How to integrate Checkvist MCP with Claude Agent SDK

This guide walks you through connecting Checkvist to the Claude Agent SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Checkvist agent that can create your checklists, add tasks, search tasks, import task lists, and view task outlines through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your Claude Agent SDK agent real control over a Checkvist account through Composio's Checkvist MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

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Checkvist is an online outliner and task manager for hierarchical lists, notes, tags, due dates, and assignees. Use it to plan projects, capture ideas, and organize work in clean nested lists.

16 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Checkvist to the Claude Agent SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Checkvist agent that can create your checklists, add tasks, search tasks, import task lists, and view task outlines through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your Claude Agent SDK agent real control over a Checkvist account through Composio's Checkvist MCP server.

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

Also integrate Checkvist with

OpenAI Agents SDKClaude CodeClaude CoworkCodexOpenClawHermesCLIGoogle ADKLangChainVercel AI SDKMastra AILlamaIndexCrewAI

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get and set up your Claude/Anthropic and Composio API keys
  • Install the necessary dependencies
  • Initialize Composio and create a Tool Router session for Checkvist
  • Configure an AI agent that can use Checkvist as a tool
  • Run a live chat session where you can ask the agent to perform Checkvist operations

What is Claude Agent SDK?

The Claude Agent SDK is Anthropic's official framework for building AI agents powered by Claude. It provides a streamlined interface for creating agents with MCP tool support and conversation management.

Key features include:

  • Native MCP Support: Built-in support for Model Context Protocol servers
  • Permission Modes: Control tool execution permissions
  • Streaming Responses: Real-time response streaming for interactive applications
  • Context Manager: Clean async context management for sessions

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

The Checkvist MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Checkvist account. It provides structured and secure access to your checklists, tasks, tags, due dates, assignees, and task notes, so your agent can create lists, organize task hierarchies, search tasks, update assignments, and track task status on your behalf.

  • Checklist creation and organization: Have your agent create, rename, tag, review, or delete checklists, including archived and private lists.
  • Hierarchical task planning: Let the agent create individual tasks or import complete task hierarchies, then arrange subtasks, priorities, positions, due dates, tags, and assignees.
  • Task search and review: Instruct your agent to search across checklists by keywords, due dates, tags, status, or notes, and read checklist outlines or task trees.
  • Status and detail updates: Direct your agent to close, reopen, or invalidate tasks, update their content and placement, and add or remove tags.
  • Checklist restructuring and cleanup: Have your agent replace an existing task hierarchy with an updated outline or permanently remove tasks and their subtasks.

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 Claude/Anthropic API Key
  • Primary know-how of Claude Agents SDK
  • A Checkvist account
  • Some knowledge of Python
2

Getting API Keys for Claude/Anthropic and Composio

Claude/Anthropic API Key
  • Go to the Anthropic Console and create an API key. You'll need credits to use the models.
  • 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 @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk @composio/core dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the Claude Agents SDK.

What's happening:

  • @composio/core provides Composio integration for Anthropic
  • @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk is the core agent framework
  • dotenv/config loads environment variables
4

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
USER_ID=your_user_id_here
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_anthropic_api_key_here

Create a .env file in your project root.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY authenticates with Composio
  • USER_ID identifies the user for session management
  • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY authenticates with Anthropic/Claude
5

Import dependencies

import 'dotenv/config';
import readline from 'node:readline';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { query, type Options } from "@anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk";

dotenv.config();
What's happening:
  • We're importing all necessary libraries including the Claude Agent SDK and Composio
  • The dotenv.config() function loads environment variables from your .env file
  • This setup prepares the foundation for connecting Claude with Checkvist functionality
6

Create a Composio instance and Tool Router session

async function chat() {
  const { COMPOSIO_API_KEY, USER_ID } = process.env;
  if (!COMPOSIO_API_KEY || !USER_ID) {
    throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID required in .env');
  }

  const composio = new Composio({ apiKey: COMPOSIO_API_KEY });

  // Create Tool Router session for Checkvist
  const session = await composio.create(USER_ID, {
    toolkits: ['checkvist'],
  });
  const mcpUrl = session?.mcp.url;
What's happening:
  • The function checks for the required COMPOSIO_API_KEY environment variable
  • We're creating a Composio instance using our API key
  • The create method creates a Tool Router session for Checkvist
  • The returned url is the MCP server URL that your agent will use
7

Configure Claude Agent with MCP

const options: Options = {
  permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions',
  mcpServers: {
    composio: {
      type: 'http',
      url: mcpUrl,
      headers: { 'x-api-key': COMPOSIO_API_KEY }
    }
  },
  systemPrompt: 'You are a helpful assistant with access to Checkvist tools via Composio.',
  maxTurns: 10,
};
What's happening:
  • We're configuring the Claude Agent options with the MCP server URL
  • permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions' allows the agent to execute operations without asking for permission each time
  • The system prompt instructs the agent that it has access to Checkvist
  • maxTurns: 10 limits the conversation length to prevent excessive API usage
8

Create client and start chat loop

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

  console.log('\nChat started. Type "exit" to quit.\n');

  let isProcessing = false;

  async function ask(prompt: string) {
    isProcessing = true;
    rl.pause();

    process.stdout.write('Claude is thinking...');
    const stream = query({ prompt, options });

    let firstChunk = true;
    for await (const msg of stream) {
      const content = (msg as any).message?.content || (msg as any).content;
      if (Array.isArray(content)) {
        for (const block of content) {
          if (block.type === 'text' && block.text) {
            if (firstChunk) {
              process.stdout.write('\r\x1b[K');
              process.stdout.write('Claude: ');
              firstChunk = false;
            }
            process.stdout.write(block.text);
          }
        }
      }
    }
    process.stdout.write('\n\n');

    isProcessing = false;
    rl.resume();
    rl.prompt();
  }

  rl.on('line', async (line) => {
    if (isProcessing) return;

    const input = line.trim();
    if (input === 'exit') {
      rl.close();
      process.exit(0);
    }
    if (input) await ask(input);
    else rl.prompt();
  });

  await ask('What can you help me with?');
}
What's happening:
  • The readline interface is created to handle user input and output
  • The query function is used to send the user's input to the agent
  • The chat loop continues until the user types 'exit' or 'quit'
9

Run the application

try {
  await chat();
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
  process.exit(1);
}
What's happening:
  • The chat function is the entry point for the application
  • The try-catch block is used to handle any errors that occur

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Checkvist and Claude Agent SDK:

import 'dotenv/config';
import readline from 'node:readline';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { query, type Options } from "@anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk";

async function chat() {
  const { COMPOSIO_API_KEY, USER_ID } = process.env;
  if (!COMPOSIO_API_KEY || !USER_ID) {
    throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID required in .env');
  }

  const composio = new Composio({ apiKey: COMPOSIO_API_KEY });
  const session = await composio.create(USER_ID, {
    toolkits: ['checkvist']
  });
  const mcp_url = session?.mcp.url;

  const options: Options = {
    permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions',
    mcpServers: {
      composio: {
        type: 'http',
        url: mcp_url,
        headers: { 'x-api-key': COMPOSIO_API_KEY }
      }
    },
    systemPrompt: 'You are a helpful assistant with access to Checkvist tools via Composio.',
    maxTurns: 10,
  };

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

  console.log('\nChat started. Type "exit" to quit.\n');

  let isProcessing = false;

  async function ask(prompt: string) {
    isProcessing = true;
    rl.pause();

    process.stdout.write('Claude is thinking...');
    const stream = query({ prompt, options });

    let firstChunk = true;
    for await (const msg of stream) {
      const content = (msg as any).message?.content || (msg as any).content;
      if (Array.isArray(content)) {
        for (const block of content) {
          if (block.type === 'text' && block.text) {
            if (firstChunk) {
              process.stdout.write('\r\x1b[K');
              process.stdout.write('Claude: ');
              firstChunk = false;
            }
            process.stdout.write(block.text);
          }
        }
      }
    }
    process.stdout.write('\n\n');

    isProcessing = false;
    rl.resume();
    rl.prompt();
  }

  rl.on('line', async (line) => {
    if (isProcessing) return;

    const input = line.trim();
    if (input === 'exit') {
      rl.close();
      process.exit(0);
    }
    if (input) await ask(input);
    else rl.prompt();
  });

  await ask('What can you help me with?');
}

try {
  await chat();
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
  process.exit(1);
}

Conclusion

You've successfully built a Claude Agent SDK agent that can interact with Checkvist through Composio's Tool Router.

Key features:

  • Native MCP support through Claude's agent framework
  • Streaming responses for real-time interaction
  • Permission bypass for smooth automated workflows
You can extend this by adding more toolkits, implementing custom business logic, or building a web interface around the agent.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Create Checklist

Create a Checkvist checklist with a name and optional visibility and tags.

Create Task

Create a task in a checklist, optionally under a parent and with tags, smart-syntax due date, position, priority, or assignees.

Delete Checklist

Mark a Checkvist checklist for deletion.

Delete Task

Permanently delete a Checkvist task and all of its child tasks.

Get Checklist

Get one Checkvist checklist's metadata by ID.

Get Tasks Outline

Read a checklist as a recommended markdown task outline, with controls for closed tasks, depth, compact output, or top-level preview.

Get Tasks Page

Read one explicit 1-based page of a large Checkvist checklist.

Get Task Tree

Read one Checkvist task and its subtasks as a markdown outline, optionally including closed items or notes and limiting depth.

Import Tasks

Create multiple hierarchical tasks from Checkvist indented text.

List Checklists

List checklists available to the authenticated Checkvist user, optionally including archived lists or omitting statistics for a faster response.

Replace Tasks

Delete every existing task in a checklist, then replace the hierarchy from Checkvist indented text or OPML.

Search Tasks

Search tasks across the user's Checkvist checklists using words and operators for due date (^ or due:), tag (# or tag:), state (in:), and notes (has:note).

Set Task Status

Set a task's status to closed, reopened, or invalidated using Checkvist's dedicated status operations.

Update Checklist

Update an existing checklist's name, visibility, or complete tag set.

Update Task

Update task content, hierarchy, replacement tags, due date, position, priority, assignees, or smart-syntax parsing.

Update Task Tags

Add and remove task tags without replacing the complete tag set.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Checkvist MCP Agent with another framework

OpenAI Agents SDK logo

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Checkvist MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Use Checkvist MCP with Claude Code

Claude Cowork logo

Claude Cowork

Use Checkvist MCP with Claude Cowork

Codex logo

Codex

Use Checkvist MCP with Codex

OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

Use Checkvist MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes logo

Hermes

Use Checkvist MCP with Hermes

CLI logo

CLI

Use Checkvist MCP with CLI

Google ADK logo

Google ADK

Use Checkvist MCP with Google ADK

LangChain logo

LangChain

Use Checkvist MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

Use Checkvist MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI logo

Mastra AI

Use Checkvist MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Checkvist MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI logo

CrewAI

Use Checkvist MCP with CrewAI

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. Claude Agent 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 Checkvist tools.

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

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