How to integrate Apollo MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

This guide walks you through connecting Apollo to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Apollo agent that can bulk enrich profiles for new leads, add contacts to outreach sequence now, create a new sales deal for acme through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your OpenAI Agents SDK agent real control over a Apollo account through Composio's Apollo MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

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Apollo is a CRM and lead generation platform that helps businesses discover contacts and manage sales pipelines. Use it to streamline customer outreach and track your deals from one place.

48 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Apollo to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Apollo agent that can bulk enrich profiles for new leads, add contacts to outreach sequence now, create a new sales deal for acme through natural language commands.

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

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

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TL;DR

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

What is OpenAI Agents SDK?

The OpenAI Agents SDK is a lightweight framework for building AI agents that can use tools and maintain conversation state. It provides a simple interface for creating agents with hosted MCP tool support.

Key features include:

  • Hosted MCP Tools: Connect to external services through hosted MCP endpoints
  • SQLite Sessions: Persist conversation history across interactions
  • Simple API: Clean interface with Agent, Runner, and tool configuration
  • Streaming Support: Real-time response streaming for interactive applications

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

The Apollo MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Apollo account. It provides structured and secure access to your CRM and lead generation data, so your agent can create contacts, enrich organizations, manage deals, update account stages, and automate tasks for your sales pipeline—all on your behalf.

  • Contact and account creation: Instantly add new contacts or accounts to Apollo, linking them to organizations and stages to keep your CRM up to date with zero manual entry.
  • Bulk data enrichment: Rapidly enrich multiple people or organizations at once, leveraging Apollo's database to fill gaps and update your records with the latest information.
  • Sales opportunity and pipeline management: Let your agent create new deals, retrieve opportunity stages, and move accounts through your sales funnel to optimize pipeline performance.
  • Automated outreach sequencing: Add contacts to email sequences, making it easy to launch targeted campaigns and follow-ups without lifting a finger.
  • Task creation and label organization: Generate actionable Apollo tasks for your team and organize contacts or accounts with labels, so nothing slips through the cracks.

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 OpenAI API Key
  • Primary know-how of OpenAI Agents SDK
  • A live Apollo project
  • Some knowledge of Python or Typescript
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
3

Install dependencies

npm install @composio/openai-agents @openai/agents dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the OpenAI Agents SDK.

4

Set up environment variables

bash
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...your-api-key
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-api-key
USER_ID=composio_user@gmail.com

Create a .env file and add your OpenAI and Composio API keys.

5

Import dependencies

import 'dotenv/config';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { OpenAIAgentsProvider } from '@composio/openai-agents';
import { Agent, hostedMcpTool, run, OpenAIConversationsSession } from '@openai/agents';
import * as readline from 'readline';
What's happening:
  • You're importing all necessary libraries.
  • The Composio and OpenAIAgentsProvider classes are imported to connect your OpenAI agent to Composio tools like Apollo.
6

Set up the Composio instance

dotenv.config();

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

if (!composioApiKey) {
  throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key');
}
if (!userId) {
  throw new Error('USER_ID is not set');
}

// Initialize Composio
const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioApiKey,
  provider: new OpenAIAgentsProvider(),
});
What's happening:
  • dotenv.config() loads your .env file so COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID are available as environment variables.
  • Creating a Composio instance using the API Key and OpenAIAgentsProvider class.
7

Create a Tool Router session

// Create Tool Router session for Apollo
const session = await composio.create(userId as string, {
  toolkits: ['apollo'],
});
const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;

What is happening:

  • You give the Tool Router the user id and the toolkits you want available. Here, it is only apollo.
  • The router checks the user's Apollo connection and prepares the MCP endpoint.
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that your agent will use to access Apollo.
  • This approach keeps things lightweight and lets the agent request Apollo tools only when needed during the conversation.
8

Configure the agent

// Configure agent with MCP tool
const agent = new Agent({
  name: 'Assistant',
  model: 'gpt-5',
  instructions:
    'You are a helpful assistant that can access Apollo. Help users perform Apollo operations through natural language.',
  tools: [
    hostedMcpTool({
      serverLabel: 'tool_router',
      serverUrl: mcpUrl,
      headers: { 'x-api-key': composioApiKey },
      requireApproval: 'never',
    }),
  ],
});
What's happening:
  • We're creating an Agent instance with a name, model (gpt-5), and clear instructions about its purpose.
  • The agent's instructions tell it that it can access Apollo and help with queries, inserts, updates, authentication, and fetching database information.
  • The tools array includes a hostedMcpTool that connects to the MCP server URL we created earlier.
  • The headers object includes the Composio API key for secure authentication with the MCP server.
  • requireApproval: 'never' means the agent can execute Apollo operations without asking for permission each time, making interactions smoother.
9

Start chat loop and handle conversation

// Keep conversation state across turns
const conversationSession = new OpenAIConversationsSession();

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

console.log('\nComposio Tool Router session created.');
console.log('\nChat started. Type your requests below.');
console.log("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n");

try {
  const first = await run(agent, 'What can you help me with?', { session: conversationSession });
  console.log(`Assistant: ${first.finalOutput}\n`);
} catch (e) {
  console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
}

rl.prompt();

rl.on('line', async (userInput) => {
  const text = userInput.trim();

  if (['exit', 'quit', 'q'].includes(text.toLowerCase())) {
    console.log('Goodbye!');
    rl.close();
    process.exit(0);
  }

  if (!text) {
    rl.prompt();
    return;
  }

  try {
    const result = await run(agent, text, { session: conversationSession });
    console.log(`\nAssistant: ${result.finalOutput}\n`);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
  }

  rl.prompt();
});

rl.on('close', () => {
  console.log('\n👋 Session ended.');
  process.exit(0);
});
What's happening:
  • The program prints a session URL that you visit to authorize Apollo.
  • After authorization, the chat begins.
  • Each message you type is processed by the agent using run().
  • The responses are printed to the console.
  • Typing exit, quit, or q cleanly ends the chat.

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Apollo and OpenAI Agents SDK:

import 'dotenv/config';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { OpenAIAgentsProvider } from '@composio/openai-agents';
import { Agent, hostedMcpTool, run, OpenAIConversationsSession } from '@openai/agents';
import * as readline from 'readline';

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

if (!composioApiKey) {
  throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key');
}
if (!userId) {
  throw new Error('USER_ID is not set');
}

// Initialize Composio
const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioApiKey,
  provider: new OpenAIAgentsProvider(),
});

async function main() {
  // Create Tool Router session
  const session = await composio.create(userId as string, {
    toolkits: ['apollo'],
  });
  const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;

  // Configure agent with MCP tool
  const agent = new Agent({
    name: 'Assistant',
    model: 'gpt-5',
    instructions:
      'You are a helpful assistant that can access Apollo. Help users perform Apollo operations through natural language.',
    tools: [
      hostedMcpTool({
        serverLabel: 'tool_router',
        serverUrl: mcpUrl,
        headers: { 'x-api-key': composioApiKey },
        requireApproval: 'never',
      }),
    ],
  });

  // Keep conversation state across turns
  const conversationSession = new OpenAIConversationsSession();

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

  console.log('\nComposio Tool Router session created.');
  console.log('\nChat started. Type your requests below.');
  console.log("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n");

  try {
    const first = await run(agent, 'What can you help me with?', { session: conversationSession });
    console.log(`Assistant: ${first.finalOutput}\n`);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
  }

  rl.prompt();

  rl.on('line', async (userInput) => {
    const text = userInput.trim();

    if (['exit', 'quit', 'q'].includes(text.toLowerCase())) {
      console.log('Goodbye!');
      rl.close();
      process.exit(0);
    }

    if (!text) {
      rl.prompt();
      return;
    }

    try {
      const result = await run(agent, text, { session: conversationSession });
      console.log(`\nAssistant: ${result.finalOutput}\n`);
    } catch (e) {
      console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\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

This was a starter code for integrating Apollo MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK to build a functional AI agent that can interact with Apollo.

Key features:

  • Hosted MCP tool integration through Composio's Tool Router
  • SQLite session persistence for conversation history
  • Simple async chat loop for interactive testing
You can extend this by adding more toolkits, implementing custom business logic, or building a web interface around the agent.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

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

Add Contacts to Sequence

Adds contacts to a specified Apollo email sequence and returns the contact details.

Bulk organization enrichment

Enriches data for up to 10 organizations simultaneously by providing a list of their base company domains (e.

Bulk people enrichment

Use to enrich multiple person profiles simultaneously with comprehensive data from Apollo's database.

Bulk update account stage

Bulk updates the stage for specified existing Apollo.

Create an Apollo account

Creates a new account in Apollo.

Bulk create Apollo accounts

Creates multiple accounts in Apollo.

Bulk create Apollo contacts

Tool to bulk create multiple contacts in Apollo with a single API call.

Create call record in Apollo

Tool to log call records in Apollo from external systems.

Create Apollo contact

Creates a new contact in Apollo.

Create custom field

Creates a new custom field in Apollo.

Create Apollo deal

Creates a new sales opportunity (deal) in Apollo.

Create Apollo Task

Tool to create a single task in Apollo.

Get Account by ID

Tool to retrieve detailed information about a specific account by its Apollo ID.

Check Apollo API key status

Tool to check whether the provided Apollo API key is valid and accepted by Apollo (health/auth check).

Get Apollo Contact

Retrieves detailed information about a specific contact by its ID.

Get Apollo deal

Retrieves information about a specific deal by its ID.

Get Labels

Retrieves all labels from Apollo.

Get opportunity stages

Retrieves all configured opportunity (deal) stages from the Apollo.

Get Organization by ID

Retrieves complete information about a specific organization by its Apollo ID.

Get Organization Job Postings

Retrieves paginated job postings for a specified organization by its ID, optionally filtering by domain; ensure `organization_id` is a valid identifier.

Get typed custom fields

Retrieves all typed custom field definitions available in the Apollo.

List Apollo account stages

Retrieves the IDs for all available account stages in your team's Apollo account.

List apollo contact stages

Retrieves all available contact stages from an Apollo account, including their unique IDs and names.

List Apollo deals

Retrieves a list of deals from Apollo, using Apollo's default sort order if 'sort_by_field' is omitted.

List email accounts

Retrieves all email accounts and their details for the authenticated user; takes no parameters.

List Fields

Retrieves all field definitions from Apollo.

List Apollo Users

Retrieves a list of all users (teammates) associated with the Apollo account, supporting pagination via `page` and `per_page` parameters.

Enrich organization data

Fetches comprehensive organization enrichment data from Apollo.

Search organizations in Apollo

Searches Apollo's database for organizations using various filters; consumes credits on every call (unavailable on free plans) — avoid re-running identical queries and surface quota errors rather than retrying.

Enrich person with Apollo

Enriches and retrieves information for a person from Apollo.

Apollo people search

Searches Apollo's contact database for people using various filters; results capped at 50,000 records and does not enrich contact data.

Search Apollo Accounts

Searches for accounts within your existing Apollo.

Search for Calls

Searches for call records in Apollo.

Search Apollo contacts

Searches Apollo contacts using keywords, stage IDs (from 'List Contact Stages' action), or sorting (max 50,000 records; `sort_ascending` requires `sort_by_field`).

Search news articles

Tool to search for news articles about companies in Apollo's database.

Search outreach emails

Tool to search for outreach emails sent through Apollo sequences.

Search sequences

Searches for sequences (e.

Search tasks

Searches for tasks in Apollo.

Update an Apollo account

Updates specified attributes of an existing account in Apollo.

Update account ownership

Updates the ownership of multiple Apollo accounts to a specified user.

Update Apollo call record

Tool to update an existing call record in Apollo.

Update Apollo contact details

Tool to update an existing contact's information in Apollo.

Update contact ownership

Updates the ownership of specified Apollo contacts to a given Apollo user, who must be part of the same team.

Bulk update Apollo contacts

Tool to bulk update multiple Apollo contacts with a single API call.

Update contact stage

Updates the stage for one or more existing contacts in Apollo.

Update contact status in sequence

Updates a contact's status within a designated Apollo sequence, but cannot set the status to 'active'.

Update Apollo deal

Updates specified fields of an existing Apollo.

View API Usage Stats

Fetches Apollo API usage statistics and rate limits for the connected team.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

Yes, you can. OpenAI Agents 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 Apollo tools.

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

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