High Risk →

forward_email

Forward an email to other recipients.

How to control forward_email ↓

What forward_email does on Apple Shortcuts

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.

High Risk

Why forward_email needs a policy

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:

How to control forward_email

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:

policy.json
{
  "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.

  1. Create a free account and register Apple Shortcuts — nothing to install.
  2. Add this policy — paste it, or build it visually.
  3. Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, anything) at your gateway URL.
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Related tools and policies

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Questions about forward_email

What does the forward_email tool do? +

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.

How do I enforce a policy on forward_email? +

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.

What risk level is forward_email? +

forward_email is a Execute tool with high risk. Execute tools should be rate-limited and have argument validation enabled.

Can I rate-limit forward_email? +

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.

How do I block forward_email completely? +

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.

What MCP server provides forward_email? +

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.

Enforce policy on every Apple Shortcuts tool call.

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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