search_users
Find GitHub users by username, real name, or other profile information. Useful for locating developers, contributors, or team members.
This record as markdown: /tools/github/search-users.md
What search_users does on GitHub
AI agents call search_users to retrieve information from GitHub 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
page | number | — | Page number for pagination (min 1) |
sort | string | — | Sort users by number of followers or repositories, or when the person joined GitHub. |
order | string | — | Sort order |
query | string | — | User search query. Examples: 'john smith', 'location:seattle', 'followers:>100'. Search is automatically scoped to type:user. |
perPage | number | — | Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why search_users is rated Low
This tool retrieves publicly available user profile information from GitHub without any side effects. It performs a read-only search query and returns matching user profiles. No data is created, modified, deleted, or executed. The blast radius of misuse is minimal — an attacker could enumerate users but cannot access private data, alter accounts, or perform damaging operations.
From the tool's definition Tool description states it 'Find[s] GitHub users' and explicitly searches by 'username, real name, or other profile information' — classic query/search operations with no ability to modify, execute, or delete data.
Risk signalsAccepts freeform code/query input (query)
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs search_users safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and GitHub, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For search_users, this is the rule to start with:
search_users 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 GitHub, apply this rule, and every search_users call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about search_users
Find GitHub users by username, real name, or other profile information. Useful for locating developers, contributors, or team members. It is categorised as a Read tool in the GitHub MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
search_users accepts 5 parameters: page, sort, order, query, perPage. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the GitHub MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for search_users: 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 GitHub. Nothing to install.
search_users 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_users 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_users. 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_users is provided by the GitHub MCP server (oci:ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:1.3.0). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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