AI agents invoke forward_email to trigger actions in Apple Shortcuts. What it does depends on the arguments the agent supplies, and its effects often reach beyond the immediate call — builds kicked off, notifications sent, workflows started.
Forwarding an email triggers an external operation (sending email to third parties) with real-world side effects that depend on arguments (recipients, email content). This is not a simple write/create within a contained system — it dispatches communications externally, making it an Execute-category action. Misuse could leak sensitive information to unintended recipients, justifying high severity.
From the tool's definition Forward an email to other recipients
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access forward_email 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 forward_email:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"forward_email": {
"limits": [
{
"counter": "forward_email_rate",
"window": "minute",
"max": 10,
"scope": "grant"
}
]
}
}
} forward_email stays usable, but rate-capped — a runaway agent can't fire it dozens of times a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Forward an email to other recipients. It is categorised as a Execute tool in the Apple Shortcuts MCP Server, which means it can trigger actions or run processes. Use rate limits and argument validation.
Register the Apple Shortcuts MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for forward_email: 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.
forward_email is a Execute tool with high risk. Execute tools should be rate-limited and have argument validation enabled.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the forward_email 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 forward_email. 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.
forward_email 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.
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423 Apple Shortcuts tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.