# answer_api_question

Use this when an agent asks open-ended Rust API questions like 'how do I parse a duration string', 'which crate gives me HMAC verification', 'is this function deprecated', 'what's the current way to do JWT auth', or 'compare base64 crates'. Hand off free-text questions verbatim; the substrate routes them deterministically via rule-based intent detection (no LLM in the request path) and dispatches into signature_search, behavior_lookup, compare_implementations, or find_modern_equivalent as appropriate, falling back to bge-m3 cosine retrieval if no rule matches. Returns a structured verdict with routed_via, the primary recommendation, evidence, and caveats.

Agent View of the PolicyLayer registry record for `answer_api_question`. HTML page: https://policylayer.com/tools/dev-codeitall-codeitall/answer-api-question

## Facts

- Tool: `answer_api_question`
- Server: Codeitall (`https://api.codeitall.dev/mcp`) — https://policylayer.com/tools/dev-codeitall-codeitall.md
- Homepage: https://github.com/codeitalldev/codeitall
- Risk category: Read (Low risk)
- Registry record: grade B, identity unverified
- Server rate-limited: no
- Parameters: 2 (1 required)
- Recommended policy verdict: Allowed

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `language` | string | no |  |
| `question` | string | yes |  |

Parameters from the server's own tool schema.

## Example call (MCP tools/call, JSON-RPC 2.0)

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "answer_api_question",
    "arguments": {
      "question": "<question>"
    }
  }
}
```

## Why answer_api_question is rated Low

This tool retrieves and queries information about Rust APIs, crate behaviors, deprecations, and recommendations. It performs lookups and searches against a knowledge base but does not create, modify, delete, or execute anything. The operations are read-only information retrieval with no side effects.

From the tool's own definition: "The tool 'answers' open-ended Rust API questions by routing them to lookup, comparison, and search operations ('signature_search', 'behavior_lookup', 'compare_implementations', 'find_modern_equivalent')."

## Use case

AI agents call answer_api_question to retrieve information from Codeitall without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

## Recommended policy (PolicyLayer)

Verdict: **Allowed**. Enforced by the PolicyLayer MCP gateway (https://policylayer.com/mcp-gateway) before a call reaches Codeitall:

```json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "answer_api_question": {}
  }
}
```

## Other tools on Codeitall (7)

- `behavior_lookup` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/dev-codeitall-codeitall/behavior-lookup.md
- `compare_implementations` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/dev-codeitall-codeitall/compare-implementations.md
- `find_modern_equivalent` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/dev-codeitall-codeitall/find-modern-equivalent.md
- `list_families` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/dev-codeitall-codeitall/list-families.md
- `package_trust` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/dev-codeitall-codeitall/package-trust.md
- `pattern_consensus` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/dev-codeitall-codeitall/pattern-consensus.md
- `signature_search` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/dev-codeitall-codeitall/signature-search.md

## For agents

This record is a snapshot. Live verdicts and the full registry:

- Check every server in your MCP config at once: `npx -y policylayer stack`
- Vet a server before you add it: install the mcp-precheck skill — `npx skills add https://policylayer.com` (skill text: https://policylayer.com/skill.md)
- Query the registry over MCP: endpoint `https://api.policylayer.com/mcp` — tools `check_mcp_server`, `check_mcp_stack`, `check_tool`, `search_registry`, `get_change_events`

---

Source: the PolicyLayer MCP registry — one continuously verified record per MCP server. Full record: https://policylayer.com/registry?q=dev-codeitall-codeitall · API: https://policylayer.com/registry/api · Policy library: https://policylayer.com/policies/dev-codeitall-codeitall