swarm_pheromone_status
Inspect the threshold, safety configuration, per-agent EMA scores, and scheduling eligibility of the active pheromone-adaptive swarm. Use when aggregate swarm status is wrong because calibration requires the exact APSC threshold and per-agent evidence before switching from dry-run to live suspens...
This record as markdown: /tools/io-github-ruvnet-claude-flow/swarm-pheromone-status.md
What swarm_pheromone_status does on Claude Flow
AI agents call swarm_pheromone_status to retrieve information from Claude Flow without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
Why swarm_pheromone_status is rated Low
This is a read-only diagnostic tool for inspecting swarm orchestration state (thresholds, safety config, per-agent scores, scheduling). The phrasing 'before switching from dry-run to live suspension' indicates it informs decisions but does not execute them. Medium severity is assigned because misuse could inform malicious swarm reconfiguration decisions, but the tool itself only retrieves data.
From the tool's definition Tool name contains 'status' and description uses 'Inspect' and 'Use when... requires the exact... evidence before switching' — purely diagnostic/observational. Returns thresholds, configurations, scores, and eligibility states with no modification capability.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs swarm_pheromone_status safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Claude Flow, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For swarm_pheromone_status, this is the rule to start with:
swarm_pheromone_status 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 Claude Flow, apply this rule, and every swarm_pheromone_status call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about swarm_pheromone_status
Inspect the threshold, safety configuration, per-agent EMA scores, and scheduling eligibility of the active pheromone-adaptive swarm. Use when aggregate swarm status is wrong because calibration requires the exact APSC threshold and per-agent evidence before switching from dry-run to live suspension. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Claude Flow MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the Claude Flow MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for swarm_pheromone_status: 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 Claude Flow. Nothing to install.
swarm_pheromone_status 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 swarm_pheromone_status 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 swarm_pheromone_status. 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.
swarm_pheromone_status is provided by the Claude Flow MCP server (claude-flow). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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