Choose how to use Airbyte Agents
Airbyte Agents offers four interfaces. They all share the same platform, the same connectors, and the same Context Store, so you can start with one and add others as your needs grow.
Use the flowchart below to find the best starting point, then read the section that matches your path.
Web app
Best for: Non-developers, operations teams, and anyone who wants to explore Airbyte Agents without writing code.
The web app at app.airbyte.ai is the fastest way to get started. Describe what you need in natural language, and an Airbyte-hosted agent picks the right connectors, makes the necessary tool calls, and replies with an answer grounded in your data.
Two primary surfaces:
- Chats — Interactive conversations with an agent. Ask a question, iterate on the answer, and explore your data in real time.
- Automations — Agent tasks that run on a schedule, on a webhook, or on demand. Use Automations when you need the same work to happen repeatedly without a person in the loop.
Get started: Sign up at app.airbyte.ai, add a connector on the Connectors page, and open New Chat.
MCP server
Best for: Users of Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, VS Code, or any agent that supports the Model Context Protocol.
The MCP server is a remote, Airbyte-hosted server that gives MCP-capable agents authenticated access to your connected data. You have nothing to install. Add the server URL to your agent's MCP configuration, authenticate with your Airbyte account, and your agent can immediately read and write data across every connector in your workspace.
Get started: See the MCP server docs for setup instructions for Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, and other clients.
Python SDK
Best for: Python developers building custom agents with frameworks like Pydantic AI, LangChain, or FastMCP.
The Python SDK (airbyte-agent-sdk) gives you typed connectors, automatic credential handling, and patterns for exposing connectors as tools to any AI agent framework. Install the SDK, authenticate with your Airbyte API credentials, and start executing operations in your own code.
uv add airbyte-agent-sdk
Get started: Follow one of the step-by-step tutorials in the Developer Quickstart:
HTTP API
Best for: Backend engineers, non-Python stacks, custom admin flows, and embedding the authentication module in your application.
The HTTP API exposes REST endpoints for managing connectors, tokens, and executing operations from any language or backend service. Use it when you need programmatic control over Airbyte Agents from a stack that isn't Python, or when you're building a custom integration layer.
Get started: See the API docs for authentication, connector management, and execution endpoints. The Developer Quickstart also covers common patterns.
All paths lead to the same data
Whichever interface you choose, your agents work with the same connectors, the same credentials, and the same Context Store. A connector you add in the web app is immediately available through the SDK, API, and MCP server. You can mix and match interfaces as your needs evolve.
For a deeper look at how the platform is organized, see System architecture.