How to integrate Scale ai MCP with Pydantic AI

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Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Scale ai to Pydantic AI 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 Pydantic AI 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:
  • How to set up your Composio API key and User ID
  • How to create a Composio Tool Router session for Scale ai
  • How to attach an MCP Server to a Pydantic AI agent
  • How to stream responses and maintain chat history
  • How to build a simple REPL-style chat interface to test your Scale ai workflows

What is Pydantic AI?

Pydantic AI is a Python framework for building AI agents with strong typing and validation. It leverages Pydantic's data validation capabilities to create robust, type-safe AI applications.

Key features include:

  • Type Safety: Built on Pydantic for automatic data validation
  • MCP Support: Native support for Model Context Protocol servers
  • Streaming: Built-in support for streaming responses
  • Async First: Designed for async/await patterns

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:
  • Python 3.9 or higher
  • A Composio account with an active API key
  • Basic familiarity with Python and async programming

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 pydantic-ai python-dotenv

Install the required libraries.

What's happening:

  • composio connects your agent to external SaaS tools like Scale ai
  • pydantic-ai lets you create structured AI agents with tool support
  • python-dotenv loads your environment variables securely from a .env file

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

Create a .env file in your project root.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY authenticates your agent to Composio's API
  • USER_ID associates your session with your account for secure tool access
  • OPENAI_API_KEY to access OpenAI LLMs

Import dependencies

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio
from pydantic_ai import Agent
from pydantic_ai.mcp import MCPServerStreamableHTTP

load_dotenv()
What's happening:
  • We load environment variables and import required modules
  • Composio manages connections to Scale ai
  • MCPServerStreamableHTTP connects to the Scale ai MCP server endpoint
  • Agent from Pydantic AI lets you define and run the AI assistant

Create a Tool Router Session

python
async def main():
    api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
    user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")
    if not api_key or not user_id:
        raise RuntimeError("Set COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID in your environment")

    # Create a Composio Tool Router session for Scale ai
    composio = Composio(api_key=api_key)
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=user_id,
        toolkits=["scale_ai"],
    )
    url = session.mcp.url
    if not url:
        raise ValueError("Composio session did not return an MCP URL")
What's happening:
  • We're creating a Tool Router session that gives your agent access to Scale ai tools
  • The create method takes the user ID and specifies which toolkits should be available
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP server URL that your agent will use

Initialize the Pydantic AI Agent

python
# Attach the MCP server to a Pydantic AI Agent
scale_ai_mcp = MCPServerStreamableHTTP(url, headers={"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY})
agent = Agent(
    "openai:gpt-5",
    toolsets=[scale_ai_mcp],
    instructions=(
        "You are a Scale ai assistant. Use Scale ai tools to help users "
        "with their requests. Ask clarifying questions when needed."
    ),
)
What's happening:
  • The MCP client connects to the Scale ai endpoint
  • The agent uses GPT-5 to interpret user commands and perform Scale ai operations
  • The instructions field defines the agent's role and behavior

Build the chat interface

python
# Simple REPL with message history
history = []
print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")
print("Try asking the agent to help you with Scale ai.\n")

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", flush=True)

    async with agent.run_stream(user_input, message_history=history) as stream_result:
        collected_text = ""
        async for chunk in stream_result.stream_output():
            text_piece = None
            if isinstance(chunk, str):
                text_piece = chunk
            elif hasattr(chunk, "delta") and isinstance(chunk.delta, str):
                text_piece = chunk.delta
            elif hasattr(chunk, "text"):
                text_piece = chunk.text
            if text_piece:
                collected_text += text_piece
        result = stream_result

    print(f"Agent: {collected_text}\n")
    history = result.all_messages()
What's happening:
  • The agent reads input from the terminal and streams its response
  • Scale ai API calls happen automatically under the hood
  • The model keeps conversation history to maintain context across turns

Run the application

python
if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())
What's happening:
  • The asyncio loop launches the agent and keeps it running until you exit

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Scale ai and Pydantic AI:

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio
from pydantic_ai import Agent
from pydantic_ai.mcp import MCPServerStreamableHTTP

load_dotenv()

async def main():
    api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
    user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")
    if not api_key or not user_id:
        raise RuntimeError("Set COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID in your environment")

    # Create a Composio Tool Router session for Scale ai
    composio = Composio(api_key=api_key)
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=user_id,
        toolkits=["scale_ai"],
    )
    url = session.mcp.url
    if not url:
        raise ValueError("Composio session did not return an MCP URL")

    # Attach the MCP server to a Pydantic AI Agent
    scale_ai_mcp = MCPServerStreamableHTTP(url, headers={"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY})
    agent = Agent(
        "openai:gpt-5",
        toolsets=[scale_ai_mcp],
        instructions=(
            "You are a Scale ai assistant. Use Scale ai tools to help users "
            "with their requests. Ask clarifying questions when needed."
        ),
    )

    # Simple REPL with message history
    history = []
    print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")
    print("Try asking the agent to help you with Scale ai.\n")

    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", flush=True)

        async with agent.run_stream(user_input, message_history=history) as stream_result:
            collected_text = ""
            async for chunk in stream_result.stream_output():
                text_piece = None
                if isinstance(chunk, str):
                    text_piece = chunk
                elif hasattr(chunk, "delta") and isinstance(chunk.delta, str):
                    text_piece = chunk.delta
                elif hasattr(chunk, "text"):
                    text_piece = chunk.text
                if text_piece:
                    collected_text += text_piece
            result = stream_result

        print(f"Agent: {collected_text}\n")
        history = result.all_messages()

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

Conclusion

You've built a Pydantic AI agent that can interact with Scale ai through Composio's Tool Router. With this setup, your agent can perform real Scale ai actions through natural language. You can extend this further by:
  • Adding other toolkits like Gmail, HubSpot, or Salesforce
  • Building a web-based chat interface around this agent
  • Using multiple MCP endpoints to enable cross-app workflows (for example, Gmail + Scale ai for workflow automation)
This architecture makes your AI agent "agent-native", able to securely use APIs in a unified, composable way without custom integrations.

How to build Scale ai MCP Agent with another framework

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 Pydantic AI?

Yes, you can. Pydantic AI 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.

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