How to integrate Studio By Ai21 Labs MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

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Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Studio By Ai21 Labs to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Studio By Ai21 Labs agent that can generate a summary of this research paper, classify sentiment of this product review, extract key topics from meeting transcript through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your OpenAI Agents SDK agent real control over a Studio By Ai21 Labs account through Composio's Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs
  • Configure an AI agent that can use Studio By Ai21 Labs as a tool
  • Run a live chat session where you can ask the agent to perform Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Studio By Ai21 Labs MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Studio By Ai21 Labs account. It provides structured and secure access so your agent can perform Studio By Ai21 Labs operations on your behalf.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Check Can IframeTool to check if a URL can be embedded in an iframe.
Compare TextTool to compare two text strings and identify differences.
Create Aftersales Parts Classification BatchTool to create a batch job for Fnac Aftersales parts classification.
Create Assistant RouteTool to create a new route for an AI21 Studio assistant.
Create AssistantTool to create a new AI assistant in AI21 Studio.
Create Assistant PlanTool to create a new plan for an AI21 Studio assistant.
Create DemoTool to create a new demo in AI21 Studio.
Generate RequirementsTool to generate requirements from a query or task description.
Generate Thread NameTool to generate a thread name from a query or conversation context.
Create Kirsh Grant Compliance PreviewTool to preview grant compliance for Kirsh grants.
Kirsh Grant Metadata PreviewTool to retrieve grant metadata from the Kirsh preview endpoint.
Create MCP StorageTool to create MCP (Model Context Protocol) storage in AI21 Studio.
Create SecretTool to save a secret in AI21 Studio.
Check Kirsh Grant ComplianceTool to check compliance for Kirsh grant IDs.
Create Website ConnectorTool to create a website connector in AI21 Studio.
Delete AssistantTool to delete an assistant by its unique ID.
Delete Assistant RouteTool to delete a route from an AI21 Studio assistant.
Delete DemoTool to delete a demo by its unique ID.
Delete MCP StorageTool to delete an MCP (Model Context Protocol) storage configuration by its unique ID.
Delete SecretTool to delete a secret by its unique ID.
Delete Website ConnectorPermanently delete a website connector by its unique identifier.
Download Modified DocumentTool to download a modified document from AI21 Labs Studio.
Get AssistantTool to retrieve an assistant by its unique identifier.
Get Assistant RouteTool to retrieve details of a specific route for an AI21 Studio assistant.
Get Assistants By MCPTool to retrieve all assistants associated with a specific MCP (Model Context Protocol) storage configuration.
Get Batch Prediction StatusTool to check the status of a Fnac Aftersales parts classification batch prediction job.
Get DemoTool to retrieve a demo by its unique ID.
Grant Kirsh MetadataTool to retrieve Kirsh grant metadata by grant ID.
Get Library Batch StatusTool to get the ingestion status of a library batch.
Get MCP StorageTool to retrieve a specific MCP (Model Context Protocol) storage configuration by its unique ID.
Get Output ExplanationTool to get output explanation for an execution (cached or generated).
Get PlanTool to retrieve a specific plan from an AI21 Studio assistant.
Get Website Connector By IDTool to retrieve details of a specific website connector by its ID.
Get Website Connector StatusTool to retrieve the status of a website connector ingestion.
Get Website Connector URL StatusTool to retrieve the status of a specific URL in the website connector.
Ingest Website ConnectorTool to ingest website content via sitemap URL in AI21 Studio.
Ingest Website Connector URLTool to ingest a website URL into AI21 Studio's website connector.
List AssistantsTool to retrieve all assistants from AI21 Studio.
List Website ConnectorsTool to retrieve website connector information from AI21 Studio.
List DemosTool to retrieve all demos from AI21 Studio.
List Library FilesTool to list files in the workspace library with optional filtering.
List MCP StorageTool to retrieve all MCP (Model Context Protocol) storage configurations from AI21 Studio.
List ModelsTool to retrieve information about all available AI21 models.
List PlansTool to list all plans for a specific assistant.
List SecretsTool to retrieve all secrets from AI21 Studio secret storage.
List Workspace ModelsTool to retrieve all workspace models by organization from AI21 Studio.
List Available ModelsTool to retrieve all available models from AI21 Studio settings.
Modify AssistantTool to modify an existing AI21 Studio assistant.
Modify Assistant RouteTool to modify an existing route within an assistant.
Modify Assistant PlanTool to modify an existing assistant plan in AI21 Studio.
Retry Ingest WebsiteTool to retry ingestion of a website in AI21 Studio.
Run AssistantTool to run an AI21 Studio assistant with conversational input.
Sync Website ConnectorTool to sync a website connector in AI21 Studio.
Update DemoTool to update an existing demo in Studio by AI21 Labs.
Update MCP StorageTool to update an existing MCP (Model Context Protocol) storage configuration in AI21 Studio.
Update SecretTool to update an existing secret in AI21 Studio.
Validate PlanTool to validate Python code for an AI21 Studio assistant plan.

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 Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs.

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 Studio By Ai21 Labs Tool Router session
session = composio.create(
    user_id=user_id,
    toolkits=["studio_by_ai21_labs"]
)

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 studio_by_ai21_labs.
  • The router checks the user's Studio By Ai21 Labs connection and prepares the MCP endpoint.
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that your agent will use to access Studio By Ai21 Labs.
  • This approach keeps things lightweight and lets the agent request Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs. "
        "Help users perform Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs.
  • 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs 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=["studio_by_ai21_labs"]
)
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 Studio By Ai21 Labs. "
        "Help users perform Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK to build a functional AI agent that can interact with Studio By Ai21 Labs.

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.

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FAQ

What are the differences in Tool Router MCP and Studio By Ai21 Labs MCP?

With a standalone Studio By Ai21 Labs MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of Studio By Ai21 Labs tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs tools.

Can I manage the permissions and scopes for Studio By Ai21 Labs while using Tool Router?

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Studio By Ai21 Labs 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 Studio By Ai21 Labs data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

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