How to integrate Kanban Tool MCP with Mastra AI

This guide walks you through connecting Kanban Tool to Mastra AI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Kanban Tool agent that can list your boards, create tasks and subtasks, search tasks, update task status, and add comments through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your Mastra AI agent real control over a Kanban Tool account through Composio's Kanban Tool MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

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Kanban Tool is a visual project and task management platform for boards, workflows, tasks, collaboration, and time tracking. Use it to keep team work visible, organized, and moving without messy status checks.

11 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Kanban Tool to Mastra AI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Kanban Tool agent that can list your boards, create tasks and subtasks, search tasks, update task status, and add comments through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your Mastra AI agent real control over a Kanban Tool account through Composio's Kanban Tool MCP server.

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

Also integrate Kanban Tool with

OpenAI Agents SDKClaude Agent SDKClaude CodeClaude CoworkCodexOpenClawHermesCLIGoogle ADKLangChainVercel AI SDKLlamaIndexCrewAI

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Set up your environment so Mastra, OpenAI, and Composio work together
  • Create a Tool Router session in Composio that exposes Kanban Tool tools
  • Connect Mastra's MCP client to the Composio generated MCP URL
  • Fetch Kanban Tool tool definitions and attach them as a toolset
  • Build a Mastra agent that can reason, call tools, and return structured results
  • Run an interactive CLI where you can chat with your Kanban Tool agent

What is Mastra AI?

Mastra AI is a TypeScript framework for building AI agents with tool support. It provides a clean API for creating agents that can use external services through MCP.

Key features include:

  • MCP Client: Built-in support for Model Context Protocol servers
  • Toolsets: Organize tools into logical groups
  • Step Callbacks: Monitor and debug agent execution
  • OpenAI Integration: Works with OpenAI models via @ai-sdk/openai

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

The Kanban Tool MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Kanban Tool account. It provides structured and secure access to your boards, workflows, tasks, subtasks, comments, and time tracking details, so your agent can review boards, find tasks, create work, update progress, and manage task lifecycles on your behalf.

  • Board and workflow review: Have your agent list available boards and inspect their workflow stages and collaborators before planning or assigning work.
  • Task search and details: Instruct your agent to search visible tasks and retrieve their comments, subtasks, attachments, change history, dependencies, and time tracking details.
  • Task creation and updates: Let the agent create tasks, place them in the right workflow stage, assign owners, and update estimates, due dates, tags, or external references.
  • Subtask and comment management: Direct your agent to add task comments, create or update subtasks, mark subtasks complete, and remove subtasks that are no longer needed.
  • Task lifecycle control: Have your agent archive, unarchive, remove, or restore tasks as priorities and project needs change.

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:
  • Node.js 18 or higher
  • A Composio account with an active API key
  • An OpenAI API key
  • Basic familiarity with TypeScript
2

Getting API Keys for OpenAI and Composio

OpenAI API Key
  • Go to the OpenAI dashboard and create an API key.
  • You need credits or a connected billing setup to use the models.
  • Store the key somewhere safe.
Composio API Key
  • Log in to the Composio dashboard.
  • Go to Settings and copy your API key.
  • This key lets your Mastra agent talk to Composio and reach Kanban Tool through MCP.
3

Install dependencies

bash
npm install @composio/core @mastra/core @mastra/mcp @ai-sdk/openai dotenv

Install the required packages.

What's happening:

  • @composio/core is the Composio SDK for creating MCP sessions
  • @mastra/core provides the Agent class
  • @mastra/mcp is Mastra's MCP client
  • @ai-sdk/openai is the model wrapper for OpenAI
  • dotenv loads environment variables from .env
4

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
COMPOSIO_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 your requests to Composio
  • COMPOSIO_USER_ID tells Composio which user this session belongs to
  • OPENAI_API_KEY lets the Mastra agent call OpenAI models
5

Import libraries and validate environment

typescript
import "dotenv/config";
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";
import { Agent } from "@mastra/core/agent";
import { MCPClient } from "@mastra/mcp";
import { Composio } from "@composio/core";
import * as readline from "readline";

import type { AiMessageType } from "@mastra/core/agent";

const openaiAPIKey = process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY;
const composioAPIKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const composioUserID = process.env.COMPOSIO_USER_ID;

if (!openaiAPIKey) throw new Error("OPENAI_API_KEY is not set");
if (!composioAPIKey) throw new Error("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set");
if (!composioUserID) throw new Error("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set");

const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioAPIKey as string,
});
What's happening:
  • dotenv/config auto loads your .env so process.env.* is available
  • openai gives you a Mastra compatible model wrapper
  • Agent is the Mastra agent that will call tools and produce answers
  • MCPClient connects Mastra to your Composio MCP server
  • Composio is used to create a Tool Router session
6

Create a Tool Router session for Kanban Tool

typescript
async function main() {
  const session = await composio.create(
    composioUserID as string,
    {
      toolkits: ["kanban_tool"],
    },
  );

  const composioMCPUrl = session.mcp.url;
  console.log("Kanban Tool MCP URL:", composioMCPUrl);
What's happening:
  • create spins up a short-lived MCP HTTP endpoint for this user
  • The toolkits array contains "kanban_tool" for Kanban Tool access
  • session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that Mastra's MCPClient will connect to
7

Configure Mastra MCP client and fetch tools

typescript
const mcpClient = new MCPClient({
    id: composioUserID as string,
    servers: {
      nasdaq: {
        url: new URL(composioMCPUrl),
        requestInit: {
          headers: session.mcp.headers,
        },
      },
    },
    timeout: 30_000,
  });

console.log("Fetching MCP tools from Composio...");
const composioTools = await mcpClient.getTools();
console.log("Number of tools:", Object.keys(composioTools).length);
What's happening:
  • MCPClient takes an id for this client and a list of MCP servers
  • The headers property includes the x-api-key for authentication
  • getTools fetches the tool definitions exposed by the Kanban Tool toolkit
8

Create the Mastra agent

typescript
const agent = new Agent({
    name: "kanban_tool-mastra-agent",
    instructions: "You are an AI agent with Kanban Tool tools via Composio.",
    model: "openai/gpt-5",
  });
What's happening:
  • Agent is the core Mastra agent
  • name is just an identifier for logging and debugging
  • instructions guide the agent to use tools instead of only answering in natural language
  • model uses openai("gpt-5") to configure the underlying LLM
9

Set up interactive chat interface

typescript
let messages: AiMessageType[] = [];

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

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

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;
  }

  messages.push({
    id: crypto.randomUUID(),
    role: "user",
    content: trimmedInput,
  });

  console.log("\nAgent is thinking...\n");

  try {
    const response = await agent.generate(messages, {
      toolsets: {
        kanban_tool: composioTools,
      },
      maxSteps: 8,
    });

    const { text } = response;

    if (text && text.trim().length > 0) {
      console.log(`Agent: ${text}\n`);
        messages.push({
          id: crypto.randomUUID(),
          role: "assistant",
          content: text,
        });
      }
    } catch (error) {
      console.error("\nError:", error);
    }

    rl.prompt();
  });

  rl.on("close", async () => {
    console.log("\nSession ended.");
    await mcpClient.disconnect();
    process.exit(0);
  });
}

main().catch((err) => {
  console.error("Fatal error:", err);
  process.exit(1);
});
What's happening:
  • messages keeps the full conversation history in Mastra's expected format
  • agent.generate runs the agent with conversation history and Kanban Tool toolsets
  • maxSteps limits how many tool calls the agent can take in a single run
  • onStepFinish is a hook that prints intermediate steps for debugging

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Kanban Tool and Mastra AI:

typescript
import "dotenv/config";
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";
import { Agent } from "@mastra/core/agent";
import { MCPClient } from "@mastra/mcp";
import { Composio } from "@composio/core";
import * as readline from "readline";

import type { AiMessageType } from "@mastra/core/agent";

const openaiAPIKey = process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY;
const composioAPIKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const composioUserID = process.env.COMPOSIO_USER_ID;

if (!openaiAPIKey) throw new Error("OPENAI_API_KEY is not set");
if (!composioAPIKey) throw new Error("COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set");
if (!composioUserID) throw new Error("COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set");

const composio = new Composio({ apiKey: composioAPIKey as string });

async function main() {
  const session = await composio.create(composioUserID as string, {
    toolkits: ["kanban_tool"],
  });

  const composioMCPUrl = session.mcp.url;

  const mcpClient = new MCPClient({
    id: composioUserID as string,
    servers: {
      kanban_tool: {
        url: new URL(composioMCPUrl),
        requestInit: {
          headers: session.mcp.headers,
        },
      },
    },
    timeout: 30_000,
  });

  const composioTools = await mcpClient.getTools();

  const agent = new Agent({
    name: "kanban_tool-mastra-agent",
    instructions: "You are an AI agent with Kanban Tool tools via Composio.",
    model: "openai/gpt-5",
  });

  let messages: AiMessageType[] = [];

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

  rl.prompt();

  rl.on("line", async (input: string) => {
    const trimmed = input.trim();
    if (["exit", "quit"].includes(trimmed.toLowerCase())) {
      rl.close();
      return;
    }

    messages.push({ id: crypto.randomUUID(), role: "user", content: trimmed });

    const { text } = await agent.generate(messages, {
      toolsets: { kanban_tool: composioTools },
      maxSteps: 8,
    });

    if (text) {
      console.log(`Agent: ${text}\n`);
      messages.push({ id: crypto.randomUUID(), role: "assistant", content: text });
    }

    rl.prompt();
  });

  rl.on("close", async () => {
    await mcpClient.disconnect();
    process.exit(0);
  });
}

main();

Conclusion

You've built a Mastra AI agent that can interact with Kanban Tool through Composio's Tool Router. You can extend this further by:
  • Adding other toolkits like Gmail, Slack, or GitHub
  • Building a web-based chat interface around this agent
  • Using multiple MCP endpoints to enable cross-app workflows
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Add comment

Add a text comment to a task.

Change task lifecycle

Archive, unarchive, soft-delete, or restore a task.

Create subtask

Create a subtask under an existing task or create it unattached for later use, with optional assignment and completion state.

Create task

Create a task on a board with optional workflow placement, assignment, estimates, due dates, tags, external references, and previously created unattached subtasks.

Delete subtask

Soft-delete a subtask and return its tombstone.

Get board

Fetch a board's workflow configuration and collaborators without loading its full active task collection.

Get task

Fetch a task with its comments, subtasks, attachments, changelog, dependencies, and time trackers.

List boards

List boards available to the connected Kanban Tool user, including each board's permissions and account feature/tier context.

Search tasks

Search visible tasks with Kanban Tool query syntax and return one page plus a continuation cursor.

Update subtask

Update a subtask's name, assignee, or completion state.

Update task

Update a task's content, placement, assignment, estimates, dates, tags, or external references.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Kanban Tool MCP Agent with another framework

OpenAI Agents SDK logo

OpenAI Agents SDK

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Claude Agent SDK logo

Claude Agent SDK

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Claude Code logo

Claude Code

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Claude Cowork logo

Claude Cowork

Use Kanban Tool MCP with Claude Cowork

Codex logo

Codex

Use Kanban Tool MCP with Codex

OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

Use Kanban Tool MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes logo

Hermes

Use Kanban Tool MCP with Hermes

CLI logo

CLI

Use Kanban Tool MCP with CLI

Google ADK logo

Google ADK

Use Kanban Tool MCP with Google ADK

LangChain logo

LangChain

Use Kanban Tool MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

Use Kanban Tool MCP with Vercel AI SDK

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Kanban Tool MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI logo

CrewAI

Use Kanban Tool MCP with CrewAI

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. Mastra AI 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 Kanban Tool tools.

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

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