusTool to retrieve the current status of a batch and task completion counts.
Get Fixless AuditsTool to retrieve fixless audits by task ID or audit ID.
Get ProjectTool to retrieve details about a specific Scale AI project using its unique identifier.
Get Quality LabelersTool to retrieve training attempts matching provided filter parameters.
Get Studio AssignmentsTool to retrieve current project assignments of all active team users in Scale AI Studio.
Get Studio BatchesTool to retrieve basic information about all pending batches in Studio.
Get TaskTool to retrieve detailed information about a specific task in Scale AI.
Get TeamsTool to retrieve basic information about all team members associated with the account.
Get Task by IDTool to retrieve detailed information about a specific task using its task ID.
Get Secure Task Response URLTool to retrieve secure authenticated task response data.
Import FileTool to import files from an external URL endpoint into Scale's system rather than uploading directly from local storage.
Invite Team MemberTool to invite users by email to team with specified role.
List BatchesTool to retrieve all batches in descending order by creation date.
List ProjectsTool to retrieve information for all projects in the Scale AI account with optional archived filtering.
List TasksTool to retrieve a paginated list of tasks in descending order by creation time.
Re-send Task CallbackTool to re-send a callback for a completed or errored task to the callback_url.
Remove Studio AssignmentsTool to unassign projects from specified team members in Scale AI Studio.
Reset Batch PrioritiesTool to restore batch priority order to default order (calibration batches first, then sorted by creation date).
Set Batch PrioritiesTool to modify batch priority order in Scale AI Studio.
Set Project OntologyTool to set ontologies on a Scale AI project.
Set Project ParametersTool to set default parameters for tasks created under a project.
Set Task MetadataTool to set key-value metadata on an existing Scale AI task.
Update Task Unique IDTool to update or assign a unique identifier to a task.
Upload FileTool to upload a local file to Scale's servers with a maximum size limit of 80 MB per file.

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

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Composio API Key and Claude/Anthropic API Key
  • Primary know-how of Claude Agents SDK
  • A Scale ai account
  • Some knowledge of Python

Getting API Keys for Claude/Anthropic and Composio

Claude/Anthropic API Key
  • Go to the Anthropic Console and create an API key. You'll need credits to use the models.
  • 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

pip install composio-anthropic claude-agent-sdk python-dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the Claude Agents SDK.

What's happening:

  • composio-anthropic provides Composio integration for Anthropic
  • claude-agent-sdk is the core agent framework
  • python-dotenv loads environment variables

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
USER_ID=your_user_id_here
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_anthropic_api_key_here

Create a .env file in your project root.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY authenticates with Composio
  • USER_ID identifies the user for session management
  • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY authenticates with Anthropic/Claude

Import dependencies

import asyncio
from claude_agent_sdk import ClaudeSDKClient, ClaudeAgentOptions
import os
from composio import Composio
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()
What's happening:
  • We're importing all necessary libraries including the Claude Agent SDK and Composio
  • The load_dotenv() function loads environment variables from your .env file
  • This setup prepares the foundation for connecting Claude with Scale ai functionality

Create a Composio instance and Tool Router session

async def chat_with_remote_mcp():
    api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
    if not api_key:
        raise RuntimeError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set")

    composio = Composio(api_key=api_key)

    # Create Tool Router session for Scale ai
    mcp_server = composio.create(
        user_id=os.getenv("USER_ID"),
        toolkits=["scale_ai"]
    )

    url = mcp_server.mcp.url

    if not url:
        raise ValueError("Session URL not found")
What's happening:
  • The function checks for the required COMPOSIO_API_KEY environment variable
  • We're creating a Composio instance using our API key
  • The create method creates a Tool Router session for Scale ai
  • The returned url is the MCP server URL that your agent will use

Configure Claude Agent with MCP

# Configure remote MCP server for Claude
options = ClaudeAgentOptions(
    permission_mode="bypassPermissions",
    mcp_servers={
        "composio": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": url,
            "headers": {
                "x-api-key": os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
            }
        }
    },
    system_prompt="You are a helpful assistant with access to Scale ai tools via Composio.",
    max_turns=10
)
What's happening:
  • We're configuring the Claude Agent options with the MCP server URL
  • permission_mode="bypassPermissions" allows the agent to execute operations without asking for permission each time
  • The system prompt instructs the agent that it has access to Scale ai
  • max_turns=10 limits the conversation length to prevent excessive API usage

Create client and start chat loop

# Create client with context manager
async with ClaudeSDKClient(options=options) as client:
    print("\nChat started. Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")

    # Main chat loop
    while True:
        user_input = input("You: ").strip()
        if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit"}:
            print("Goodbye!")
            break

        # Send query
        await client.query(user_input)

        # Receive and print response
        print("Claude: ", end="", flush=True)
        async for message in client.receive_response():
            if hasattr(message, "content"):
                for block in message.content:
                    if hasattr(block, "text"):
                        print(block.text, end="", flush=True)
        print()
What's happening:
  • The Claude SDK client is created using the async context manager pattern
  • The agent processes each query and streams the response back in real-time
  • The chat loop continues until the user types 'exit' or 'quit'

Run the application

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(chat_with_remote_mcp())
What's happening:
  • This entry point runs the async chat_with_remote_mcp() function using asyncio.run()
  • The application will start, create the MCP connection, and begin the interactive chat session

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Scale ai and Claude Agent SDK:

import asyncio
from claude_agent_sdk import ClaudeSDKClient, ClaudeAgentOptions
import os
from composio import Composio
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

async def chat_with_remote_mcp():
    api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
    if not api_key:
        raise RuntimeError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set")

    composio = Composio(api_key=api_key)

    # Create Tool Router session for Scale ai
    mcp_server = composio.create(
        user_id=os.getenv("USER_ID"),
        toolkits=["scale_ai"]
    )

    url = mcp_server.mcp.url

    if not url:
        raise ValueError("Session URL not found")

    # Configure remote MCP server for Claude
    options = ClaudeAgentOptions(
        permission_mode="bypassPermissions",
        mcp_servers={
            "composio": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": url,
                "headers": {
                    "x-api-key": os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
                }
            }
        },
        system_prompt="You are a helpful assistant with access to Scale ai tools via Composio.",
        max_turns=10
    )

    # Create client with context manager
    async with ClaudeSDKClient(options=options) as client:
        print("\nChat started. Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")

        # Main chat loop
        while True:
            user_input = input("You: ").strip()
            if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit"}:
                print("Goodbye!")
                break

            # Send query
            await client.query(user_input)

            # Receive and print response
            print("Claude: ", end="", flush=True)
            async for message in client.receive_response():
                if hasattr(message, "content"):
                    for block in message.content:
                        if hasattr(block, "text"):
                            print(block.text, end="", flush=True)
            print()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(chat_with_remote_mcp())

Conclusion

You've successfully built a Claude Agent SDK agent that can interact with Scale ai through Composio's Tool Router.

Key features:

  • Native MCP support through Claude's agent framework
  • Streaming responses for real-time interaction
  • Permission bypass for smooth automated workflows
You can extend this by adding more toolkits, implementing custom business logic, or building a web interface around the agent.

How to build Scale ai MCP Agent with another framework

OpenAI Agents SDK

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Scale ai MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Google ADK

Google ADK

Use Scale ai MCP with Google ADK

LangChain

LangChain

Use Scale ai MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK

Vercel AI SDK

Use Scale ai MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI

Mastra AI

Use Scale ai MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex

LlamaIndex

Use Scale ai MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI

CrewAI

Use Scale ai MCP with CrewAI

Claude Code

Claude Code

Use Scale ai MCP with Claude Code

Codex

Codex

Use Scale ai MCP with Codex

FAQ

What are the differences in Tool Router MCP and Scale ai MCP?

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

Can I use Tool Router MCP with Claude Agent SDK?

Yes, you can. Claude Agent 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 Scale ai tools.

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

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

Used by agents from

Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai
Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai
Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai

Never worry about agent reliability

We handle tool reliability, observability, and security so you never have to second-guess an agent action.

Book a call↗Get started for free