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App tools and triggers

An agent on a self-hosted deployment can use several kinds of capability. Some work with no extra setup. Connecting to third-party apps needs a gateway. This page explains which is which.

Works without extra setup​

  • Built-in Agenta tools. Available on every deployment.
  • Schedule triggers. Run an agent on a time schedule (for example, every morning). These read from your own database and need no third-party service.

Connect an MCP server​

An agent can use tools from an external MCP (Model Context Protocol) server over HTTP. You bring the server and configure it on the agent with its URL and any auth headers. This does not go through Composio.

The runner must be able to reach the server. Outbound egress is restricted by default: plain http:// and private, loopback, or cloud-metadata addresses are blocked. A public https:// server works as-is. To use a server on http or a private network, allow it:

AGENTA_INSECURE_EGRESS_ALLOWED=true

App tools and event triggers need Composio​

Connecting an agent to a third-party app goes through Composio, a tool gateway. This covers two things:

  • App tools. Letting an agent act in an outside app, such as opening a GitHub issue or sending a Slack message.
  • Event triggers. Letting an outside app start a run, such as a new GitHub issue firing your agent. This is different from a schedule trigger, which is time-based and needs no gateway.

Without a Composio API key, these are unavailable. Tool and trigger discovery (discover_tools, discover_triggers) returns 404, because the gateway they route through is not configured.

To enable them, set a Composio API key. Composio has a free tier; create an account, get a key, then add it to your env file:

COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-composio-api-key

Recreate the stack so the API picks it up:

docker compose -f hosting/docker-compose/oss/docker-compose.gh.yml \
  --env-file hosting/docker-compose/oss/.env.oss.gh up -d

See Configuration for the full list of Composio variables.

Code tools are disabled​

The runner does not run custom code tools (an agent shelling out to gh or curl, for example). This is a security decision, not a configuration you can turn on. To let an agent act in an outside service, use an app tool through Composio instead.