Low Risk

describe_services

describe_services

How to control describe_services ↓

What describe_services does on Amazon Translate MCP Server

AI agents call describe_services to retrieve information from Amazon Translate 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 describe_services needs a policy

The describe_services pattern is a standard AWS API convention for querying service metadata and configuration without modification. Given the server provides translation and terminology management, this tool likely retrieves service capabilities or status.

From the tool's definition Tool name 'describe_services' and server context indicating AWS service inspection; empty description limits certainty but naming convention matches AWS Read-only describe_ operations.

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

How to control describe_services

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

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

describe_services 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 Translate 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 describe_services

What does the describe_services tool do? +

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

How do I enforce a policy on describe_services? +

Register the Amazon Translate MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for describe_services: 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 Translate MCP Server. Nothing to install.

What risk level is describe_services? +

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

Can I rate-limit describe_services? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the describe_services 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 describe_services completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for describe_services. 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 describe_services? +

describe_services is provided by the Amazon Translate MCP Server MCP server (awslabs.amazon-translate-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 Translate MCP Server tool call.

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

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