Low Risk

listDatabases

listDatabases

How to control listDatabases ↓

What listDatabases does on Amazon Redshift MCP Server

AI agents call listDatabases to retrieve information from Amazon Redshift MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

Low Risk

Why listDatabases needs a policy

The tool appears to retrieve or enumerate databases from a Redshift cluster without creating, modifying, or deleting any data. This is a non-destructive query operation with minimal blast radius if misused by an AI agent—it would only expose information about available databases.

From the tool's definition Tool name 'listDatabases' indicates a listing/query operation typical of Read category operations (list, get, fetch). The description is empty, but the name alone strongly suggests data retrieval without modification.

Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access listDatabases gives an agent:

How to control listDatabases

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Amazon Redshift MCP Server, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for listDatabases:

policy.json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "listDatabases": {}
  }
}

listDatabases is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

  1. Create a free account and register Amazon Redshift MCP Server — nothing to install.
  2. Add this policy — paste it, or build it visually.
  3. Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, anything) at your gateway URL.
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Related tools and policies

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Questions about listDatabases

What does the listDatabases tool do? +

listDatabases. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Amazon Redshift MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on listDatabases? +

Register the Amazon Redshift MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for listDatabases: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Amazon Redshift MCP Server. Nothing to install.

What risk level is listDatabases? +

listDatabases is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.

Can I rate-limit listDatabases? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the listDatabases rule in your PolicyLayer 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.

How do I block listDatabases completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for listDatabases. 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.

What MCP server provides listDatabases? +

listDatabases is provided by the Amazon Redshift MCP Server MCP server (awslabs.redshift-mcp-server). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policy on every Amazon Redshift MCP Server tool call.

Start from Amazon Redshift MCP Server, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.

Free to start. No card required.

805 Amazon Redshift MCP Server tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.

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