plan
Shows the Terraform execution plan with resource change counts. Read-only — does not modify infrastructure.
This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-dave-london-github/plan.md
What plan does on Github
AI agents call plan 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.
Why plan is rated Low
The tool only displays a Terraform plan (what would change) without applying any changes. It is explicitly described as read-only with no side effects on infrastructure. Minor concern is that plan output can reveal sensitive infrastructure details, but the action itself is non-destructive.
From the tool's definition 'Shows the Terraform execution plan' and 'Read-only — does not modify infrastructure'
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs plan 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 plan, this is the rule to start with:
plan 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 plan call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about plan
Shows the Terraform execution plan with resource change counts. Read-only — does not modify infrastructure. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Github MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Github MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for plan: 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.
plan 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 plan 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 plan. 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.
plan is provided by the Github MCP server (@paretools/github). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
More on Github, and thousands of servers like it.
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