This record as markdown: /tools/heznpc-airmcp/now-playing.md
What now_playing does on AirMCP
AI agents call now_playing to retrieve information from AirMCP without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
Why now_playing is rated Low
This tool only reads the current playback state and track information from Apple Music or the system's audio player. It performs no side effects—no data is created, modified, deleted, or executed. The blast radius of misuse is minimal; an AI agent retrieving this information poses no security or operational risk. This is a straightforward Read operation.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'now_playing' and description 'Get the currently playing track and playback state' indicate a query operation that retrieves information without modifying any state.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs now_playing safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and AirMCP, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For now_playing, this is the rule to start with:
now_playing 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 AirMCP, apply this rule, and every now_playing call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about now_playing
Get the currently playing track and playback state. It is categorised as a Read tool in the AirMCP MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Air MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for now_playing: 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 AirMCP. Nothing to install.
now_playing 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 now_playing 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 now_playing. 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.
now_playing is provided by the Air MCP server (airmcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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