pg_backup_physical

What pg_backup_physical does on PostgreSQL MCP Server

AI agents call pg_backup_physical to retrieve information from PostgreSQL MCP Server without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

Why pg_backup_physical is rated Low

This tool appears to construct and return a backup command string rather than execute it or modify the database. It reads configuration/state to assemble the command but does not perform destructive, write, or execute operations. However, confidence is not higher because the exact behavior depends on whether the tool merely returns a string (Read) or also initiates the backup process (which could be Execute).

From the tool's definition Tool generates a pg_basebackup command for physical backup - it produces a command string for backup generation rather than executing backup operations, modifying data, or deleting data.

The rule that runs pg_backup_physical safely

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and PostgreSQL MCP Server, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For pg_backup_physical, this is the rule to start with:

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "pg_backup_physical": {}
  }
}

Questions about pg_backup_physical