How to integrate Sendbird MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

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Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Sendbird to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Sendbird agent that can add users to a group chat channel, ban a disruptive user from group chat, get unread message count for a user, create a new group channel with members through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your OpenAI Agents SDK agent real control over a Sendbird account through Composio's Sendbird 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 necessary dependencies
  • Initialize Composio and create a Tool Router session for Sendbird
  • Configure an AI agent that can use Sendbird as a tool
  • Run a live chat session where you can ask the agent to perform Sendbird operations

What is open-ai-agents-sdk?

The OpenAI Agents SDK is a lightweight framework for building AI agents that can use tools and maintain conversation state. It provides a simple interface for creating agents with hosted MCP tool support.

Key features include:

  • Hosted MCP Tools: Connect to external services through hosted MCP endpoints
  • SQLite Sessions: Persist conversation history across interactions
  • Simple API: Clean interface with Agent, Runner, and tool configuration
  • Streaming Support: Real-time response streaming for interactive applications

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

The Sendbird MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Sendbird account. It provides structured and secure access to your in-app chat, voice, and video features, so your agent can perform actions like creating group channels, managing users, moderating conversations, and tracking unread message counts on your behalf.

  • Group channel management: Let your agent create new group channels, add or ban members, and delete channels as needed to keep conversations organized and secure.
  • User account administration: Automatically register new users or remove users from your Sendbird application, simplifying user lifecycle management.
  • Message moderation and cleanup: Empower your agent to delete specific messages—helping enforce community guidelines and remove unwanted content instantly.
  • Unread count and status tracking: Retrieve up-to-date counts of unread messages, mentions, and channel invitations for any user to surface important conversations.
  • Channel preference insights: Access and update user count preferences in group channels, tailoring notification and message delivery based on user needs.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Add Members To Group ChannelTool to add members to a group channel.
Ban User from Group ChannelTool to ban a user from a group channel.
Create Group ChannelTool to create a new group channel.
Create Sendbird UserTool to create a new user.
Delete Group ChannelTool to delete a specific group channel.
Delete MessageTool to delete a specific message in a sendbird group channel.
Delete Sendbird UserTool to delete a sendbird user.
Get Count Preference Of ChannelTool to retrieve a user's count preference for a specific group channel.
Sendbird Get Group Channel Count by Join StatusTool to retrieve number of group channels by join status for a user.
Sendbird Get Unread Item CountTool to retrieve a user's unread item counts.
Issue Session TokenTool to issue a session token for a user.
Leave Group ChannelsTool to leave group channels for a user.
List Banned MembersTool to list banned members in a group channel.
List Group ChannelsTool to list group channels.
List Group Channel MembersTool to list members of a group channel.
List Operators by Custom Channel TypeTool to list operators of a channel by custom channel type.
List Group Channel OperatorsTool to list operators of a group channel.
List Open Channel OperatorsTool to list operators of an open channel.
List UsersTool to retrieve a list of users.
Mark All User Messages As ReadTool to mark all of a user's messages as read in group channels.
Mute UserTool to mute a user in a group channel.
Register Operators by Custom Channel TypeTool to register users as operators to channels by custom channel type.
Register Group Channel OperatorsTool to register one or more users as operators in a sendbird group channel.
Register Operators to Open ChannelTool to register operators to an open channel.
Revoke All Session TokensTool to revoke all session tokens for a user.
Sendbird View MessageTool to view a specific message in a group channel.
Sendbird View UserTool to view user information.
Send MessageTool to send a message to a group channel.
Unban User from Group ChannelTool to unban a user from a group channel.
Unmute UserTool to unmute a user in a group channel.
Unregister Operators Custom Channel TypeTool to unregister operators from channels by custom channel type.
Update Count Preference Of ChannelTool to update a user's unread count preference for a specific group channel.
Update Group ChannelTool to update group channel information.
Sendbird Update MessageTool to update an existing group channel message in sendbird.
Update Sendbird UserTool to update a user's information.
Sendbird View Group ChannelTool to view information about a specific group channel.
View UserTool to retrieve information about a specific sendbird user.

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 OpenAI API Key
  • Primary know-how of OpenAI Agents SDK
  • A live Sendbird project
  • Some knowledge of Python or Typescript

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

Install dependencies

pip install composio_openai_agents openai-agents python-dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the OpenAI Agents SDK.

Set up environment variables

bash
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...your-api-key
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-api-key
USER_ID=composio_user@gmail.com

Create a .env file and add your OpenAI and Composio API keys.

Import dependencies

import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

from composio import Composio
from composio_openai_agents import OpenAIAgentsProvider
from agents import Agent, Runner, HostedMCPTool, SQLiteSession
What's happening:
  • You're importing all necessary libraries.
  • The Composio and OpenAIAgentsProvider classes are imported to connect your OpenAI agent to Composio tools like Sendbird.

Set up the Composio instance

load_dotenv()

api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")

if not api_key:
    raise RuntimeError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key")

# Initialize Composio
composio = Composio(api_key=api_key, provider=OpenAIAgentsProvider())
What's happening:
  • load_dotenv() loads your .env file so OPENAI_API_KEY and COMPOSIO_API_KEY are available as environment variables.
  • Creating a Composio instance using the API Key and OpenAIAgentsProvider class.

Create a Tool Router session

# Create a Sendbird Tool Router session
session = composio.create(
    user_id=user_id,
    toolkits=["sendbird"]
)

mcp_url = session.mcp.url

What is happening:

  • You give the Tool Router the user id and the toolkits you want available. Here, it is only sendbird.
  • The router checks the user's Sendbird connection and prepares the MCP endpoint.
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that your agent will use to access Sendbird.
  • This approach keeps things lightweight and lets the agent request Sendbird tools only when needed during the conversation.

Configure the agent

# Configure agent with MCP tool
agent = Agent(
    name="Assistant",
    model="gpt-5",
    instructions=(
        "You are a helpful assistant that can access Sendbird. "
        "Help users perform Sendbird operations through natural language."
    ),
    tools=[
        HostedMCPTool(
            tool_config={
                "type": "mcp",
                "server_label": "tool_router",
                "server_url": mcp_url,
                "headers": {"x-api-key": api_key},
                "require_approval": "never",
            }
        )
    ],
)
What's happening:
  • We're creating an Agent instance with a name, model (gpt-5), and clear instructions about its purpose.
  • The agent's instructions tell it that it can access Sendbird and help with queries, inserts, updates, authentication, and fetching database information.
  • The tools array includes a HostedMCPTool that connects to the MCP server URL we created earlier.
  • The headers dict includes the Composio API key for secure authentication with the MCP server.
  • require_approval: 'never' means the agent can execute Sendbird operations without asking for permission each time, making interactions smoother.

Start chat loop and handle conversation

print("\nComposio Tool Router session created.")

chat_session = SQLiteSession("conversation_openai_toolrouter")

print("\nChat started. Type your requests below.")
print("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n")

async def main():
    try:
        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            "What can you help me with?",
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}\n")

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

        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            user_input,
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")

asyncio.run(main())
What's happening:
  • The program prints a session URL that you visit to authorize Sendbird.
  • After authorization, the chat begins.
  • Each message you type is processed by the agent using Runner.run().
  • The responses are printed to the console, and conversations are saved locally using SQLite.
  • Typing exit, quit, or q cleanly ends the chat.

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Sendbird and open-ai-agents-sdk:

import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

from composio import Composio
from composio_openai_agents import OpenAIAgentsProvider
from agents import Agent, Runner, HostedMCPTool, SQLiteSession

load_dotenv()

api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")

if not api_key:
    raise RuntimeError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key")

# Initialize Composio
composio = Composio(api_key=api_key, provider=OpenAIAgentsProvider())

# Create Tool Router session
session = composio.create(
    user_id=user_id,
    toolkits=["sendbird"]
)
mcp_url = session.mcp.url

# Configure agent with MCP tool
agent = Agent(
    name="Assistant",
    model="gpt-5",
    instructions=(
        "You are a helpful assistant that can access Sendbird. "
        "Help users perform Sendbird operations through natural language."
    ),
    tools=[
        HostedMCPTool(
            tool_config={
                "type": "mcp",
                "server_label": "tool_router",
                "server_url": mcp_url,
                "headers": {"x-api-key": api_key},
                "require_approval": "never",
            }
        )
    ],
)

print("\nComposio Tool Router session created.")

chat_session = SQLiteSession("conversation_openai_toolrouter")

print("\nChat started. Type your requests below.")
print("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n")

async def main():
    try:
        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            "What can you help me with?",
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}\n")

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

        result = await Runner.run(
            agent,
            user_input,
            session=chat_session
        )
        print(f"Assistant: {result.final_output}\n")

asyncio.run(main())

Conclusion

This was a starter code for integrating Sendbird MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK to build a functional AI agent that can interact with Sendbird.

Key features:

  • Hosted MCP tool integration through Composio's Tool Router
  • SQLite session persistence for conversation history
  • Simple async chat loop for interactive testing
You can extend this by adding more toolkits, implementing custom business logic, or building a web interface around the agent.

How to build Sendbird MCP Agent with another framework

FAQ

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

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

Can I use Tool Router MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK?

Yes, you can. OpenAI Agents 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 Sendbird tools.

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

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

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