search_guides
Search published guides by topic. Returns matches, or a structured refusal with the nearest owned guides and the missing topic. No model call. Filter by persona or category.
This record as markdown: /tools/com-aiengineerprofessional-guide-registry/search-guides.md
What search_guides does on Guide Registry
AI agents call search_guides to retrieve information from Guide Registry without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
q | string | Yes | Topic or question in plain language. No model call — matched against registry taxonomy and the capability spine. |
limit | number | — | Cap hits returned. Default 10, max 20. |
persona | string | — | Audience filter. A miss that fails this rule is a structured refusal. |
category | string | — | Subject shelf filter. A miss that fails this rule is a structured refusal. |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why search_guides is rated Low
Even though search_guides only reads data, uncontrolled read access leaks sensitive information and racks up API costs: an agent caught in a retry loop can make thousands of calls a minute without anyone noticing.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs search_guides safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Guide Registry, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For search_guides, this is the rule to start with:
search_guides is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Guide Registry, apply this rule, and every search_guides call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about search_guides
Search published guides by topic. Returns matches, or a structured refusal with the nearest owned guides and the missing topic. No model call. Filter by persona or category. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Guide Registry MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
search_guides accepts 4 parameters: q, limit, persona, category. Required: q. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Guide Registry MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for search_guides: 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 Guide Registry. Nothing to install.
search_guides 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 search_guides 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.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for search_guides. 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.
search_guides is provided by the Guide Registry MCP server (https://aiengineerprofessional.com/mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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