How to integrate Ably MCP with LangChain

This guide walks you through connecting Ably to LangChain using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Ably agent that can list all active channels and their details, get message history from 'support-chat' channel, show presence history for 'live-event' channel through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your LangChain agent real control over a Ably account through Composio's Ably MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

Get started for free Get a demo

Ably

Api Key

Ably is a real-time messaging platform for live chat and data sync in modern apps. It offers global scale and rock-solid reliability for seamless, instant experiences.

25 Tools

Managed auth

Connect Ably without auth hassles

We manage OAuth, API keys, token refresh, and scopes — you just build.

Try for free

Introduction

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

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

Also integrate Ably with

OpenAI Agents SDK Claude Agent SDK Claude Code Claude Cowork Codex OpenClaw Hermes CLI Google ADK Vercel AI SDK Mastra AI LlamaIndex CrewAI

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:

Get and set up your OpenAI and Composio API keys
Connect your Ably project to Composio
Create a Tool Router MCP session for Ably
Initialize an MCP client and retrieve Ably tools
Build a LangChain agent that can interact with Ably
Set up an interactive chat interface for testing

What is LangChain?

LangChain is a framework for developing applications powered by language models. It provides tools and abstractions for building agents that can reason, use tools, and maintain conversation context.

Key features include:

Agent Framework: Build agents that can use tools and make decisions
MCP Integration: Connect to external services through Model Context Protocol adapters
Memory Management: Maintain conversation history across interactions
Multi-Provider Support: Works with OpenAI, Anthropic, and other LLM providers

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

The Ably MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Ably account. It provides structured and secure access to your real-time messaging infrastructure, so your agent can manage channels, monitor presence, analyze usage, and handle messaging workflows for your applications.

Channel management and creation: Seamlessly create, initialize, or retrieve real-time messaging channels so your agent can orchestrate chat, data sync, and collaboration features on demand.
Presence tracking and analytics: Ask your agent to query current presence states or review historical presence data across multiple channels, gaining insights into user activity and engagement patterns.
Message history and audit: Retrieve detailed message histories from any channel, enabling your agent to audit communication, recover missed messages, or analyze message flows for debugging and compliance.
Push notification subscription management: Let your agent list, manage, or unsubscribe devices from push notification channels, ensuring targeted and controlled delivery of real-time alerts to clients.
Application statistics and monitoring: Have your agent fetch in-depth usage metrics—like message counts, channel activity, and API request stats—so you can monitor health, optimize performance, and manage resources with confidence.

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:

Discovery: Searches for tools matching your task and returns relevant toolkits with their details.
Authentication: Checks for active connections. If missing, creates an auth config and returns a connection URL via Auth Link.
Execution: Executes the action using the authenticated connection.

Step-by-step Guide

Step by step10 STEPS

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, make sure you have:

Python 3.10 or higher installed on your system
A Composio account with an API key
An OpenAI API key
Basic familiarity with Python and async programming

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.

Install dependencies

npm install @composio/langchain @langchain/core @langchain/openai @langchain/mcp-adapters dotenv

Install the required packages for LangChain with MCP support.

What's happening:

@composio/langchain provides Composio integration for LangChain
@langchain/mcp-adapters enables MCP client connections
@langchain/core is the core agent framework
dotenv/config loads environment variables

Set up environment variables

bash

COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
COMPOSIO_USER_ID=your_composio_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's API
COMPOSIO_USER_ID identifies the user for session management
OPENAI_API_KEY enables access to OpenAI's language models

Import dependencies

import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { LangchainProvider } from '@composio/langchain';
import { MultiServerMCPClient } from "@langchain/mcp-adapters";
import { createAgent } from "langchain";
import * as readline from 'readline';
import 'dotenv/config';

dotenv.config();

What's happening:

We're importing LangChain's MCP adapter and Composio SDK
The dotenv/config import loads environment variables from your .env file
This setup prepares the foundation for connecting LangChain with Ably functionality through MCP

Initialize Composio client

const composioApiKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const userId = process.env.COMPOSIO_USER_ID;

if (!composioApiKey) throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set');
if (!userId) throw new Error('COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set');

async function main() {
    const composio = new Composio({
        apiKey: composioApiKey as string,
        provider: new LangchainProvider()
    });

What's happening:

We're loading the COMPOSIO_API_KEY from environment variables and validating it exists
Creating a Composio instance that will manage our connection to Ably tools
Validating that COMPOSIO_USER_ID is also set before proceeding

Create a Tool Router session

const session = await composio.create(
    userId as string,
    {
        toolkits: ['ably']
    }
);

const url = session.mcp.url;

What's happening:

We're creating a Tool Router session that gives your agent access to Ably 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
This approach allows the agent to dynamically load and use Ably tools as needed

Configure the agent with the MCP URL

const client = new MultiServerMCPClient({
    "ably-agent": {
        transport: "http",
        url: url,
        headers: {
            "x-api-key": process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY
        }
    }
});

const tools = await client.getTools();

const agent = createAgent({ model: "gpt-5", tools });

What's happening:

We're creating a MultiServerMCPClient that connects to our Ably MCP server via HTTP
The client is configured with a name and the URL from our Tool Router session
getTools() retrieves all available Ably tools that the agent can use
We're creating a LangChain agent using the GPT-5 model

Set up interactive chat interface

let conversationHistory: any[] = [];

console.log("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n");
console.log("Ask any Ably related question or task to the agent.\n");

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

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;
    }

    conversationHistory.push({ role: "user", content: trimmedInput });
    console.log("\nAgent is thinking...\n");

    const response = await agent.invoke({ messages: conversationHistory });
    conversationHistory = response.messages;

    const finalResponse = response.messages[response.messages.length - 1]?.content;
    console.log(`Agent: ${finalResponse}\n`);
        
        rl.prompt();
    });

    rl.on('close', () => {
        console.log('\n👋 Session ended.');
        process.exit(0);
    });

What's happening:

We initialize an empty conversationHistory list to maintain context across interactions
A readline interface is used to continuously accept user input from the command line
When a user types a message, it's added to the conversation history and sent to the agent
The agent processes the request using the invoke() method with the full conversation history
Users can type 'exit', 'quit', or 'bye' to end the chat session gracefully

Run the application

main().catch((err) => {
    console.error('Fatal error:', err);
    process.exit(1);
});

What's happening:

We call the main() function to start the application

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Ably and LangChain:

import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { LangchainProvider } from '@composio/langchain';
import { MultiServerMCPClient } from "@langchain/mcp-adapters";  
import { createAgent } from "langchain";
import * as readline from 'readline';
import 'dotenv/config';

const composioApiKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const userId = process.env.COMPOSIO_USER_ID;

if (!composioApiKey) throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set');
if (!userId) throw new Error('COMPOSIO_USER_ID is not set');

async function main() {
    const composio = new Composio({
        apiKey: composioApiKey as string,
        provider: new LangchainProvider()
    });

    const session = await composio.create(
        userId as string,
        {
            toolkits: ['ably']
        }
    );

    const url = session.mcp.url;
    
    const client = new MultiServerMCPClient({
        "ably-agent": {
            transport: "http",
            url: url,
            headers: {
                "x-api-key": process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY
            }
        }
    });
    
    const tools = await client.getTools();
  
    const agent = createAgent({ model: "gpt-5", tools });
    
    let conversationHistory: any[] = [];
    
    console.log("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end the conversation.\n");
    console.log("Ask any Ably related question or task to the agent.\n");
    
    const rl = readline.createInterface({
        input: process.stdin,
        output: process.stdout,
        prompt: 'You: '
    });

    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;
        }
        
        conversationHistory.push({ role: "user", content: trimmedInput });
        console.log("\nAgent is thinking...\n");
        
        const response = await agent.invoke({ messages: conversationHistory });
        conversationHistory = response.messages;
        
        const finalResponse = response.messages[response.messages.length - 1]?.content;
        console.log(`Agent: ${finalResponse}\n`);
        
        rl.prompt();
    });

    rl.on('close', () => {
        console.log('\nSession ended.');
        process.exit(0);
    });
}

main().catch((err) => {
    console.error('Fatal error:', err);
    process.exit(1);
});

Conclusion

You've successfully built a LangChain agent that can interact with Ably through Composio's Tool Router.

Key features of this implementation:

Dynamic tool loading through Composio's Tool Router
Conversation history maintenance for context-aware responses
Async Python provides clean, efficient execution of agent workflows

You can extend this further by adding error handling, implementing specific business logic, or integrating additional Composio toolkits to create multi-app workflows.

TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Query Batch Presence

This tool enables querying the presence states of multiple channels in a single API request.

Query Batch Presence History

This tool enables querying presence history for multiple channels in a single API request.

Delete Channel Subscription

This tool allows you to unsubscribe devices or clients from push notifications for specific channels.

Get Channel Details

This tool retrieves metadata and details for a specific channel in Ably.

Get Channel History

This tool retrieves the message history for a specified Ably channel.

Get Channel Presence

Tool to obtain the set of members currently present for a channel.

Get Message Versions

Tool to retrieve all historical versions of a specific message from an Ably channel.

Get Channel Presence History

This tool retrieves the history of presence messages for a specified channel in Ably.

Get Push Device Registration

Tool to get the full details of a device registration for push notifications.

Get Ably Service Time

This tool retrieves the current server time from Ably's service in milliseconds since the epoch.

Get Application Stats

This tool retrieves your application's usage statistics from Ably.

List Channels

Tool to enumerate all active channels in the Ably application.

List Push Channels

Tool to list all channels with at least one subscribed device.

List Push Channel Subscriptions

This tool retrieves a list of all push notification channel subscriptions.

List Registered Push Devices

Tool to list all devices registered for receiving push notifications in your Ably application.

Patch Push Device Registration

Tool to partially update specific attributes of an existing device registration in Ably's push notification system.

Batch Publish Messages

Tool to batch publish messages to multiple channels in parallel.

Publish Message to Channel

This tool will allow users to publish a message to a specified Ably channel using a POST request.

Publish Push Notification

Tool to publish a push notification directly to device(s) via Ably's Push Notifications API.

Batch Publish Push Notifications

Tool to batch publish push notifications directly to specific recipients.

Tool to register a device for receiving push notifications in Ably.

Request Access Token

Request an access token for Ably authentication.

Unregister All Push Devices

Tool to unregister matching devices for push notifications.

Unregister Push Device

Tool to unregister a single device from push notifications in Ably.

Update Push Device Registration

Tool to update (upsert) a device registration for push notifications in Ably.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Ably MCP Agent with another framework

OpenAI Agents SDK

Use Ably MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK

Use Ably MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Claude Code

Use Ably MCP with Claude Code

Claude Cowork

Use Ably MCP with Claude Cowork

Codex

Use Ably MCP with Codex

OpenClaw

Use Ably MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes

Use Ably MCP with Hermes

CLI

Use Ably MCP with CLI

Google ADK

Use Ably MCP with Google ADK

Vercel AI SDK

Use Ably MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI

Use Ably MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex

Use Ably MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI

Use Ably MCP with CrewAI

MORE TOOLKITS

Explore Other Toolkits

Toolkit marketplace

Supabase

Oauth2Api Key

Supabase is an open-source backend platform offering scalable Postgres databases, authentication, storage, and real-time APIs. It lets developers build modern apps without managing infrastructure.

Codeinterpreter

No Auth

Codeinterpreter is a Python-based coding environment with built-in data analysis and visualization. It lets you instantly run scripts, plot results, and prototype solutions inside supported platforms.

GitHub

Oauth2

GitHub is a code hosting platform for version control and collaborative software development. It streamlines project management, code review, and team workflows in one place.

Abuselpdb

Api Key

Abuselpdb is a central database for reporting and checking IPs linked to malicious online activity. Use it to quickly identify and report suspicious or abusive IP addresses.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. LangChain 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 Ably tools.

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

Start with Ably.It takes 30 seconds.

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

Start building

Customer stories

Teams ship real agents on Composio

GET STARTED FOR FREE BOOK A DEMO

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

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

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

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

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

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

Co-Founder, Ingram Technologies

How to integrate Ably MCP with LangChain

Connect Ably without auth hassles

Introduction

Also integrate Ably with

TL;DR

What is LangChain?

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

What is the Composio tool router, and how does it fit here?

What is Composio SDK?

How the Composio SDK works

Step-by-step Guide

Prerequisites

Getting API Keys for OpenAI and Composio

Install dependencies

Set up environment variables

Import dependencies

Initialize Composio client

Create a Tool Router session

Configure the agent with the MCP URL

Set up interactive chat interface

Run the application

Complete Code

Conclusion

Supported Tools

How to build Ably MCP Agent with another framework

OpenAI Agents SDK

Claude Agent SDK

Claude Code

Claude Cowork

Codex

OpenClaw

Hermes

CLI

Google ADK

Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI

LlamaIndex

CrewAI

Explore Other Toolkits

Supabase

Codeinterpreter

GitHub

Abuselpdb

Frequently asked questions

What are the differences in Tool Router MCP and Ably MCP?+

Can I use Tool Router MCP with LangChain?+

Can I manage the permissions and scopes for Ably while using Tool Router?+

How safe is my data with Composio Tool Router?+

Start with Ably.It takes 30 seconds.

Teams ship real agents on Composio