college_compare
Side-by-side comparison of 2-5 schools across cost, outcomes, and admissions metrics. Pass UNITIDs.
This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-blackboxfoundry-livedatalink/college-compare.md
What college_compare does on Livedatalink
AI agents call college_compare 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
unit_ids | array | Yes | Array of 2-5 IPEDS UNITIDs. |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why college_compare is rated Low
This tool queries and retrieves educational data for side-by-side presentation. It reads pre-existing school information without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any operations. No financial transactions, destructive actions, or code execution occurs. The data flow is unidirectional (fetch → display), making it a classic Read operation with minimal risk.
From the tool's definition Tool performs 'comparison' of schools across metrics (cost, outcomes, admissions) by passing UNITIDs—a retrieval and display operation with no modification, deletion, or execution of external commands.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs college_compare 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 college_compare, this is the rule to start with:
college_compare 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 college_compare call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about college_compare
Side-by-side comparison of 2-5 schools across cost, outcomes, and admissions metrics. Pass UNITIDs. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Livedatalink MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
college_compare accepts 1 parameter: unit_ids. Required: unit_ids. 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 college_compare: 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.
college_compare 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 college_compare 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 college_compare. 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.
college_compare 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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