census_business
Business establishments, employment, and annual payroll from County Business Patterns. Optional NAICS industry filter. Used for industry research, competitive intel, supply chain analysis.
This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-blackboxfoundry-livedatalink/census-business.md
What census_business does on Livedatalink
AI agents call census_business to retrieve information from Livedatalink 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
msa | string | — | 5-digit Metropolitan Statistical Area code. Required for msa level. |
year | number | — | ACS 5-year endpoint year (default 2023). |
zcta | string | — | 5-digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area. Required for zcta level. |
level | string | Yes | Geography level: 'us', 'state', 'county', 'zcta' (ZIP), 'place' (city), 'tract', 'msa'. |
naics | string | — | Optional NAICS 2017 industry code (2 to 6 digits). E.g. '23' for Construction, '54' for Professional Services. |
place | string | — | Census place FIPS (city). Required for place level. |
state | string | — | 2-letter state code (e.g. 'TX') or 2-digit FIPS. Required for state/county/place/tract levels. |
tract | string | — | 6-digit census tract code. Use '*' for all tracts in a county. |
county | string | — | 3-digit county FIPS. Use '*' for all counties in a state. Required for county/tract levels. |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why census_business is rated Low
The tool queries and retrieves existing statistical data (Census Bureau's County Business Patterns). It performs no writes, deletes, executes code, or financial operations. The severity is low because the data is public census information already published by the U.S. Census Bureau, and misuse would result in only information exposure, not system compromise or financial harm.
From the tool's definition Tool retrieves 'Business establishments, employment, and annual payroll' data from County Business Patterns with optional filtering.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs census_business safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Livedatalink, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For census_business, this is the rule to start with:
census_business 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 Livedatalink, apply this rule, and every census_business call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about census_business
Business establishments, employment, and annual payroll from County Business Patterns. Optional NAICS industry filter. Used for industry research, competitive intel, supply chain analysis. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Livedatalink MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
census_business accepts 9 parameters: msa, year, zcta, level, naics, place, state, tract, county. Required: level. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Livedatalink MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for census_business: 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 Livedatalink. Nothing to install.
census_business 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 census_business 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 census_business. 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.
census_business is provided by the Livedatalink MCP server (https://livedatalink.ai/mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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