How to integrate Zoho inventory MCP with CrewAI

This guide walks you through connecting Zoho inventory to CrewAI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Zoho inventory agent that can check current stock for a specific item, list all pending sales orders today, create a new purchase order for supplier through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your CrewAI agent real control over a Zoho inventory account through Composio's Zoho inventory MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

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Zoho Inventory is a cloud-based inventory and order management solution for businesses. It streamlines stock tracking, order fulfillment, and multi-channel inventory control.

58 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Zoho inventory to CrewAI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Zoho inventory agent that can check current stock for a specific item, list all pending sales orders today, create a new purchase order for supplier through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your CrewAI agent real control over a Zoho inventory account through Composio's Zoho inventory MCP server.

Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

Also integrate Zoho inventory with

ChatGPTOpenAI Agents SDKClaude Agent SDKClaude CodeClaude CoworkCodexOpenCodeCursorVS CodeOpenClawHermesCLIGoogle ADKLangChainVercel AI SDKMastra AILlamaIndex

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get a Composio API key and configure your Zoho inventory connection
  • Set up CrewAI with an MCP enabled agent
  • Create a Tool Router session or standalone MCP server for Zoho inventory
  • Build a conversational loop where your agent can execute Zoho inventory operations

What is CrewAI?

CrewAI is a powerful framework for building multi-agent AI systems. It provides primitives for defining agents with specific roles, creating tasks, and orchestrating workflows through crews.

Key features include:

  • Agent Roles: Define specialized agents with specific goals and backstories
  • Task Management: Create tasks with clear descriptions and expected outputs
  • Crew Orchestration: Combine agents and tasks into collaborative workflows
  • MCP Integration: Connect to external tools through Model Context Protocol

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

The Zoho inventory MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Zoho Inventory account. It provides structured and secure access to your inventory management system, so your agent can perform actions like tracking stock levels, managing sales and purchase orders, updating product details, and syncing inventory across sales channels on your behalf.

  • Real-time stock tracking and updates: Let your agent monitor inventory levels, adjust quantities, and receive alerts when items are running low or out of stock.
  • Order management automation: Have the agent create, update, or track sales and purchase orders, making it easy to keep tabs on every transaction.
  • Product catalog management: Direct your agent to add new products, update existing details, or manage pricing and SKU information to keep your catalog current and accurate.
  • Multi-channel inventory syncing: Enable your agent to synchronize inventory data across multiple online stores and marketplaces, ensuring consistency and reducing errors.
  • Shipment and fulfillment handling: Empower your agent to generate shipment orders, track deliveries, and manage warehouse operations for streamlined fulfillment.

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

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Python 3.9 or higher
  • A Composio account and API key
  • A Zoho inventory connection authorized in Composio
  • An OpenAI API key for the CrewAI LLM
  • Basic familiarity with Python
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 crewai crewai-tools[mcp] python-dotenv
What's happening:
  • composio connects your agent to Zoho inventory via MCP
  • crewai provides Agent, Task, Crew, and LLM primitives
  • crewai-tools[mcp] includes MCP helpers
  • python-dotenv loads environment variables from .env
4

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
USER_ID=your_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 with Composio
  • USER_ID scopes the session to your account
  • OPENAI_API_KEY lets CrewAI use your chosen OpenAI model
5

Import dependencies

python
import os
from composio import Composio
from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew
from crewai_tools import MCPServerAdapter
import dotenv

dotenv.load_dotenv()

COMPOSIO_API_KEY = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_USER_ID = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_USER_ID")

if not COMPOSIO_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set")
if not COMPOSIO_USER_ID:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set")
What's happening:
  • CrewAI classes define agents and tasks, and run the workflow
  • MCPServerHTTP connects the agent to an MCP endpoint
  • Composio will give you a short lived Zoho inventory MCP URL
6

Create a Composio Tool Router session for Zoho inventory

python
composio_client = Composio(api_key=COMPOSIO_API_KEY)
session = composio_client.create(user_id=COMPOSIO_USER_ID, toolkits=["zoho_inventory"])

url = session.mcp.url
What's happening:
  • You create a Zoho inventory only session through Composio
  • Composio returns an MCP HTTP URL that exposes Zoho inventory tools
7

Initialize the MCP Server

python
server_params = {
    "url": url,
    "transport": "streamable-http",
    "headers": {"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY},
}

with MCPServerAdapter(server_params) as tools:
    agent = Agent(
        role="Search Assistant",
        goal="Help users search the internet effectively",
        backstory="You are a helpful assistant with access to search tools.",
        tools=tools,
        verbose=False,
        max_iter=10,
    )
What's Happening:
  • Server Configuration: The code sets up connection parameters including the MCP server URL, streamable HTTP transport, and Composio API key authentication.
  • MCP Adapter Bridge: MCPServerAdapter acts as a context manager that converts Composio MCP tools into a CrewAI-compatible format.
  • Agent Setup: Creates a CrewAI Agent with a defined role (Search Assistant), goal (help with internet searches), and access to the MCP tools.
  • Configuration Options: The agent includes settings like verbose=False for clean output and max_iter=10 to prevent infinite loops.
  • Dynamic Tool Usage: Once created, the agent automatically accesses all Composio Search tools and decides when to use them based on user queries.
8

Create a CLI Chatloop and define the Crew

python
print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")

conversation_context = ""

while True:
    user_input = input("You: ").strip()

    if user_input.lower() in ["exit", "quit", "bye"]:
        print("\nGoodbye!")
        break

    if not user_input:
        continue

    conversation_context += f"\nUser: {user_input}\n"
    print("\nAgent is thinking...\n")

    task = Task(
        description=(
            f"Conversation history:\n{conversation_context}\n\n"
            f"Current request: {user_input}"
        ),
        expected_output="A helpful response addressing the user's request",
        agent=agent,
    )

    crew = Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task], verbose=False)
    result = crew.kickoff()
    response = str(result)

    conversation_context += f"Agent: {response}\n"
    print(f"Agent: {response}\n")
What's Happening:
  • Interactive CLI Setup: The code creates an infinite loop that continuously prompts for user input and maintains the entire conversation history in a string variable.
  • Input Validation: Empty inputs are ignored to prevent processing blank messages and keep the conversation clean.
  • Context Building: Each user message is appended to the conversation context, which preserves the full dialogue history for better agent responses.
  • Dynamic Task Creation: For every user input, a new Task is created that includes both the full conversation history and the current request as context.
  • Crew Execution: A Crew is instantiated with the agent and task, then kicked off to process the request and generate a response.
  • Response Management: The agent's response is converted to a string, added to the conversation context, and displayed to the user, maintaining conversational continuity.

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Zoho inventory and CrewAI:

python
from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew, LLM
from crewai_tools import MCPServerAdapter
from composio import Composio
from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os

load_dotenv()

GOOGLE_API_KEY = os.getenv("GOOGLE_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_API_KEY = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
COMPOSIO_USER_ID = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_USER_ID")

if not GOOGLE_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("GOOGLE_API_KEY is not set in the environment.")
if not COMPOSIO_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set in the environment.")
if not COMPOSIO_USER_ID:
    raise ValueError("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set in the environment.")

# Initialize Composio and create a session
composio = Composio(api_key=COMPOSIO_API_KEY)
session = composio.create(
    user_id=COMPOSIO_USER_ID,
    toolkits=["zoho_inventory"],
)
url = session.mcp.url

# Configure LLM
llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-5",
    api_key=os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
)

server_params = {
    "url": url,
    "transport": "streamable-http",
    "headers": {"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY},
}

with MCPServerAdapter(server_params) as tools:
    agent = Agent(
        role="Search Assistant",
        goal="Help users with internet searches",
        backstory="You are an expert assistant with access to Composio Search tools.",
        tools=tools,
        llm=llm,
        verbose=False,
        max_iter=10,
    )

    print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")

    conversation_context = ""

    while True:
        user_input = input("You: ").strip()

        if user_input.lower() in ["exit", "quit", "bye"]:
            print("\nGoodbye!")
            break

        if not user_input:
            continue

        conversation_context += f"\nUser: {user_input}\n"
        print("\nAgent is thinking...\n")

        task = Task(
            description=(
                f"Conversation history:\n{conversation_context}\n\n"
                f"Current request: {user_input}"
            ),
            expected_output="A helpful response addressing the user's request",
            agent=agent,
        )

        crew = Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task], verbose=False)
        result = crew.kickoff()
        response = str(result)

        conversation_context += f"Agent: {response}\n"
        print(f"Agent: {response}\n")

Conclusion

You now have a CrewAI agent connected to Zoho inventory through Composio's Tool Router. The agent can perform Zoho inventory operations through natural language commands.

Next steps:

  • Add role-specific instructions to customize agent behavior
  • Plug in more toolkits for multi-app workflows
  • Chain tasks for complex multi-step operations
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Add Credit Note Comment

Tool to add a comment to a credit note in Zoho Inventory.

Add Invoice Attachment

Tool to upload an attachment to a specific invoice.

Add Invoice Comment

Tool to add a comment to a specific invoice in Zoho Inventory.

Apply Credits To Invoices

Tool to apply credits from a credit note to one or more invoices.

Bulk Delete Sales Orders

Tool to bulk delete sales orders.

Bulk Email Invoices

Sends multiple invoices by email to a contact in a single API call.

Bulk Export Invoices

Tool to bulk export invoices as a single PDF.

Bulk Print Invoices

Generate a consolidated PDF containing multiple invoices for printing or archiving.

Bulk Print Packages

Tool to bulk print package slips as a consolidated PDF.

Cancel Invoice Write Off

Tool to cancel write off for an invoice.

Create Bill

Tool to create a bill in Zoho Inventory.

Create Contact

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

Create Contact Person

Tool to create a contact person.

Create Credit Note

Tool to create a new credit note in Zoho Inventory.

Create Customer Payment

Tool to create a customer payment in Zoho Inventory.

Create Invoice

Tool to create a new invoice in Zoho Inventory.

Create Item

Tool to create a new item in Zoho Inventory.

Create Item Group

Tool to create an item group in Zoho Inventory.

Create Package

Tool to create a package for a sales order in Zoho Inventory.

Create Purchase Order

Tool to create a purchase order in Zoho Inventory.

Create Sales Order

Tool to create a sales order in Zoho Inventory.

Deactivate Contact

Tool to mark a contact as inactive in Zoho Inventory.

Deactivate Item

Tool to mark an item as inactive in Zoho Inventory.

Deactivate Item Group

Tool to mark an item group as inactive in Zoho Inventory.

Delete Composite Item

Permanently deletes a composite item from Zoho Inventory.

Delete Contact

Tool to delete a contact.

Delete Contact Person

Tool to delete a contact person.

Delete Invoice

Tool to delete an invoice.

Delete Invoice Attachment

Tool to delete an invoice attachment.

Delete Invoice Comment

Delete a specific comment from an invoice in Zoho Inventory.

Delete Item

Tool to delete an item.

Delete Item Group

Tool to delete an item group.

Delete Item Image

Tool to delete an image associated with an item.

Delete Package

Tool to delete a package.

Delete Sales Order

Tool to delete a sales order.

Disable Payment Reminder

Tool to disable payment reminders for an invoice.

Email Contact

Tool to email a contact in Zoho Inventory.

Email Contact Statement

Tool to email a statement of transactions to a contact.

Email Credit Note

Tool to email a credit note to customers.

Email Invoice

Tool to email a specific invoice to customers.

Enable Invoice Payment Reminder

Tool to enable payment reminders for an invoice.

Get Contact

Tool to retrieve a specific contact by ID from Zoho Inventory.

Get Contact Address

Tool to get contact address.

Get Credit Note

Tool to retrieve a credit note by ID.

Get Credit Note Email Content

Tool to get credit note email content including subject, body, recipients, and available templates.

Get Current User

Tool to get details of the currently authenticated user in Zoho Inventory.

Get Sales Order

Tool to retrieve the details of an existing sales order.

List Bills

Tool to list bills.

List Contacts

Tool to list all contacts (customers and vendors) in Zoho Inventory.

List Credit Notes

Tool to list all credit notes.

List Currencies

Tool to list all currencies configured in Zoho Inventory.

List Invoice Payments

Tool to list all payments received for a specific invoice.

List Invoices

Tool to list all invoices in Zoho Inventory.

List Item Groups

Tool to list all item groups in Zoho Inventory.

List Items

Tool to list all items in Zoho Inventory.

List Organizations

Tool to list all organizations the user has access to in Zoho Inventory.

List Purchase Orders

Tool to list purchase orders.

List Sales Orders

Tool to list sales orders.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Zoho inventory MCP Agent with another framework

ChatGPT logo

ChatGPT

Use Zoho inventory MCP with ChatGPT

OpenAI Agents SDK logo

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Zoho inventory MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK logo

Claude Agent SDK

Use Zoho inventory MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Use Zoho inventory MCP with Claude Code

Claude Cowork logo

Claude Cowork

Use Zoho inventory MCP with Claude Cowork

Codex logo

Codex

Use Zoho inventory MCP with Codex

Cursor logo

Cursor

Use Zoho inventory MCP with Cursor

OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

Use Zoho inventory MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes logo

Hermes

Use Zoho inventory MCP with Hermes

CLI logo

CLI

Use Zoho inventory MCP with CLI

Google ADK logo

Google ADK

Use Zoho inventory MCP with Google ADK

LangChain logo

LangChain

Use Zoho inventory MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

Use Zoho inventory MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI logo

Mastra AI

Use Zoho inventory MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Zoho inventory MCP with LlamaIndex

OpenCode logo

OpenCode

Use Zoho inventory MCP with OpenCode

VS Code logo

VS Code

Use Zoho inventory MCP with VS Code

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. CrewAI 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 Zoho inventory tools.

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

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Co-founder, Slashy

A lot of students tell us that the moment their connected tools start talking to each other inside Opennote feels almost magical. The agent just knows them, and it's immensely helped keep new users on the platform.

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Co-founder, Opennote

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As a solo builder, shipping fast is life or death. The only way I can outcompete incumbents is by outmanoeuvring them. Getting bogged down managing agent auth would have been a death sentence.

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Founder, Extra Thursday

Before Composio, adding tool integrations was slow and resource-intensive. Each one could take weeks of engineering time, and maintaining them meant constantly keeping up with API changes.

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