How to integrate Workable MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

This guide walks you through connecting Workable to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Workable agent that can list all candidates for open roles, show scheduled interviews for this week, fetch all current job postings through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your OpenAI Agents SDK agent real control over a Workable account through Composio's Workable MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

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Workable is an all-in-one HR software platform that streamlines hiring, employee management, and payroll. It helps teams simplify recruiting, onboarding, and staff operations in one place.

37 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Workable to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Workable agent that can list all candidates for open roles, show scheduled interviews for this week, fetch all current job postings through natural language commands.

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

What is OpenAI 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 Workable MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Workable MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Workable account. It provides structured and secure access to your hiring and HR data, so your agent can perform actions like listing jobs, managing candidates, retrieving background check info, and organizing departments on your behalf.

  • Comprehensive candidate management: Instantly retrieve and aggregate candidate data across all jobs, making it easy for your agent to analyze talent pipelines, track applicants, and surface top candidates.
  • Job and account insights: Let your agent list all open roles, access job details, and pull account-wide information to keep your hiring team up-to-date and organized.
  • Automated event and interview scheduling: Fetch all scheduled events, interviews, and meetings so your agent can help coordinate calendars and ensure everyone’s on the same page.
  • Background check integration: Retrieve available background check providers and packages, enabling your agent to streamline compliance and onboarding workflows.
  • Team and department organization: List or delete departments, fetch member rosters, and manage legal entities—helping your agent automate org chart updates and keep your HR records tidy.

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 step09 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Composio API Key and OpenAI API Key
  • Primary know-how of OpenAI Agents SDK
  • A live Workable project
  • Some knowledge of Python or Typescript
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
3

Install dependencies

npm install @composio/openai-agents @openai/agents dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the OpenAI Agents SDK.

4

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.

5

Import dependencies

import 'dotenv/config';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { OpenAIAgentsProvider } from '@composio/openai-agents';
import { Agent, hostedMcpTool, run, OpenAIConversationsSession } from '@openai/agents';
import * as readline from 'readline';
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 Workable.
6

Set up the Composio instance

dotenv.config();

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

if (!composioApiKey) {
  throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key');
}
if (!userId) {
  throw new Error('USER_ID is not set');
}

// Initialize Composio
const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioApiKey,
  provider: new OpenAIAgentsProvider(),
});
What's happening:
  • dotenv.config() loads your .env file so COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID are available as environment variables.
  • Creating a Composio instance using the API Key and OpenAIAgentsProvider class.
7

Create a Tool Router session

// Create Tool Router session for Workable
const session = await composio.create(userId as string, {
  toolkits: ['workable'],
});
const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;

What is happening:

  • You give the Tool Router the user id and the toolkits you want available. Here, it is only workable.
  • The router checks the user's Workable connection and prepares the MCP endpoint.
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that your agent will use to access Workable.
  • This approach keeps things lightweight and lets the agent request Workable tools only when needed during the conversation.
8

Configure the agent

// Configure agent with MCP tool
const agent = new Agent({
  name: 'Assistant',
  model: 'gpt-5',
  instructions:
    'You are a helpful assistant that can access Workable. Help users perform Workable operations through natural language.',
  tools: [
    hostedMcpTool({
      serverLabel: 'tool_router',
      serverUrl: mcpUrl,
      headers: { 'x-api-key': composioApiKey },
      requireApproval: '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 Workable 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 object includes the Composio API key for secure authentication with the MCP server.
  • requireApproval: 'never' means the agent can execute Workable operations without asking for permission each time, making interactions smoother.
9

Start chat loop and handle conversation

// Keep conversation state across turns
const conversationSession = new OpenAIConversationsSession();

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

console.log('\nComposio Tool Router session created.');
console.log('\nChat started. Type your requests below.');
console.log("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n");

try {
  const first = await run(agent, 'What can you help me with?', { session: conversationSession });
  console.log(`Assistant: ${first.finalOutput}\n`);
} catch (e) {
  console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
}

rl.prompt();

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

  if (['exit', 'quit', 'q'].includes(text.toLowerCase())) {
    console.log('Goodbye!');
    rl.close();
    process.exit(0);
  }

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

  try {
    const result = await run(agent, text, { session: conversationSession });
    console.log(`\nAssistant: ${result.finalOutput}\n`);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
  }

  rl.prompt();
});

rl.on('close', () => {
  console.log('\n👋 Session ended.');
  process.exit(0);
});
What's happening:
  • The program prints a session URL that you visit to authorize Workable.
  • After authorization, the chat begins.
  • Each message you type is processed by the agent using run().
  • The responses are printed to the console.
  • Typing exit, quit, or q cleanly ends the chat.

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Workable and OpenAI Agents SDK:

import 'dotenv/config';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { OpenAIAgentsProvider } from '@composio/openai-agents';
import { Agent, hostedMcpTool, run, OpenAIConversationsSession } from '@openai/agents';
import * as readline from 'readline';

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

if (!composioApiKey) {
  throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key');
}
if (!userId) {
  throw new Error('USER_ID is not set');
}

// Initialize Composio
const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioApiKey,
  provider: new OpenAIAgentsProvider(),
});

async function main() {
  // Create Tool Router session
  const session = await composio.create(userId as string, {
    toolkits: ['workable'],
  });
  const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;

  // Configure agent with MCP tool
  const agent = new Agent({
    name: 'Assistant',
    model: 'gpt-5',
    instructions:
      'You are a helpful assistant that can access Workable. Help users perform Workable operations through natural language.',
    tools: [
      hostedMcpTool({
        serverLabel: 'tool_router',
        serverUrl: mcpUrl,
        headers: { 'x-api-key': composioApiKey },
        requireApproval: 'never',
      }),
    ],
  });

  // Keep conversation state across turns
  const conversationSession = new OpenAIConversationsSession();

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

  console.log('\nComposio Tool Router session created.');
  console.log('\nChat started. Type your requests below.');
  console.log("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n");

  try {
    const first = await run(agent, 'What can you help me with?', { session: conversationSession });
    console.log(`Assistant: ${first.finalOutput}\n`);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
  }

  rl.prompt();

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

    if (['exit', 'quit', 'q'].includes(text.toLowerCase())) {
      console.log('Goodbye!');
      rl.close();
      process.exit(0);
    }

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

    try {
      const result = await run(agent, text, { session: conversationSession });
      console.log(`\nAssistant: ${result.finalOutput}\n`);
    } catch (e) {
      console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\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

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

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.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Create Employee

Tool to create an employee in your Workable account.

Delete Department

Tool to delete a department.

Delete Subscription

Tool to unsubscribe from an event by deleting a webhook subscription.

Get Account

Tool to return the specified account.

Get Accounts

Retrieves all Workable accounts (organizations) accessible to the authenticated user.

Get Background Check Packages

Tool to retrieve a list of available background check packages from a specified provider.

Get Background Check Providers

Retrieves a list of background check providers integrated with your Workable account.

Get Candidates

Retrieve a list of candidates across all jobs in the organization.

Get Employee

Tool to retrieve detailed information for a specific employee by ID.

Get Events

Retrieve a collection of scheduled events (calls, interviews, meetings) from the Workable account.

Get Jobs

Retrieves a paginated list of jobs from your Workable account.

Get Legal Entities

Tool to retrieve a collection of your account legal entities.

Get Members

Retrieve a paginated list of Workable account members with their roles and permissions.

Get recruiters

Retrieves external recruiters from your Workable account.

Get Requisitions

Tool to retrieve a collection of requisitions in the account.

Get Stages

Tool to retrieve a collection of your recruitment pipeline stages.

Get Subscriptions

Retrieves all webhook subscriptions configured in your Workable account.

List Custom Attributes

Tool to retrieve all custom attributes configured in the Workable account.

List Departments

Tool to retrieve all departments from your Workable account.

List Disqualification Reasons

Tool to retrieve a collection of account's disqualification reasons.

List Employee Fields

Tool to retrieve a collection of your account's employee field definitions.

List Employees

Tool to retrieve a collection of account employees.

List Permission Sets

Tool to retrieve a collection of your account permission sets.

List Public Jobs

Tool to return a collection of public jobs for an account.

List Public Locations

Tool to retrieve a collection of locations where a Workable account has public job postings.

List Time Off Balances

Retrieves all time off balances for an employee across all time off categories.

List Time Off Categories

Tool to retrieve all time off categories configured for your account.

List Work Schedules

Tool to retrieve a collection of work schedules configured in your Workable account.

Update Background Check Status

Updates the status and results of an existing background check in a candidate's timeline.

Merge Department

Tool to merge a department into another.

Create Department

Tool to create a department in your account.

Enable Member

Enable (restore) a deactivated Workable account member to active status.

Invite Member

Tool to invite a member to your Workable account.

Update Department

Tool to update an existing department in your account.

Update Member

Updates a Workable account member's details including roles, name, headline, email, and collaboration rules.

Update Employee

Tool to update an existing employee in Workable.

Upload Employee Documents

Tool to upload a list of documents for a specific employee.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

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 Workable tools.

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

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