Low Risk

diagnose

Describe what you're stuck on and this tool will diagnose the type of stuck-ness, recommend the best thinking technique, and return the full methodology so you can work through it. Include as much context as possible: what you've tried, what feels frustrating, what success would look like.

Part of the Thinking Toolkit MCP server. Enforce policies on this tool with Intercept, the open-source MCP proxy.

AI agents call diagnose to retrieve information from Thinking Toolkit 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 diagnose 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.

elbpr-thinking-toolkit.yaml
tools:
  diagnose:
    rules:
      - action: allow

See the full Thinking Toolkit policy for all 4 tools.

Tool Name diagnose
Category Read
Risk Level Low

Agents calling read-class tools like diagnose have been implicated in these attack patterns. Read the full case and prevention policy for each:

Browse the full MCP Attack Database →

Other tools in the Read risk category across the catalogue. The same policy patterns (rate-limit, allow) apply to each.

What does the diagnose tool do? +

Describe what you're stuck on and this tool will diagnose the type of stuck-ness, recommend the best thinking technique, and return the full methodology so you can work through it. Include as much context as possible: what you've tried, what feels frustrating, what success would look like.. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Thinking Toolkit MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on diagnose? +

Add a rule in your Intercept YAML policy under the tools section for diagnose. You can allow, deny, rate-limit, or validate arguments. Then run Intercept as a proxy in front of the Thinking Toolkit MCP server.

What risk level is diagnose? +

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

Can I rate-limit diagnose? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the diagnose 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.

How do I block diagnose completely? +

Set action: deny in the Intercept policy for diagnose. 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 diagnose? +

diagnose is provided by the Thinking Toolkit MCP server (elbpr/thinking-toolkit). Intercept sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policies on Thinking Toolkit

Open source. One binary. Zero dependencies.

npx -y @policylayer/intercept
github.com/policylayer/intercept →
// GET IN TOUCH

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