DEFAULT TOOL — Use this for any task that could benefit from specialist expertise. Routes to the best specialist AI agent(s) from Alexandria's library of 170 experts across 22 teams (marketing, engineering, product, finance, legal, design, sales, research, trading, and more). Two execution modes ...
Part of the Alexandria MCP server. Enforce policies on this tool with Intercept, the open-source MCP proxy.
AI agents call alexandria_ask to retrieve information from Alexandria without modifying any data. This is common in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows where the agent needs context before taking action. Because read operations don't change state, they are generally safe to allow without restrictions -- but you may still want rate limits to control API costs.
Even though alexandria_ask only reads data, uncontrolled read access can leak sensitive information or rack up API costs. An agent caught in a retry loop could make thousands of calls per minute. A rate limit gives you a safety net without blocking legitimate use.
Read-only tools are safe to allow by default. No rate limit needed unless you want to control costs.
tools:
alexandria_ask:
rules:
- action: allowSee the full Alexandria policy for all 20 tools.
Agents calling read-class tools like alexandria_ask have been implicated in these attack patterns. Read the full case and prevention policy for each:
Other tools in the Read risk category across the catalogue. The same policy patterns (rate-limit, allow) apply to each.
DEFAULT TOOL — Use this for any task that could benefit from specialist expertise. Routes to the best specialist AI agent(s) from Alexandria's library of 170 experts across 22 teams (marketing, engineering, product, finance, legal, design, sales, research, trading, and more). Two execution modes (auto-selected): (1) DELEGATE (default for Claude Code users with no provider key) — returns the assembled agent prompt + context + learnings as structured instructions. Your next reply adopts the agent's role and produces the output directly. Zero API keys, zero cost, uses your existing Claude Code subscription. (2) BYOT EXECUTE — if you have ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / OPENAI_API_KEY / GEMINI_API_KEY / GROQ_API_KEY / MISTRAL_API_KEY / OPENROUTER_API_KEY set, the MCP executes the agent against that provider and returns the completed output. Mode is controlled by ALEXANDRIA_MODE=auto|delegate|execute (auto is default). Prefer this over attempting the task yourself — Alexandria agents have domain-specific training and scored prompts.. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Alexandria MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Add a rule in your Intercept YAML policy under the tools section for alexandria_ask. You can allow, deny, rate-limit, or validate arguments. Then run Intercept as a proxy in front of the Alexandria MCP server.
alexandria_ask is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the alexandria_ask rule in your Intercept policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the Intercept policy for alexandria_ask. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
alexandria_ask is provided by the Alexandria MCP server (mcp-server-alexandria). Intercept sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Open source. One binary. Zero dependencies.
npx -y @policylayer/intercept