How to integrate Quaderno MCP with Autogen

This guide walks you through connecting Quaderno to AutoGen using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Quaderno agent that can calculate tax rate for a u.s. sale, create an invoice for a new customer, email finalized invoice to a client through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your AutoGen agent real control over a Quaderno account through Composio's Quaderno MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

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Quaderno is a tax compliance platform that automates tax calculations, invoicing, and reporting for businesses globally. It helps you streamline tax processes and stay compliant without manual effort.

76 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Quaderno to AutoGen using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Quaderno agent that can calculate tax rate for a u.s. sale, create an invoice for a new customer, email finalized invoice to a client through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your AutoGen agent real control over a Quaderno account through Composio's Quaderno 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:
  • Get and set up your OpenAI and Composio API keys
  • Install the required dependencies for Autogen and Composio
  • Initialize Composio and create a Tool Router session for Quaderno
  • Wire that MCP URL into Autogen using McpWorkbench and StreamableHttpServerParams
  • Configure an Autogen AssistantAgent that can call Quaderno tools
  • Run a live chat loop where you ask the agent to perform Quaderno operations

What is AutoGen?

Autogen is a framework for building multi-agent conversational AI systems from Microsoft. It enables you to create agents that can collaborate, use tools, and maintain complex workflows.

Key features include:

  • Multi-Agent Systems: Build collaborative agent workflows
  • MCP Workbench: Native support for Model Context Protocol tools
  • Streaming HTTP: Connect to external services through streamable HTTP
  • AssistantAgent: Pre-built agent class for tool-using assistants

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

The Quaderno MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Quaderno account. It provides structured and secure access to your tax automation, invoicing, and compliance workflows, so your agent can calculate taxes, generate invoices, manage contacts and products, and handle essential document delivery on your behalf.

  • Automated tax rate calculation: Ask your agent to instantly determine the correct tax rate for any address or transaction type before creating invoices or processing sales.
  • Invoice creation and delivery: Let your agent generate detailed invoices for customers and deliver them directly via email, ensuring seamless billing operations.
  • Contact and product management: Easily create new customer or vendor contacts, add new products, or permanently delete outdated items from your Quaderno account—all through your agent.
  • Expense and tax ID cleanup: Direct your agent to remove specific expenses or registered tax IDs when they're no longer needed, keeping your records tidy and up to date.
  • Credit note and coupon handling: Your agent can deliver finalized credit notes to customers and permanently delete coupons as part of your accounting and revenue operations.

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 step08 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

You will need:

  • A Composio API key
  • An OpenAI API key (used by Autogen's OpenAIChatCompletionClient)
  • A Quaderno account you can connect to Composio
  • Some basic familiarity with Autogen and Python async
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 dependencies

bash
pip install composio python-dotenv
pip install autogen-agentchat autogen-ext-openai autogen-ext-tools

Install Composio, Autogen extensions, and dotenv.

What's happening:

  • composio connects your agent to Quaderno via MCP
  • autogen-agentchat provides the AssistantAgent class
  • autogen-ext-openai provides the OpenAI model client
  • autogen-ext-tools provides MCP workbench support

4

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-composio-api-key
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key
USER_ID=your-user-identifier@example.com

Create a .env file in your project folder.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY is required to talk to Composio
  • OPENAI_API_KEY is used by Autogen's OpenAI client
  • USER_ID is how Composio identifies which user's Quaderno connections to use
5

Import dependencies and create Tool Router session

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio

from autogen_agentchat.agents import AssistantAgent
from autogen_ext.models.openai import OpenAIChatCompletionClient
from autogen_ext.tools.mcp import McpWorkbench, StreamableHttpServerParams

load_dotenv()

async def main():
    # Initialize Composio and create a Quaderno session
    composio = Composio(api_key=os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY"))
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=os.getenv("USER_ID"),
        toolkits=["quaderno"]
    )
    url = session.mcp.url
What's happening:
  • load_dotenv() reads your .env file
  • Composio(api_key=...) initializes the SDK
  • create(...) creates a Tool Router session that exposes Quaderno tools
  • session.mcp.url is the MCP endpoint that Autogen will connect to
6

Configure MCP parameters for Autogen

python
# Configure MCP server parameters for Streamable HTTP
server_params = StreamableHttpServerParams(
    url=url,
    timeout=30.0,
    sse_read_timeout=300.0,
    terminate_on_close=True,
    headers={"x-api-key": os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")}
)

Autogen expects parameters describing how to talk to the MCP server. That is what StreamableHttpServerParams is for.

What's happening:

  • url points to the Tool Router MCP endpoint from Composio
  • timeout is the HTTP timeout for requests
  • sse_read_timeout controls how long to wait when streaming responses
  • terminate_on_close=True cleans up the MCP server process when the workbench is closed
7

Create the model client and agent

python
# Create model client
model_client = OpenAIChatCompletionClient(
    model="gpt-5",
    api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
)

# Use McpWorkbench as context manager
async with McpWorkbench(server_params) as workbench:
    # Create Quaderno assistant agent with MCP tools
    agent = AssistantAgent(
        name="quaderno_assistant",
        description="An AI assistant that helps with Quaderno operations.",
        model_client=model_client,
        workbench=workbench,
        model_client_stream=True,
        max_tool_iterations=10
    )

What's happening:

  • OpenAIChatCompletionClient wraps the OpenAI model for Autogen
  • McpWorkbench connects the agent to the MCP tools
  • AssistantAgent is configured with the Quaderno tools from the workbench
8

Run the interactive chat loop

python
print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n")
print("Ask any Quaderno related question or task to the agent.\n")

# Conversation loop
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")

    # Run the agent with streaming
    try:
        response_text = ""
        async for message in agent.run_stream(task=user_input):
            if hasattr(message, "content") and message.content:
                response_text = message.content

        # Print the final response
        if response_text:
            print(f"Agent: {response_text}\n")
        else:
            print("Agent: I encountered an issue processing your request.\n")

    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Agent: Sorry, I encountered an error: {str(e)}\n")
What's happening:
  • The script prompts you in a loop with You:
  • Autogen passes your input to the model, which decides which Quaderno tools to call via MCP
  • agent.run_stream(...) yields streaming messages as the agent thinks and calls tools
  • Typing exit, quit, or bye ends the loop

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Quaderno and AutoGen:

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio

from autogen_agentchat.agents import AssistantAgent
from autogen_ext.models.openai import OpenAIChatCompletionClient
from autogen_ext.tools.mcp import McpWorkbench, StreamableHttpServerParams

load_dotenv()

async def main():
    # Initialize Composio and create a Quaderno session
    composio = Composio(api_key=os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY"))
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=os.getenv("USER_ID"),
        toolkits=["quaderno"]
    )
    url = session.mcp.url

    # Configure MCP server parameters for Streamable HTTP
    server_params = StreamableHttpServerParams(
        url=url,
        timeout=30.0,
        sse_read_timeout=300.0,
        terminate_on_close=True,
        headers={"x-api-key": os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")}
    )

    # Create model client
    model_client = OpenAIChatCompletionClient(
        model="gpt-5",
        api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
    )

    # Use McpWorkbench as context manager
    async with McpWorkbench(server_params) as workbench:
        # Create Quaderno assistant agent with MCP tools
        agent = AssistantAgent(
            name="quaderno_assistant",
            description="An AI assistant that helps with Quaderno operations.",
            model_client=model_client,
            workbench=workbench,
            model_client_stream=True,
            max_tool_iterations=10
        )

        print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n")
        print("Ask any Quaderno related question or task to the agent.\n")

        # Conversation loop
        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")

            # Run the agent with streaming
            try:
                response_text = ""
                async for message in agent.run_stream(task=user_input):
                    if hasattr(message, 'content') and message.content:
                        response_text = message.content

                # Print the final response
                if response_text:
                    print(f"Agent: {response_text}\n")
                else:
                    print("Agent: I encountered an issue processing your request.\n")

            except Exception as e:
                print(f"Agent: Sorry, I encountered an error: {str(e)}\n")

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

Conclusion

You now have an Autogen assistant wired into Quaderno through Composio's Tool Router and MCP. From here you can:
  • Add more toolkits to the toolkits list, for example notion or hubspot
  • Refine the agent description to point it at specific workflows
  • Wrap this script behind a UI, Slack bot, or internal tool
Once the pattern is clear for Quaderno, you can reuse the same structure for other MCP-enabled apps with minimal code changes.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Add Expense Payment

Adds a payment to an existing expense in Quaderno.

Calculate Tax Rate

Tool to calculate applicable tax rate for given address and transaction type.

Create Contact

Tool to create a new contact (customer or vendor).

Create Coupon

Tool to create a new discount coupon in Quaderno.

Create Estimate

Creates a new estimate/quote in Quaderno for a customer with line items.

Create Evidence

Tool to create a new location evidence for tax compliance.

Create Expense

Tool to create a business expense in Quaderno.

Create Invoice

Creates a new invoice in Quaderno for a customer with line items.

Create Product

Creates a new product that can be used as a line item in invoices, credit notes, and expenses.

Create Receipt

Creates a new receipt in Quaderno documenting payment for goods or services.

Create Recurring

Tool to create a recurring document in Quaderno that automatically generates invoices on a schedule.

Create Report Request

Tool to request a new report generation in Quaderno.

Create Tax ID

Tool to create a tax ID in a specific jurisdiction.

Create Transaction

Tool to create a sale or refund transaction in Quaderno.

Create Webhook

Tool to create a new webhook in Quaderno to receive event notifications.

Delete Contact

Tool to permanently delete a contact by ID.

Delete Coupon

Tool to permanently delete a coupon.

Delete Estimate

Permanently deletes an estimate from Quaderno by its ID.

Delete Expense

Permanently deletes an expense from Quaderno by its ID.

Delete Product

Tool to permanently delete a product by ID.

Delete Recurring

Tool to permanently delete a recurring by ID.

Delete Tax ID

Permanently deletes a registered tax ID from your Quaderno account.

Delete Webhook

Tool to permanently delete a webhook by ID.

Deliver Credit Note

Sends a credit note to the customer via email.

Deliver Estimate

Delivers an estimate to the customer via email.

Deliver Invoice

Delivers an invoice to the customer via email.

Deliver Receipt

Sends a receipt to the customer via email.

Get Authorization

Tool to retrieve account credentials and verify API access.

Get Estimate

Tool to retrieve the details of an existing estimate by ID.

List Contacts

Tool to list contacts, paginated and filterable by name, email, or tax ID.

List Coupons

Tool to list all coupons.

List Credits

Tool to list all credit notes from Quaderno.

List Estimates

Tool to list all estimates in the account, paginated and sorted by creation date (newest first).

List Evidence

Tool to list all evidence objects.

List Expenses

List all expenses from Quaderno with pagination support.

List Invoices

Tool to list all invoices from Quaderno with filtering support.

List Tax Jurisdictions

Tool to list all tax jurisdictions.

List Products

List all products (goods and services) from your Quaderno account.

List Receipts

Tool to list all receipts from Quaderno with optional filtering by search query, date range, payment state, processor ID, or customer ID.

List Recurrings

List all recurring documents (invoices, expenses, or estimates) from your Quaderno account.

List Registered Tax IDs

Tool to list all registered tax IDs.

List Reporting Requests

Retrieves all reporting requests for the account with their current status and download URLs.

List Sessions

List Quaderno Checkout sessions with optional filtering and pagination.

List Tax Codes

Tool to list all supported tax codes.

List Webhooks

Tool to list all webhooks.

Mark Invoice Uncollectible

Tool to mark an invoice as uncollectible (bad debt).

Ping API Service

Tool to check if the Quaderno API service is up and verify credentials.

Record Invoice Payment

Tool to record a payment on an existing invoice.

Remove Invoice Payment

Tool to remove a payment from an invoice.

Retrieve Contact

Tool to retrieve details of an existing contact by ID.

Retrieve Contact by Processor ID

Tool to retrieve a contact by external payment processor customer ID and gateway name.

Retrieve Coupon

Retrieve detailed information about a specific coupon by its ID.

Retrieve Credit Note

Tool to retrieve details of an existing credit note by ID.

Retrieve Evidence

Retrieves a specific evidence object by its ID.

Retrieve Expense

Tool to retrieve details of an existing expense by ID.

Retrieve Invoice

Tool to retrieve details of an existing invoice by ID.

Retrieve Tax Jurisdiction

Tool to retrieve a tax jurisdiction by ID.

Retrieve Product

Tool to retrieve details of an existing product by ID.

Retrieve Receipt

Tool to retrieve details of an existing receipt by ID.

Retrieve Recurring

Tool to retrieve details of an existing recurring document by ID.

Retrieve Reporting Request

Tool to retrieve the status and download URL of a specific report request by ID.

Retrieve Tax Code

Tool to retrieve a specific tax code by ID.

Retrieve Tax ID

Tool to retrieve details of a specific tax ID by its ID.

Update Contact

Tool to update an existing contact in Quaderno.

Update Coupon

Tool to update an existing coupon.

Update Credit Note

Tool to update a credit note.

Update Estimate

Updates an existing estimate in Quaderno by modifying allowed fields.

Update Evidence

Tool to update an evidence object.

Update Expense

Updates an existing expense in Quaderno by modifying allowed fields.

Update Invoice

Updates an existing invoice in Quaderno by modifying allowed fields.

Update product

Tool to update a product; unspecified fields remain unchanged.

Update Recurring

Tool to update a recurring document in Quaderno.

Update Tax ID

Tool to update an existing tax ID in Quaderno.

Update Webhook

Tool to update an existing webhook configuration.

Validate Tax ID

Tool to validate a tax ID.

Void Credit Note

Tool to void a credit note.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. Autogen 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 Quaderno tools.

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

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