How to integrate Needle MCP with Pydantic AI

This guide walks you through connecting Needle to Pydantic AI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Needle agent that can list all document collections i have, show stats for your 'research' collection, find files in collection uploaded this week through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your Pydantic AI agent real control over a Needle account through Composio's Needle MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

Get started for freeGet a demo
Needle logoNeedle
Api Key

Needle is a RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) toolkit that brings semantic search capabilities to your own data. It lets you build smarter AI agents by giving them context-aware, accurate information retrieval.

16 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Needle to Pydantic AI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Needle agent that can list all document collections i have, show stats for your 'research' collection, find files in collection uploaded this week through natural language commands.

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

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

Also integrate Needle with

OpenAI Agents SDKClaude Agent SDKClaude CodeClaude CoworkCodexOpenClawHermesCLIGoogle ADKLangChainVercel AI SDKMastra AILlamaIndexCrewAI

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • How to set up your Composio API key and User ID
  • How to create a Composio Tool Router session for Needle
  • How to attach an MCP Server to a Pydantic AI agent
  • How to stream responses and maintain chat history
  • How to build a simple REPL-style chat interface to test your Needle workflows

What is Pydantic AI?

Pydantic AI is a Python framework for building AI agents with strong typing and validation. It leverages Pydantic's data validation capabilities to create robust, type-safe AI applications.

Key features include:

  • Type Safety: Built on Pydantic for automatic data validation
  • MCP Support: Native support for Model Context Protocol servers
  • Streaming: Built-in support for streaming responses
  • Async First: Designed for async/await patterns

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

The Needle MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Needle account. It provides structured and secure access to your semantic search collections, so your agent can perform actions like creating and managing collections, uploading and deleting files, retrieving collection statistics, and listing available data sources on your behalf.

  • Collection management and creation: Easily instruct your agent to create new semantic search collections tailored to your data needs.
  • File listing and retrieval: Have your agent list and retrieve all files within a specific collection, making it simple to view and organize your indexed data.
  • File deletion from collections: Direct your agent to remove unwanted or outdated files from any collection by specifying file IDs for cleanup and maintenance.
  • Collection statistics and insights: Ask your agent to fetch real-time statistics on any collection, including document counts, index size, and timestamps to monitor your data health.
  • Browse all available collections: Let your agent page through and present all your collections, so you can quickly access, search, or manage your data resources.

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:
  • Python 3.9 or higher
  • A Composio account with an active API key
  • Basic familiarity with Python and async programming
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 pydantic-ai python-dotenv

Install the required libraries.

What's happening:

  • composio connects your agent to external SaaS tools like Needle
  • pydantic-ai lets you create structured AI agents with tool support
  • python-dotenv loads your environment variables securely from a .env file
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

Create a .env file in your project root.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY authenticates your agent to Composio's API
  • USER_ID associates your session with your account for secure tool access
  • OPENAI_API_KEY to access OpenAI LLMs
5

Import dependencies

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio
from pydantic_ai import Agent
from pydantic_ai.mcp import MCPServerStreamableHTTP

load_dotenv()
What's happening:
  • We load environment variables and import required modules
  • Composio manages connections to Needle
  • MCPServerStreamableHTTP connects to the Needle MCP server endpoint
  • Agent from Pydantic AI lets you define and run the AI assistant
6

Create a Tool Router Session

python
async def main():
    api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
    user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")
    if not api_key or not user_id:
        raise RuntimeError("Set COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID in your environment")

    # Create a Composio Tool Router session for Needle
    composio = Composio(api_key=api_key)
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=user_id,
        toolkits=["needle"],
    )
    url = session.mcp.url
    if not url:
        raise ValueError("Composio session did not return an MCP URL")
What's happening:
  • We're creating a Tool Router session that gives your agent access to Needle tools
  • The create method takes the user ID and specifies which toolkits should be available
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP server URL that your agent will use
7

Initialize the Pydantic AI Agent

python
# Attach the MCP server to a Pydantic AI Agent
needle_mcp = MCPServerStreamableHTTP(url, headers={"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY})
agent = Agent(
    "openai:gpt-5",
    toolsets=[needle_mcp],
    instructions=(
        "You are a Needle assistant. Use Needle tools to help users "
        "with their requests. Ask clarifying questions when needed."
    ),
)
What's happening:
  • The MCP client connects to the Needle endpoint
  • The agent uses GPT-5 to interpret user commands and perform Needle operations
  • The instructions field defines the agent's role and behavior
8

Build the chat interface

python
# Simple REPL with message history
history = []
print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")
print("Try asking the agent to help you with Needle.\n")

while True:
    user_input = input("You: ").strip()
    if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit", "bye"}:
        print("\nGoodbye!")
        break
    if not user_input:
        continue

    print("\nAgent is thinking...\n", flush=True)

    async with agent.run_stream(user_input, message_history=history) as stream_result:
        collected_text = ""
        async for chunk in stream_result.stream_output():
            text_piece = None
            if isinstance(chunk, str):
                text_piece = chunk
            elif hasattr(chunk, "delta") and isinstance(chunk.delta, str):
                text_piece = chunk.delta
            elif hasattr(chunk, "text"):
                text_piece = chunk.text
            if text_piece:
                collected_text += text_piece
        result = stream_result

    print(f"Agent: {collected_text}\n")
    history = result.all_messages()
What's happening:
  • The agent reads input from the terminal and streams its response
  • Needle API calls happen automatically under the hood
  • The model keeps conversation history to maintain context across turns
9

Run the application

python
if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())
What's happening:
  • The asyncio loop launches the agent and keeps it running until you exit

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Needle and Pydantic AI:

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio
from pydantic_ai import Agent
from pydantic_ai.mcp import MCPServerStreamableHTTP

load_dotenv()

async def main():
    api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
    user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")
    if not api_key or not user_id:
        raise RuntimeError("Set COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID in your environment")

    # Create a Composio Tool Router session for Needle
    composio = Composio(api_key=api_key)
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=user_id,
        toolkits=["needle"],
    )
    url = session.mcp.url
    if not url:
        raise ValueError("Composio session did not return an MCP URL")

    # Attach the MCP server to a Pydantic AI Agent
    needle_mcp = MCPServerStreamableHTTP(url, headers={"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY})
    agent = Agent(
        "openai:gpt-5",
        toolsets=[needle_mcp],
        instructions=(
            "You are a Needle assistant. Use Needle tools to help users "
            "with their requests. Ask clarifying questions when needed."
        ),
    )

    # Simple REPL with message history
    history = []
    print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")
    print("Try asking the agent to help you with Needle.\n")

    while True:
        user_input = input("You: ").strip()
        if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit", "bye"}:
            print("\nGoodbye!")
            break
        if not user_input:
            continue

        print("\nAgent is thinking...\n", flush=True)

        async with agent.run_stream(user_input, message_history=history) as stream_result:
            collected_text = ""
            async for chunk in stream_result.stream_output():
                text_piece = None
                if isinstance(chunk, str):
                    text_piece = chunk
                elif hasattr(chunk, "delta") and isinstance(chunk.delta, str):
                    text_piece = chunk.delta
                elif hasattr(chunk, "text"):
                    text_piece = chunk.text
                if text_piece:
                    collected_text += text_piece
            result = stream_result

        print(f"Agent: {collected_text}\n")
        history = result.all_messages()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

Conclusion

You've built a Pydantic AI agent that can interact with Needle through Composio's Tool Router. With this setup, your agent can perform real Needle actions through natural language. You can extend this further by:
  • Adding other toolkits like Gmail, HubSpot, or Salesforce
  • Building a web-based chat interface around this agent
  • Using multiple MCP endpoints to enable cross-app workflows (for example, Gmail + Needle for workflow automation)
This architecture makes your AI agent "agent-native", able to securely use APIs in a unified, composable way without custom integrations.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Add files to a collection

Tool to add files to a collection by providing file URLs.

Add Files to Local Connector

Tool to add files to a local connector by providing file metadata.

Create Collection

Tool to create a new collection.

Create Local Connector

Tool to create a local connector that monitors specified folders on a device.

Delete files from a collection

Tool to delete files from a specific collection by providing file IDs.

Delete files from local connector

Tool to delete files from a local connector by filename or file IDs.

Get Collection

Tool to retrieve details for a specific collection by its ID.

Get collection stats

Tool to retrieve statistics for a specific collection by its ID.

Get File Download URL

Tool to get a short-lived signed private download URL for a Needle file.

Get File Upload URL

Tool to get signed URLs for uploading local files to Needle.

Get local connector

Tool to retrieve details of a local connector by its ID.

List Collection Files

Tool to list all files within a specific collection by its ID.

List Collections

Tool to list collections.

List Connectors

Tool to list connectors.

List Local Connectors

Tool to list local connectors.

Search Collection

Tool to perform semantic search within a specific Needle collection and return ranked results with source references.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Needle MCP Agent with another framework

OpenAI Agents SDK logo

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Needle MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK logo

Claude Agent SDK

Use Needle MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Use Needle MCP with Claude Code

Claude Cowork logo

Claude Cowork

Use Needle MCP with Claude Cowork

Codex logo

Codex

Use Needle MCP with Codex

OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

Use Needle MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes logo

Hermes

Use Needle MCP with Hermes

CLI logo

CLI

Use Needle MCP with CLI

Google ADK logo

Google ADK

Use Needle MCP with Google ADK

LangChain logo

LangChain

Use Needle MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

Use Needle MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI logo

Mastra AI

Use Needle MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Needle MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI logo

CrewAI

Use Needle MCP with CrewAI

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. Pydantic 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 Needle tools.

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

Start with Needle.It takes 30 seconds.

Managed auth, hosted MCP servers, and every Needle tool your agent needs.Free to start.

Start building
Customer stories

Teams ship real agents on Composio

GET STARTED FOR FREEBOOK A DEMO
agent.aiZoomLettaGleanHubSpotAWSWabi

Karan skipped his own birthday party to fix our critical issue. It was 10pm and he diverted his Waymo to help us instead. This really sets the bar — it shows the commitment you need when users rely on your software.

Harsha Gaddipati
Harsha Gaddipati
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.

Abhi Arya
Abhi Arya
Co-founder, Opennote

We chose Composio over Pipedream because it delivered depth where it mattered — niche tools and tricky edge cases other platforms simply ignored. That gave us confidence to scale without compromising.

Nirman Dave
Nirman Dave
CEO, Zams

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.

Ryan Yu
Ryan Yu
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.

Tomisin Jenrola
Tomisin Jenrola
Founder & CEO, SwarmZero

With hands-on help from their founder, we integrated Gmail and Google Drive in just 30 minutes. This level of personal support and commitment is exactly what startups should strive for.

Jerome Leclanche
Jerome Leclanche
Co-Founder, Ingram Technologies