How to integrate Shippo MCP with LangChain

This guide walks you through connecting Shippo to LangChain using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Shippo agent that can create shipping label for new order, track shipment status by tracking number, get shipping rates for a package through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your LangChain agent real control over a Shippo account through Composio's Shippo MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

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Shippo is a shipping API for e-commerce merchants to create labels, track packages, and manage shipments. It streamlines shipping operations with multi-carrier support and easy integration.

95 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Shippo to LangChain using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Shippo agent that can create shipping label for new order, track shipment status by tracking number, get shipping rates for a package through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your LangChain agent real control over a Shippo account through Composio's Shippo 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
  • Connect your Shippo project to Composio
  • Create a Tool Router MCP session for Shippo
  • Initialize an MCP client and retrieve Shippo tools
  • Build a LangChain agent that can interact with Shippo
  • Set up an interactive chat interface for testing

What is LangChain?

LangChain is a framework for developing applications powered by language models. It provides tools and abstractions for building agents that can reason, use tools, and maintain conversation context.

Key features include:

  • Agent Framework: Build agents that can use tools and make decisions
  • MCP Integration: Connect to external services through Model Context Protocol adapters
  • Memory Management: Maintain conversation history across interactions
  • Multi-Provider Support: Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, and other LLM providers

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

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

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 step10 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, make sure you have:
  • Python 3.10 or higher installed on your system
  • A Composio account with an API key
  • An OpenAI API key
  • Basic familiarity with Python and async programming
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

npm install @composio/langchain @langchain/core @langchain/openai @langchain/mcp-adapters dotenv

Install the required packages for LangChain with MCP support.

What's happening:

  • @composio/langchain provides Composio integration for LangChain
  • @langchain/mcp-adapters enables MCP client connections
  • @langchain/core is the core agent framework
  • dotenv/config loads environment variables
4

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
COMPOSIO_USER_ID=your_composio_user_id_here
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here

Create a .env file in your project root.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY authenticates your requests to Composio's API
  • COMPOSIO_USER_ID identifies the user for session management
  • OPENAI_API_KEY enables access to OpenAI's language models
5

Import dependencies

import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { LangchainProvider } from '@composio/langchain';
import { MultiServerMCPClient } from "@langchain/mcp-adapters";
import { createAgent } from "langchain";
import * as readline from 'readline';
import 'dotenv/config';

dotenv.config();
What's happening:
  • We're importing LangChain's MCP adapter and Composio SDK
  • The dotenv/config import loads environment variables from your .env file
  • This setup prepares the foundation for connecting LangChain with Shippo functionality through MCP
6

Initialize Composio client

const composioApiKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const userId = process.env.COMPOSIO_USER_ID;

if (!composioApiKey) throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set');
if (!userId) throw new Error('COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set');

async function main() {
    const composio = new Composio({
        apiKey: composioApiKey as string,
        provider: new LangchainProvider()
    });
What's happening:
  • We're loading the COMPOSIO_API_KEY from environment variables and validating it exists
  • Creating a Composio instance that will manage our connection to Shippo tools
  • Validating that COMPOSIO_USER_ID is also set before proceeding
7

Create a Tool Router session

const session = await composio.create(
    userId as string,
    {
        toolkits: ['shippo']
    }
);

const url = session.mcp.url;
What's happening:
  • We're creating a Tool Router session that gives your agent access to Shippo 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
  • This approach allows the agent to dynamically load and use Shippo tools as needed
8

Configure the agent with the MCP URL

const client = new MultiServerMCPClient({
    "shippo-agent": {
        transport: "http",
        url: url,
        headers: {
            "x-api-key": process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY
        }
    }
});

const tools = await client.getTools();

const agent = createAgent({ model: "gpt-5", tools });
What's happening:
  • We're creating a MultiServerMCPClient that connects to our Shippo MCP server via HTTP
  • The client is configured with a name and the URL from our Tool Router session
  • getTools() retrieves all available Shippo tools that the agent can use
  • We're creating a LangChain agent using the GPT-5 model
9

Set up interactive chat interface

let conversationHistory: any[] = [];

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

const rl = readline.createInterface({
    input: process.stdin,
    output: process.stdout,
    prompt: 'You: '
});

rl.prompt();

rl.on('line', async (userInput: string) => {
    const trimmedInput = userInput.trim();

    if (['exit', 'quit', 'bye'].includes(trimmedInput.toLowerCase())) {
        console.log("\nGoodbye!");
        rl.close();
        process.exit(0);
    }

    if (!trimmedInput) {
        rl.prompt();
        return;
    }

    conversationHistory.push({ role: "user", content: trimmedInput });
    console.log("\nAgent is thinking...\n");

    const response = await agent.invoke({ messages: conversationHistory });
    conversationHistory = response.messages;

    const finalResponse = response.messages[response.messages.length - 1]?.content;
    console.log(`Agent: ${finalResponse}\n`);
        
        rl.prompt();
    });

    rl.on('close', () => {
        console.log('\n👋 Session ended.');
        process.exit(0);
    });
What's happening:
  • We initialize an empty conversationHistory list to maintain context across interactions
  • A readline interface is used to continuously accept user input from the command line
  • When a user types a message, it's added to the conversation history and sent to the agent
  • The agent processes the request using the invoke() method with the full conversation history
  • Users can type 'exit', 'quit', or 'bye' to end the chat session gracefully
10

Run the application

main().catch((err) => {
    console.error('Fatal error:', err);
    process.exit(1);
});
What's happening:
  • We call the main() function to start the application

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Shippo and LangChain:

import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { LangchainProvider } from '@composio/langchain';
import { MultiServerMCPClient } from "@langchain/mcp-adapters";  
import { createAgent } from "langchain";
import * as readline from 'readline';
import 'dotenv/config';

const composioApiKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const userId = process.env.COMPOSIO_USER_ID;

if (!composioApiKey) throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set');
if (!userId) throw new Error('COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set');

async function main() {
    const composio = new Composio({
        apiKey: composioApiKey as string,
        provider: new LangchainProvider()
    });

    const session = await composio.create(
        userId as string,
        {
            toolkits: ['shippo']
        }
    );

    const url = session.mcp.url;
    
    const client = new MultiServerMCPClient({
        "shippo-agent": {
            transport: "http",
            url: url,
            headers: {
                "x-api-key": process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY
            }
        }
    });
    
    const tools = await client.getTools();
  
    const agent = createAgent({ model: "gpt-5", tools });
    
    let conversationHistory: any[] = [];
    
    console.log("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n");
    console.log("Ask any Shippo related question or task to the agent.\n");
    
    const rl = readline.createInterface({
        input: process.stdin,
        output: process.stdout,
        prompt: 'You: '
    });

    rl.prompt();

    rl.on('line', async (userInput: string) => {
        const trimmedInput = userInput.trim();
        
        if (['exit', 'quit', 'bye'].includes(trimmedInput.toLowerCase())) {
            console.log("\nGoodbye!");
            rl.close();
            process.exit(0);
        }
        
        if (!trimmedInput) {
            rl.prompt();
            return;
        }
        
        conversationHistory.push({ role: "user", content: trimmedInput });
        console.log("\nAgent is thinking...\n");
        
        const response = await agent.invoke({ messages: conversationHistory });
        conversationHistory = response.messages;
        
        const finalResponse = response.messages[response.messages.length - 1]?.content;
        console.log(`Agent: ${finalResponse}\n`);
        
        rl.prompt();
    });

    rl.on('close', () => {
        console.log('\nSession ended.');
        process.exit(0);
    });
}

main().catch((err) => {
    console.error('Fatal error:', err);
    process.exit(1);
});

Conclusion

You've successfully built a LangChain agent that can interact with Shippo through Composio's Tool Router.

Key features of this implementation:

  • Dynamic tool loading through Composio's Tool Router
  • Conversation history maintenance for context-aware responses
  • Async Python provides clean, efficient execution of agent workflows
You can extend this further by adding error handling, implementing specific business logic, or integrating additional Composio toolkits to create multi-app workflows.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Create Shippo Address

Tool to create a new address in Shippo.

Create Batch

Tool to create a batch of shipments for bulk label purchasing.

Create Carrier Account

Tool to create a new carrier account in Shippo.

Create Customs Item

Create a new customs item for international shipments.

Create Live Rate

Tool to generate live shipping rates from multiple carriers for a given shipment.

Create Manifest

Tool to create a new shipping manifest with Shippo.

Create Merchant Address

Tool to create a new address for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Batch

Tool to create a batch for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Merchant Carrier Account

Tool to create a carrier account for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Merchant Customs Declaration

Tool to create a new customs declaration for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Customs Item

Tool to create a new customs item for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Order

Tool to create an order for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Merchant Parcel

Tool to create a new parcel for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Refund

Tool to create a refund for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Merchant Shipment

Tool to create a new shipment for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Transaction

Tool to create a shipping label transaction for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Order

Tool to create a new order in Shippo.

Create Parcel

Tool to create a new parcel in Shippo with dimensions and weight specifications.

Create Refund

Tool to create a refund for a Shippo transaction.

Create Service Group

Tool to create a new Shippo service group with specified pricing model and carrier service levels.

Create Shipment

Tool to create a new shipment with Shippo.

Register Tracking Webhook

Tool to register a tracking webhook for a shipment.

Create Transaction

Tool to create a shipping label transaction with Shippo.

Create User Parcel Template

Tool to create a new user parcel template in Shippo with preset dimensions and weight specifications.

Create Shippo Webhook

Tool to create a new webhook subscription in Shippo.

Delete Default Parcel Template

Tool to clear the current default parcel template.

Delete User Parcel Template

Tool to delete a user-created parcel template.

Delete Webhook

Tool to delete a specific webhook from Shippo.

Get Address

Tool to retrieve a previously created address from Shippo.

Get Carrier Account

Tool to retrieve a carrier account by its ID.

Get Carrier Parcel Template

Tool to retrieve a specific carrier parcel template by its token.

Get Carrier Registration Status

Tool to retrieve carrier registration status from Shippo.

Get Customs Declaration

Tool to retrieve a customs declaration by its ID.

Get customs item

Tool to retrieve a customs item from Shippo.

Get Default Parcel Template

Tool to retrieve the current default parcel template for live rates at checkout.

Get Merchant

Tool to retrieve a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Address

Tool to retrieve a merchant address from Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Batch

Tool to retrieve a batch for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Carrier Account

Tool to retrieve a carrier account for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Carrier Registration Status

Tool to retrieve carrier registration status for a specific merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Get Merchant Customs Declaration

Tool to retrieve a specific customs declaration for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Get Merchant Customs Item

Tool to retrieve a customs item for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Manifest

Tool to retrieve a manifest for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Order

Tool to retrieve an order for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Parcel

Tool to retrieve a parcel for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Rate

Tool to retrieve a specific shipping rate for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Refund

Tool to retrieve a merchant refund from Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Shipment

Tool to retrieve a shipment for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Tracking Status

Tool to retrieve tracking status for a merchant from Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Transaction

Tool to retrieve a shipping label transaction for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Order

Tool to retrieve an order from Shippo.

Get Parcel

Tool to retrieve a parcel by its ID.

Get Rate

Tool to retrieve a specific shipping rate by its ID.

Get Refund

Tool to retrieve a refund by its ID from Shippo.

Get Shipment

Tool to retrieve a shipment by its ID.

Get Shippo Account

Tool to retrieve a Shippo Account from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Tracking Status

Tool to retrieve tracking status for a shipment from Shippo.

Get Transaction

Tool to retrieve a shipping label transaction by its ID.

Get User Parcel Template

Tool to retrieve a specific user-created parcel template by its object ID.

Get Webhook

Tool to retrieve a specific webhook subscription from Shippo.

List Addresses

Tool to list all addresses in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Carrier Accounts

Tool to list all carrier accounts configured in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Carrier Parcel Templates

Tool to list all carrier parcel templates available for creating shipments.

List Customs Declarations

Tool to list all customs declarations in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Customs Items

Tool to list all customs items with pagination support.

List Manifests

Tool to list all shipping manifests from Shippo.

List Merchant Addresses

Tool to list all addresses for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Carrier Accounts

Tool to list all carrier accounts for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Customs Declarations

Tool to list all customs declarations for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Customs Items

Tool to list all customs items for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Manifests

Tool to list all manifests for a specific merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

List Merchant Parcels

Tool to list all parcels for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchants

Tool to list all merchants using the Shippo Platform API with pagination support.

List Merchant Shipment Rates by Currency

Tool to retrieve available shipping rates for a merchant's shipment filtered by currency code using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Shipments

Tool to list all shipments for a specific merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

List Merchant Transactions

Tool to list all shipping label transactions for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Orders

Tool to list all orders in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Refunds

Tool to retrieve a list of all refunds from Shippo.

List Service Groups

Tool to retrieve all service groups configured in Shippo.

List Shipment Rates

Tool to retrieve available shipping rates for a specific shipment.

List Shipment Rates by Currency

Tool to retrieve available shipping rates for a specific shipment filtered by currency code.

List Shipments

Tool to list all shipments in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Shippo Accounts

Tool to list all Managed Shippo Accounts.

List User Parcel Templates

Tool to list all user-created parcel templates.

Purchase Merchant Batch

Tool to purchase a batch for a merchant via the Shippo Platform API.

Remove Shipments From Batch

Tool to remove shipments from a batch for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Update Carrier Account

Tool to update an existing carrier account in Shippo.

Update Default Parcel Template

Tool to update the default parcel template for live rates at checkout in Shippo.

Update Merchant

Tool to update an existing merchant in Shippo Platform API.

Update Merchant Carrier Account

Tool to update a carrier account for a merchant in Shippo Platform API.

Update Service Group

Tool to update an existing Shippo service group.

Update User Parcel Template

Tool to update an existing user parcel template with new weight and carrier template settings.

Update Webhook

Tool to update an existing webhook in Shippo.

Validate Address

Tool to validate an address using the Shippo API.

Validate Merchant Address

Tool to validate a merchant address using the Shippo Platform API.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. LangChain 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 Shippo tools.

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

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