Search for emails in a mailbox. Returns summaries with UIDs for use with email_get_message.
AI agents call email_search_messages to retrieve information from Apple Shortcuts without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves email summaries and UIDs for subsequent retrieval; it has no side effects, does not modify data, and does not execute arbitrary operations. It is a straightforward read/search operation. Severity is low because email search has minimal blast radius—it can expose existing data but cannot alter, delete, or trigger external actions.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'email_search_messages' and description states it 'Search for emails in a mailbox. Returns summaries with UIDs' — a query operation that retrieves data without modification.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access email_search_messages gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Apple Shortcuts, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for email_search_messages:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"email_search_messages": {}
}
}email_search_messages is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
Free to start. No card required.
Search for emails in a mailbox. Returns summaries with UIDs for use with email_get_message. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Apple Shortcuts MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Apple Shortcuts MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for email_search_messages: 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 Apple Shortcuts. Nothing to install.
email_search_messages 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 email_search_messages 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 email_search_messages. 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.
email_search_messages is provided by the Apple Shortcuts MCP server (@mindstone/mcp-server-apple-shortcuts). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from Apple Shortcuts, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
Free to start. No card required.
423 Apple Shortcuts tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.