How to Use the Balena MCP in OpenAI Agents SDK

Build production-ready IoT agents with the OpenAI Agents SDK to manage your Balena fleets, backed by OpenAI's safety guardrails.

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Connect Balena MCP to OpenAI Agents SDK

Create your Vinkius account to connect Balena to OpenAI Agents SDK and route execution through our secure gateway. The platform manages server hosting, runtime updates, and security layers. Configuration requires no manual server provisioning.

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Setup Balena with OpenAI Agents SDK

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Query Your Balena Fleets and Devices

Your agent can now query your entire Balena infrastructure. Use `list_fleets` and `list_devices` with OData filters to pinpoint specific applications or hardware. It's not just a simple list; you get exactly what you need without parsing huge JSON blobs. This is critical for building reliable automation. Your OpenAI agent can check device status before deploying a new release or find all devices with a specific tag. The SDK's built-in tracing lets you see every call in your OpenAI dashboard, so you always know what your agent is doing.

Control OS Images and Releases with your OpenAI Agent

Stop manually checking for OS updates. Your agent can call `list_os_versions` to find the latest balenaOS for a device type, then use `get_os_download_url` to get the image link. It's direct and scriptable. The same goes for your own code. The agent uses `list_releases` to check deployment history for a fleet. You can build agents that automatically roll back a bad release or notify you when a new version is live. OpenAI's guardrails can even prompt for confirmation before a critical action.

Manage Device Configuration Securely

Let your agent handle device setup. It can use `create_device_env_var` to set environment variables on a single device or across a fleet. No more manual entry in the dashboard. The OpenAI Agents SDK makes this safe. You can define rules that prevent an agent from overwriting critical variables. Since this MCP Server handles auth, your agent only needs one Vinkius token, not your raw Balena API keys. Your agent can even check which keys are active with `list_api_keys`.

Setup guide

Set up Balena MCP in OpenAI Agents SDK

Prerequisites

Python 3.10+ installed
openai-agents package (pip install openai-agents)
Active Vinkius subscription with a valid endpoint token

1

Install the SDK

Run pip install openai-agents to install the OpenAI Agents SDK. The MCP integration is built-in — no extra dependencies needed.
2

Connect via SSE transport

Use MCPServerSse with your Vinkius endpoint URL. Replace [YOUR_TOKEN_HERE] with your token from cloud.vinkius.com. The SDK auto-discovers all Balena tools at runtime.
3

Create your Agent

Pass the MCP to Agent(mcp_servers=[server]). The agent receives Balena tools as native definitions — JSON schemas resolve automatically.
4

Run the agent

Call Runner.run(agent, prompt) to execute. The agent invokes the appropriate Balena tools and returns structured results. Copy the full example on the right to get started.

agent.py

import asyncio
from agents import Agent, Runner
from agents.mcp import MCPServerSse

async def main():
    async with MCPServerSse(
        url="https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp"
    ) as server:
        agent = Agent(
            name="Balena Agent",
            instructions="You have access to Balena tools.",
            mcp_servers=[server],
        )
        result = await Runner.run(agent, "List recent transactions")
        print(result.final_output)

asyncio.run(main())

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Common questions about Balena MCP in OpenAI Agents SDK

It's automatic. Just pass the MCP Server instance to the Agent constructor. The SDK handles tool discovery, so you can start calling Balena functions right away without writing any boilerplate code.

Yes. While the SDK auto-discovers all tools, you can create specialized agents and hand off tasks between them. This lets you build a system where one agent can only read Balena device data, while another, more privileged agent, handles deployments.

Yes, it's designed for production. The OpenAI Agents SDK has built-in guardrails to validate actions, and Vinkius isolates the server. Your Balena credentials are never exposed to the agent.

You can build agents that monitor device health, automate software rollouts, or manage device configurations. For example, an agent could check for new releases with `list_releases` and then trigger a staged deployment across your Balena fleet.

This server interacts with your Balena fleet and device metadata. This includes device IDs, fleet names, environment variables, and release tags. Your data is processed in an ephemeral sandbox and Vinkius handles the secure connection, so your agent never holds the actual Balena API keys.

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