How to integrate Checkvist MCP with CrewAI

This guide walks you through connecting Checkvist to CrewAI 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 CrewAI 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.

Checkvist logoCheckvist
Api Key

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 CrewAI 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 CrewAI 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

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get a Composio API key and configure your Checkvist connection
  • Set up CrewAI with an MCP enabled agent
  • Create a Tool Router session or standalone MCP server for Checkvist
  • Build a conversational loop where your agent can execute Checkvist 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 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 step08 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Python 3.9 or higher
  • A Composio account and API key
  • A Checkvist 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 Checkvist 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 Checkvist MCP URL
6

Create a Composio Tool Router session for Checkvist

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

url = session.mcp.url
What's happening:
  • You create a Checkvist only session through Composio
  • Composio returns an MCP HTTP URL that exposes Checkvist 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 Checkvist 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=["checkvist"],
)
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 Checkvist through Composio's Tool Router. The agent can perform Checkvist 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 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.

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. 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 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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